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A (for Achievement) Students - Spring '08
Congratulations to Minority Nurse's 2007 Scholarship Winners!

Nursing Legend Dr. M. Elizabeth Carnegie Passes Away - Spring '08
MN is saddened to report that M. Elizabeth Carnegie, DPA, RN, FAAN, a pioneering educator, author and unceasing champion of racial equality in nursing, passed away on February 20 at the age of 91.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities Common in Treatment of Rare Cancer - Spring '08
A first-of-its-kind study conducted by researchers in California has found that significant racial and ethnic differences exist in the treatment and outcomes of patients with a rare but dangerous cancer.

Score Another Point for Diuretics as Most Effective Hypertension Treatment - Spring '08
In 2002, the landmark Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT), the largest and most racially/ethnically diverse clinical study to date comparing the effectiveness of different hypertension treatments, made counterin-tuitive history.

New Survey Shows African Americans are Concerned With Heart Health but Unaware of Link to Brain Health - Winter '08
Alzheimer’s Association and American Heart Association Join Forces to Educate African Americans on Managing Heart Health to Promote Brain Health.

Who Really Was the First American Indian RN? - Winter '08
On July 1, 2002, Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, RN (1903-1981) became the first American Indian nurse to be inducted into the American Nursing Association's prestigious Hall of Fame. In reporting this history-making event in our Fall 2002 issue, Minority Nurse noted that Yellowtail, a pioneering activist who fought tirelessly to improve the quality of health care available to Indian people, was the first American Indian registered nurse in the United States... Or was she?

PAD: The Health Disparity Nobody Knows About - Winter '08
How much do your patients know about peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a common and dangerous cardiovascular condition that is an especially serious health threat for African Americans? There's a good chance the answer is: not very much.

Earn CEUs for Preventing SIDS - Winter '08
Although Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) rates have declined in recent years-thanks to prevention initiatives like the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)'s "Back to Sleep" campaign—SIDS is still the leading cause of death for U.S. infants between one month and one year of age. And it is particularly deadly in African American and Native American communities.

PNAA NCLEX® Task Force Honored by President of Philippines - Winter '08
This past summer, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) opened its first-ever NCLEX testing center in the Philippines—a country that is one of the world's biggest exporters of foreign-educated nurses to the United States. Up until then, due to the lack of a test site in their own country, thousands of Filipino nurses who hoped to pursue careers in America had to travel abroad, often at their own considerable expense, to take the U.S. licensing exam.

Sight Unseen: Glaucoma Steals Eyesight without Warning—and It Isn’t Colorblind - Winter '08
January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month. Here’s what nurses need to know about this serious eye disease that disproportionately affects African Americans.

2007

Chicago Nursing Organizations Team Up to Host National Black Nurses Day Celebration - Winter '07
The Chicago-area celebration of National Black Nurses Day 2008 will be held at Apostolic Faith Church, 3823 S. Indiana Avenue in Chicago, on Friday, February 1, 2008, beginning at 6:30 p.m. This celebration is being hosted by four professional black nursing organizations in the Chicagoland area:

The New Fall Resource Roundup -Fall '07
Fall is the season where we present our annual roundup of free or low-cost resources available to help nurses provide culturally competent care to diverse patient populations and develop interventions to address the crisis of health disparities in communities of color.

Academic Leader, NIMH Trailblazer Dr. Rhetaugh Dumas Passes Away -Fall '07
Rhetaugh Graves Dumas, PhD, RN, FAAN, one of the nursing profession’s most distinguished leaders, educators, researchers, health policy-makers and psychiatric nursing scholars, passed away on July 22 at the age of 78.

More Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Needed in Indian Country -Fall '07
American Indian and Alaska Native women are more than twice as likely to be sexually assaulted than U.S. women of other races and ethnicities, according to the human rights organization Amnesty International. Yet many Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities have no nurses on staff who have been trained to provide emergency care to rape victims.

Texas Nurse Gives Back to Community with “Pay It Forward” Scholarship -Fall '07
The scholarship, awarded to employees of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System in Houston pursuing education leading to RN licensure, provides financial assistance, mentoring and other support. Scholarship recipients are encouraged to “pay it forward” when they graduate. 

Discrimination Contributes to Asian American Health Disparities -Fall '07
In recent years, a number of research studies on African American health disparities have indicated that there is a connection between racism and poor health outcomes in the black community. Now, a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health has found that this deadly correlation also holds true for Asian Americans.

Worth 1000 words -Fall '07
The Leukemia Research Foundation (LRF) recently selected Theresa Asai, BSN, RN, as one of two recipients of its 2007 Nurse of the Year Awards.

Inaugural Multicultural Nursing Conference to Explore Changing Face of Profession -Fall '07
As the nursing workforce in Southern Nevada grows increasingly more diverse, awareness and acceptance of cultural differences within the community and the profession have become crucial to improving patient care and increasing retention.

Program Helps Minority Nurse Scholars -Fall '07
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) announced that the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future (J&J) is launching a new national scholarship program designed to increase the number of nurse faculty from ethnic minority backgrounds.

More Child Safety Education Needed in Black and Native American Communities -Summer '07
A recent study examining the effectiveness of national accident prevention campaigns-such as those that encourage the use of bicycle helmets, automobile safety seats and smoke detectors-in reducing fatal childhood injuries contains both good news and bad news when it comes to children of color.

National League for Nursing Calls on President Bush to Address "Unacceptable" New Orleans Nursing Shortage -Summer '07
Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, displacing thousands of its residents, the city is still suffering from an urgent shortage of nurses that is reaching crisis proportions.

Oncology Nursing Society Offers Minority Mentoring Program -Summer '07
Are you a minority cancer nurse or nursing student who could benefit from the guidance and professional support of an experienced oncology nurse who has "been there?" Do you ever wish you had a mentor who could give you constructive advice and feedback, introduce you to new opportunities in your field, serve as a sounding board for your ideas and help you develop personal and professional skills that will make you more effective in your career and your community?

New Eye Syndrome Affecting Chinese Americans Is Often Misdiagnosed -Summer '07
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered a new eye syndrome that is striking young and middle-aged Americans of Chinese descent. Fortunately, this condition appears to be less serious than glaucoma, a progressive eye disease that can lead to severe vision loss and blindness. Unfortunately, many ophthalmologists are mistakenly diagnosing it as glaucoma, exposing young Chinese American patients to aggressive, risky treatments-such as surgery-that may not be necessary.

Life Expectancy Gap Between Black and White Americans Starting to Close -Summer '07
According to a study published in the March 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the long-standing life expectancy gap between black and white Americans is finally beginning to close.

Worth 1000 Words -Summer '07
Third-graders at the Nettelhorst School in Chicago learn about the importance of a healthy diet and exercise from The Striped Vegetarius, a big furry fellow whose mission is to battle the obesity crisis among urban African American and Hispanic youth.

Landmark Study Discovers Racial Differences in Heart Pumping Rates -Summer '07
Can a person's race affect the way their heart pumps blood through the body?

Gallery of Excellence -Spring '07
Please join us in saluting just a few of the many award-winning minority nurses who have recently been honored for their exceptional service, compassion and contributions to advancing the profession.

Worth 1000 Words -Spring '07
Minority Nurse is a longtime fan of the wonderfully whimsical Dia de Los Muertos graphics that serve as the logo for the Orange County, California, chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (OCNAHN)’s annual educational conference and scholarship luncheon.

Educating Hispanic Parents About AD/HD -Spring '07
According to the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health, more than 300,000 Hispanic children have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).

Study Finds Link Between Uric Acid Levels and Hypertension in Blacks -Spring '07
Could a simple little blood test make a big important difference in helping to reduce the disproportionately high risk of high blood pressure in African Americans?

Cancer Information Available in 13 Asian/Pacific Islander Languages -Spring '07
Are you looking for cancer education materials for patients who speak Asian and Pacific Islander (API) languages such as Hmong, Vietnamese, Korean, Samoan and Tongan?

Surgeon General’s Family History Project Reaches Out to Alaska Natives -Spring '07
For the past three years, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Family History Initiative public health campaign has been encouraging all Americans to learn about their family health histories and become aware of diseases that may run in their family...

Sisters in Scholarships -Winter '07
Meet Minority Nurse’s 2006 Scholarship Winners - Including Two Remarkable Siblings!

Give Your Patients the Gift of Information in 2007 -Winter '07
8 Health Disparity Knowledge Gaps that Nurses Can Help Fill

New Fellowship Focuses on Health Disparities Solutions -Winter '07
Application Deadline: March 15

Worth 1000 words -Winter '07
Does it sometimes seem to you that nursing requires so much skill, flexibility and physical stamina it should be an Olympic event?

2006

Nurse, Patriot, Rushed Off to War - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Lillie Lesesne, of Lincoln-Lemington, PA, became one of a small group of black nurses to serve in the military during World War II. She was a member of the Army Nurse Corps.

Opening Doors to Health Care for Hispanics - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
When Aracilea Vera and her husband lived in Mexico, they worked the fields and lived coin to coin. Never in their lives had they seen a doctor. When they immigrated to St. Louis earlier this year, Vera was pregnant. She says, through a translator, that relatives made sure that her first stop was at La Clinica, an agency that provides health care for Hispanics and other immigrants.

Fall Must-Haves: Reading, Resources and Recruitment
Tools -Fall '06
This is the time of year when consumer magazines are full of photo spreads showcasing everything from the coolest college dorm accessories and the new fall fashions to previews of the sleekest new 2007 cars. But what about nurses who want to know what new resources are available to help them provide culturally sensitive care to diverse patient populations, or to help recruit the next generation of minority nurses? With this in mind, Minority Nurse is pleased to present our own version of that venerable standby, the Fall Shopping Guide. Best of all, many of the items featured here are free—and all of them are much less expensive than a new car!

Mental Health Nursing Trailblazer Dr. Mary Starke Harper Passes Away -Fall '06
This past January, as part of her acceptance speech after receiving a special HHS Secretary’s Award for her exceptional accomplishments in the field of minority health, Mary Starke Harper, PhD, DSc, RN, FAAN, remarked that she “left home against the will of my parents who thought that instead of going to college I should take a job as a housekeeper.” Not only did she go to college, she became one of the nursing profession’s most respected leaders, educators, researchers, federal health policymakers and minority health advocates. Dr. Harper passed away on July 27 at the age of 86.

Worth 1,000 Words -Fall '06
Why are these nurses from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia smiling?

Service to Others is a Family Tradition -Fall '06
Many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders working in health care today owe their success to Vivian Lee. More than two decades ago, the distinguished and now-retired nurse and public health administrator established training programs to encourage people of color to enter the nursing profession.

California Emergency Rooms Hang Up on Linguistic Competence -Summer '06
A new research study reveals that many hospital emergency rooms in California are still not adequately meeting the needs of the linguistically diverse communities they serve.

Minority Nurses Honored for Outstanding Leadership, Advocacy and Service -Summer '06
An African American RN who demonstrated exceptional leadership, an American Indian RN who is a compassionate advocate for wellness and sobriety in her community, and an American Indian LPN who consistently goes beyond the call of duty to improve the health of minority veterans.

Congress Honors African American Nursing Pioneer Mary Mahoney -Summer '06
During Nurses Week 2006 (May 6-12), the health care community and the public had the opportunity to honor Mary Eliza Mahoney, thanks to legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas)—who happens to be a nurse herself.

Houston Nurse Receives $50,000 Award for Leadership During Hurricane Katrina -Summer '06
In Surviving the Storms of Life: Katrina, Rita and Wilma, a special edition of the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) Newsletter, Cynthia J. Hickman, BSN, RN, CM, BC, CVN, writes of her experience caring for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Putting Minority Nursing Faculty Online: The Story Continues -Summer '06
Thomas Edison State College School of Nursing, based in Trenton, N.J., has received a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to fund a three-year initiative designed to recruit and train minority nurse educators to teach distance-learning courses.

Harvard, IHS Team Up to Improve Indian Health -Summer '06
The Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP) are joining forces to tackle the crisis of unequal health outcomes between Native American and non-Native communities in the U.S.

Ethnicity-Based Vitamins: Breakthrough or Marketing Ploy? -Summer '06
GenSpec Labs, LLC, recently announced that it has formulated the world’s first genetically specific nutraceutical product line which effectively addresses the unique metabolic needs of African Americans, Hispanics and Caucasians.

Helping Hispanics Learn Their Family Health Histories -Summer '06
To encourage more Spanish-speaking Americans to become familiar with their family health histories, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona has introduced a new, updated Spanish-language version of My Family Health Portrait, the computerized information-gathering tool designed to help families compile and track their health histories.

Worth 1,000 words -Summer '06
The Eagle Books, a collaborative project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Indian Health Service, teach American Indian and Alaska Native kids about diabetes prevention and healthy living.

Bridging the Language Gap -Summer '06
Some hospitals make non-English-speaking patients feel right at home.

U.S. Muslims Confront Taboo on Nursing Homes (registration required) -Summer '06
As a founder of the growing Shiite Muslim community here, Hussein Walji oversaw the building of the area's first mosque. He directed construction of its youth center, and followers hailed him as a visionary for adding an auditorium for ecumenical functions like the M&M picnic for Muslims and Methodists. But even family members find Mr. Walji's latest expansion uncomfortably American: he is developing plans for an assisted living and nursing complex in this Minneapolis suburb.

Interactive Feature: Caring for Muslim Elders -Summer '06
Uneasy discussions on plans to develop assisted living and nursing homes that cater to Muslim communities.

Males Seek Nursing Careers: Boswell Doubles National Average -Summer '06
Today, half of physicians nationwide are women while 6 percent of nurses are men. But the Boswell School of Nursing bucks that national trend, with more than 10 percent of students being men seeking a future in the nursing field.

'Mistrusted' Male Nurse Wins Sex Bias Case -Summer '06
A male nurse who accused a health service trust of sexual discrimination for refusing to allow him to carry out routine procedures and intimate examinations on female patients won his appeal yesterday.

U.S. Opens its Arms to Immigrant Nurses -Summer '06
As the United States runs short of nurses, senators are looking abroad. A little-noticed provision in their immigration bill would throw open the gate and, some fear, drain nurses from the world's developing countries.

Four for the Money -Summer '06
Congratulations to Minority Nurse's 2005 Scholarship Winners!

American Indian Nursing Leader Roxanne Struthers Passes Away -Summer '06
Roxanne Struthers, PhD, RN, CHTP, AHN-BC, CTN, a pioneering American Indian nursing educator, researcher, author, healer and leader, passed away on December 10, 2005 at the age of 53.

Worth 1,000 Words -Summer '06
On the 40th anniversary of her murder by Alabama Ku Klux Klansmen in the 1960s, civil rights martyr Viola Liuzzo, a former pre-nursing student at Wayne State University in Detroit, was posthumously named an honorary member of the WSU College of Nursing Alumni Association.

Minority Health Disparities Crisis Still News to Most Americans -Spring '06
How can America hope to win the war against racial and ethnic health care disparities when a sizable majority of its citizens still don’t know that the problem even exists?

Good News and Bad News: Some Health Disparities Shrinking, Others Growing -Spring '06
In the 20 years since the Office of Minority Health was created, how much progress has really been made in narrowing the gap of unequal health outcomes between minority and majority Americans?

Office of Minority Health Celebrates 20 Years of Working to End Health Disparities -Spring '06
In 1985, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published its Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Black and Minority Health, a landmark eight-volume report documenting the extent of health disparities affecting Americans of color and recommending action steps for the nation.

NAHN + LatPro.com = New Online Job Center for Hispanic Nurses -Spring '06
What do you get when you bring together the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), which represents Hispanic and Latino nurses coast to coast, and LatPro.com, the leading jobs/careers Web site for Hispanic and bilingual professionals? A new Online Job Center and scholarship program designed to fill the nation’s acute need for more multicultural, Spanish-speaking Hispanic nurses, that’s what.

Reading, Writing and Arrhythmias -Spring '06
Low Health Literacy Is Putting Patients at Risk. National Conference, June 26-27, Seeks Solutions

Cultural Competence... from the Patient’s Perspective -Winter '06
The term cultural competence is finally starting to become common parlance in the nursing profession. Although various definitions of cultural competence exist, when minority health experts talk about “culturally sensitive care” most nurses pretty much understand what this means. But how do patients—especially patients of color—define cultural competence?

A Model Approach to Culturally Competent AIDS Care -Winter '06
Because the AIDS epidemic in America so disproportionately affects minority populations—especially African Americans and Latinos—culturally competent approaches to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention are absolutely essential to eliminating the disparities.

Boston Nurse Wins National Award for Outstanding Filipino American Women -Winter '06
For Gretheline R. Bolandrina, BSN, RN, CRRN, being recognized for outstanding service to the nursing profession and the community is nothing new.

Native American Health Research Programs Receive $6 Million in Grants -Winter '06
A Navajo Nation project to develop a Navajo Ethnomedical Encyclopedia.

Hispanic Physicians Launch Obesity Prevention Campaign -Winter '06
“The nation cannot afford to ignore the obesity crisis and its [health] consequences—especially among Hispanics, a fast-growing population that has a prevalence of being obese.

Asian Women Less Likely to Have Breast-Conserving Surgery -Winter '06
Breast-conserving surgery—i.e., lumpectomy rather than a disfiguring mastectomy—has increasingly become the standard treatment for women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. However, a study published in the online Journal of General Internal Medicine reveals that Asian American and Pacific Islander (AA/PI) breast cancer patients, especially those who were not born in the U.S., are less likely to receive breast-saving surgery than their white counterparts.

11 Ways to Provide Linguistically Competent Patient Education -Winter '06
Looking for patient education information written in Spanish, Chinese, Farsi, Hmong or other languages spoken by the ethnic populations your health care facility serves? Krames-StayWell, a leading publisher of patient education and wellness materials, is adding two new linguistically competent services to its popular Krames On-Demand print-on-demand electronic patient education system.

Taking Charge of Our Own Future: Philippine Nurses Association of America Convenes in Kansas City -Winter '06
“Creating Partnership for a Preferred Future” was the theme of the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA)’s 26th Annual National Convention, held last summer in Kansas City.

How Do You Solve the Minority Nursing Faculty Shortage? Put Them Online! -Winter '06
Although many nursing schools around the country have successfully increased the racial and ethnic diversity of their student populations, there is still a severe shortage of minority nursing faculty.

Worth 1000 Words -Winter '06
This culturally competent wellness education DVD, sponsored by the HMO Kaiser Permanente in partnership with the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Institute of Church Administration and Management, comes with a guidebook covering healthy eating, exercise, health risks, screenings and much more.

National Glaucoma Awareness Month Targets African Americans -Winter '06
In recognition of National Glaucoma Awareness Month, the American Optometric Association (AOA) wants to inform Americans about the risks associated with glaucoma and how everyone can protect themselves and their vision. Glaucoma affects an estimated 4 million Americans and has no cure. African Americans have a greater risk of developing glaucoma than Caucasians.

Call for 2006 Award Nominations from the American Public Health Association -Winter '06
The Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association is calling for nominations for awards to be presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting.

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2005

Nominate an Honoree for the 2006 National Black Nurses Day Celebration -Fall '05
Nominations are being sought for honorees for the 2006 National Black Nurses Day Celebration! Candidates must be Black nurses (RNs and LPNs) with a minimum of 5 years full time experience.

NSNA Celebrates 40th Anniversary of "Breakthrough to Nursing" Project -Fall '05
It was the era of the Civil Rights Movement, a time when history was being made across America. In 1954, the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision mandated the racial integration of the nation's public schools. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King led the March on Washington. And on May 2, 1965, the National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA) made civil rights history in the nursing profession by launching the Breakthrough to Nursing Project (BTN).

Worth 1,000 Words -Fall '05
African Americans have the highest breast cancer mortality rates of any racial or ethnic group.

BiDil Controversy Continues as FDA Approves First "Race-Specific" Drug -Fall '05
Is American health care ready for the first-ever drug targeted specifically to African Americans?

Help Pilot-Test a Culturally Competent Breast Biopsy Education Program -Fall '05
Why is it that African American and Hispanic women have lower incidence rates of breast cancer than white women but higher mortality rates?

Why Don't More Hispanics Participate in Clinical Trials? -Fall '05
According to the Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research Participation, Hispanics account for 13% of the U.S. population but only 1% of participants in clinical trials for new treatments for serious conditions like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

Essential Reading: Annual Review of Nursing Research Examines Health Disparities -Fall '05
Does it seem to you that most academic nursing books and journals still don't pay enough attention to the urgent crisis of racial and ethnic minority health disparities in America and to the role minority nurses can play in helping to eliminate them?

Diabetes Disparities On the Rise in Hawaii -Fall '05
The most recent Hawaii Diabetes Report, released earlier this year by the Hawaii State Department of Health's Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, reveals that this serious disease is a major public health problem in the Aloha State-and it is hitting people of Native Hawaiian, Filipino and Japanese ancestry particularly hard.

University of the Philippines Nursing Faculty Fund Needs You! -Fall '05
Attention, Filipino nurses: If you are an alumnus of the University of the Philippines-Manila College of Nursing (UPCN), or if you simply want to show your support for this venerable educational institution, UPCN's newly established Faculty Endowment Fund hopes to hear from you.

Administration on Aging Awards Grants to Tribal Elders-Fall '05
The federal Administration on Aging (AoA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recently awarded some $30 million in grants to support community programs and services designed to help American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribal elders lead healthier lives.

Minority Coalition for Prescription Drug Assistance Formed -Fall '05
According to a recent Department of Health and Human Services report, only 30% of African Americans over age 65 have prescription drug coverage.

African American, Hispanic/Latina and Asian-Pacific Islander Groups Focus on Breast Health Education, Outreach -Fall '05
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the nation's leading private source of funding for breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment, is accepting nominations for new members to serve on its three minority advisory councils. Councils include The African American National Advisory Council (AANAC), the National Hispanic/Latina Advisory Council (NHLAC) and The Asian American and Pacific Islander National Advisory Council (AAPINAC).

Certified Psychiatric/Mental Health and Gerontology Registered Nurses needed for Katrina Response and Recovery Effort -Fall '05
In response to a request from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) are recruiting approximately 100 certified psychiatric and mental health and gerontology nurses to work in Louisiana .

Minority Nurses in California Face Barriers to Advancement -Summer '05
According to the RN Satisfaction Report, a national job satisfaction survey of 76,000 nurses published earlier this year by the American Nurses Association, the respondents as a whole reported "being highly satisfied with regard to interactions with other RNs, their professional status and [their] professional development opportunities." But another new study reveals that for nurses of color it is often a different story-one of isolation rather than interaction and of barriers to professional advancement instead of opportunities.

Mark Your Calendar for National Minority Organ Donor Awareness Day -Summer '05
August 1 is National Minority Organ Donor Awareness Day, and the National Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program (National MOTTEP®) would love to see more nurses of color get involved in its mission of educating minority communities about organ/tissue transplantation issues and increasing the number of minority Americans who donate organs and tissue, such as kidneys and bone marrow.

Landmark Study Focuses on Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease in Black Americans -Summer '05
According to the Alzheimer's Association, the brain-destroying illness Alzheimer's disease is an emerging public health crisis among older African Americans. Not only is the incidence of Alzheimer's much higher in black Americans than in whites, but black patients also tend to be diagnosed at a later stage of the disease, when cognitive function has already declined substantially. And the crisis is expected to grow as more black baby boomers age: The number of African Americans aged 65 and older will more than double by the year 2030.

Wanted: Manuscripts Wanted for Book on Educating Culturally Diverse Nursing Students -Summer '05
Are you a nursing educator who has developed an innovative solution for meeting the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students? If so, the editors of a forthcoming scholarly book on this important topic would like to hear from you.

Hampton University Nursing Professor Appointed to Key Federal Committee -Summer '05
"This is a wonderful opportunity to help set the national agenda that will have an impact on the health of ethnic minorities. Good health for minorities means good health for the entire nation." So says Cheryl Killion, PhD, MS, MA, BS, research associate professor of nursing and director of the Minority Family Health Center at Hampton University, of her recent appointment to serve on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)'s Advisory Committee on Minority Health.

Woth 1,000 Words -Summer '05
Being a long-time employee has its privileges! Four surgical services department nurses and a colleague, each celebrating a remarkable employee service anniversary, enjoy a day of pampering at a spa, courtesy of their employer, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. (L-R): June Malcolm, operating room assistant (35 years of service), Terry Angelich, RN (35 years), Mary Leach, RN (35 years), Joan Adams, RN (40 years) and Marie Walker, RN (35 years).

Culturally Competent Osteoporosis Education Program Targets Asian Women -Spring '05
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona's first-ever report on the nation's bone health, released last October, reveals that 10 million Americans over age 50 have osteoporosis and another 34 million are at risk for developing the condition. Asian American women are at particularly high risk of developing this bone-weakening disease, which can result in serious fractures of the hip, spine and wrist.

National Marrow Donor Program Needs More Native American Donors -Spring '05
Each year, more than 30,000 Americans-including hundreds of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults and children-die of leukemia, aplastic anemia and other life-threatening blood diseases.

Mexican at High Risk for Severe Chicken Pox -Spring '05
Nurses and nurse practitioners who work with Mexican immigrant populations need to be aware of a new research study which suggests that Mexican-born adults living in the United States have a higher rate of susceptibility to varicella-more commonly known as chicken pox-than adults who were born in the U.S.

Home Is Where the Heart Defibrillator Is -Spring '05
Fans of "The Simpsons" may recall chuckling at the episode in which Homer-whose unhealthy lifestyle certainly makes him a likely candidate for a heart attack-is digging a hole in his back yard, gets chest pains, grabs his home defibrillator, administers a defibrillation shock to his heart and triumphantly exclaims, "Boy, this thing really pays for itself!" In reality, however, there's nothing funny about the crucial role home-use automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) can play in saving the lives of victims of cardiac arrest-especially when you consider that heart disease is one of the leading killers of minority Americans.

Asian American Nurses Meet in San Francisco for First Ever National Conference -Winter'05
"A year ago, we never thought we would have had this meeting. This is truly an opportunity to learn from each other." With these words, SeonAe Yeo, PhD, RNC, president of the Asian American Pacific Islander Nurses Association (AAPINA), officially opened AAPINA's 2004 Annual Conference-the first such national gathering in the association's 12-year history.

Study Finds High Rates of Eye Diseases in Latinos -Winter'05
A groundbreaking epidemiological study of eye disease and visual impairment among Latinos living in the U.S. has turned out to be eye-opening in more ways than one.

NCEMNA Receives Major Federal Grant to Develop Minority Nurse Scientists -Winter'05
Because America urgently needs more minority nurse researchers who can investigate the causes of racial and ethnic health disparities and test preventive interventions, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $2.4 million grant to the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations (NCEMNA) to help increase the number of nurses of color prepared to pursue careers as nurse scientists. The grant is funded by NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).

"Fight KOOL Mixx"-A Reader Responds -Winter'05
In the Fall 2004 issue of Minority Nurse, we published a Second Opinion column written by Margaret A. Davis, MSN, RN, FNP, cancer committee chair for the Chicago Chapter of the National Black Nurses Association. Her article, "Fight KOOL Mixx," urged nurses to take action against racially targeted marketing by the tobacco industry, such as the recent KOOL cigarettes promotional campaign that featured a hip-hop DJ competition and cigarette packs depicting images of hip-hop culture. In response, we received this letter from Sharvette Law Philmon, BSN, RN, a student in the health leadership master's program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

More Awareness of Sarcoidosis Disparities Needed -Winter'05
If you were asked to name a chronic disease that affects African Americans disproportionately compared to whites, sarcoidosis would probably not be the first name to spring to mind. Even though sarcoidosis was first identified more than a century ago, many health care professionals are still unfamiliar with this complex, sometimes debilitating condition.

Resources Available for Fighting SIDS in Native American Communities -Winter'05
Infant mortality is one of the six target areas of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)'s ongoing initiative to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health by the year 2010. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is one of the most common causes of infant mortality, and it is an especially serious problem in Indian Country. According to the CJ Foundation for SIDS, a national non-profit organization dedicated to SIDS prevention, nationwide SIDS rates for infants of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) mothers are 2.6 times higher than in the general population.

Minority Nurses Capture Top Awards in National Recognition Program -Winter'05
An RN with a disability who overcame discrimination to achieve a successful nursing career. An African-American Navy nurse who heroically saved the life of a dying Iraqi boy during Operation Iraqi Freedom. What do these two minority nurses have in common? They were the two top prizewinners (RN Category) in the 2004 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Awards, a national recognition program sponsored by health care apparel manufacturer Cherokee Uniforms.

What Are You Doing This Summer? -Winter'05
Check Out Camp Nursing Opportunities at MinorityNurse.com!

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2004

Minority Nurse Pioneers Honored at ANA Convention -Fall '04
From the first male nurse to be inducted into the national nursing Hall of Fame to nurses of color who courageously blazed trails in education, research, clinical practice and advocacy, the groundbreaking achievements of minority nurse leaders were in the spotlight throughout the American Nurses Association's 2004 Biennial Convention, held June 26-29 in Minneapolis.

Minority Fellowship Program Celebrates Seven Nursing Trailblazers -Fall '04
Another highlight of the 2004 convention was a special reception commemorating the 30th anniversary of the ANA's Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), established in the 1970s to increase the number of doctorally prepared minority nurse researchers and clinicians working in the field of mental health and psychiatric nursing. Originally known as the Ethnic Minority Fellowship Program, MFP funding and support has helped more than 266 Fellows earn their doctorates since the program's inception.

Immunization Disparities Gap Finally Starting to Close -Fall '04
Does it sometimes seem to you that despite years of efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities very little progress is being made? Then here's some encouraging news. The results of a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published earlier this year reveal that there may finally be some light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to reducing at least one key minority health disparity: higher rates of pneumonia and meningitis in African-American children than in their Caucasian counterparts.

University Partners with Tribal Colleges to Improve Health of Native Americans -Fall '04
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.3 times more likely to suffer from diabetes than Caucasian Americans and are about 4.3 times more likely to die from the disease. Yet 100 years ago, when Native people were still able to eat a healthy, natural diet that emphasized fish and wild game, serious chronic health problems like diabetes, obesity and heart disease were virtually unknown in Indian Country.

New Online Cultural Competence Training Program Offers Patient-Based Learning -Fall '04
Because hospitals across the nation are facing the challenge of serving patients and communities that have become increasingly multicultural, doctors and nurses who are culturally and linguistically competent are essential to providing high-quality care. To help health care organizations train their front-line clinical staff to respond more effectively to people from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, Critical Measures, LLC, and the Manhattan Cross Cultural Group have created a new interactive e-learning program, Quality Interactions: A Patient-Based Approach to Cross-Cultural Care ©.

Lieberman Introduces Incentive-Based Health Disparities Legislation -Fall '04
Would rewarding health care providers for delivering equal-opportunity treatment motivate America's medical system to work harder at eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities? That's the intriguing premise behind new legislation proposed this summer by Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.). His initiative, called FairCare, calls for the medical community to establish quantifiable standards of treatment for all patients, to help ensure fairness and consistency of care. But even more important, FairCare would offer financial incentives to providers who show a commitment to leveling the health care playing field.

Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow Takes Aim at the Nursing Faculty Shortage -Summer '04
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), in 2003 U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 11,000 qualified applicants. Why? The most frequently cited reason was that the schools did not have enough faculty to teach them.

Hispanic Nursing Leader Nilda Peragallo Honored -Summer '04
This spring, the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) honored Dr. Nilda P. Peragallo's exceptional commitment to nursing, education and quality health care by presenting her with its prestigious Hispanic Health Leadership Award.

New Resources Available for Recruiting Nursing Students with Disabilities -Summer '04
AAll too often, nursing schools' efforts to recruit more students from underrepresented populations tend to overlook the unique needs of one particular minority group: people with disabilities.

Tribal Health Leaders Blast Bush's Proposed IHS Budget -Summer '04
President Bush's federal budget request for fiscal year 2005 includes $2.97 billion in funding for the Indian Health Service-an increase of $45 million over FY 2004. But the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), an organization that serves tribal governments in advocating for improved health care delivery to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people, charges that this amount still "falls well short of the level of funding that would permit [AI/ANs] to achieve health and health system parity with the majority of other Americans."

FDA Approves First "Bloodless" Rapid HIV Test -Summer '04
When rapid HIV diagnostic tests, which deliver results in about 20 minutes, were first approved for use in the U.S., they were hailed as a major breakthrough in increasing early detection of the HIV virus and preventing the spread of AIDS by people who are unaware that they are HIV-positive...

Is Puerto Rico's Nurse Licensing Exam Equivalent to the NCLEX-RN®? -Summer '04
That's a question the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) has been trying to answer.

New Health Disparities Database Focuses on Solutions, Not Statistics -Summer '04
In a 2003 editorial titled "Too Much Talk and Not Enough Action," Minority Nurse reported on the growing frustration among many minority health leaders who feel it's time to move beyond collecting data about racial and ethnic health disparities and start focusing on finding solutions to these inequities...

Chicago Cancer Support Community Seeks Volunteers -Spring '04
Gilda's Club Chicago, a free cancer support community for people diagnosed with cancer and their families and friends, is proud to offer several volunteer opportunities.

Employee Benefits Managers Clueless About Minority Health Disparities-Spring '04
The earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Many Americans of color do not receive the same quality of health care as whites. While very few people need to be persuaded that these first two statements are true...

He's Green, He's a Doctor and He's Helping Hispanics Lead Healthier Lives -Spring '04
What does a frog have to do with empowering residents of underserved Hispanic communities to learn about the dangers of high cholesterol and take control of their health? Plenty, if the amphibian in question is Sana La Rana,TM mascot of an innovative culturally competent health education program created by the pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.

Black and Hispanic State Legislators Join Forces to Fight Health Disparities -Spring '04
Recognizing that (1) racial and ethnic disparities in health care are a national crisis that must be attacked at the state and local level and (2) there is strength in numbers, leaders of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) and the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) announced that the two groups will join forces in an effort to improve access to quality health care for members of these two minority populations.

First-Ever Guide to Care of Women with Disabilities Published -Spring '04
People with disabilities are a minority population that is often overlooked when it comes to leveling the health care playing field to ensure that all Americans receive the same quality of care. Yet just like persons who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups, this population has its own unique health issues and challenges that care providers must be able to address with knowledge and sensitivity.

Do Spleen Cells Hold the Key to a Cure for Type 1 Diabetes? -Spring '04
The results of a breakthrough study conducted last year by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) suggest that spleen cells may have the ability to develop into insulin-producing pancreatic islet cells in adult animals with type 1 diabetes, replacing old islet cells that were destroyed by the disease...

Breast Cancer Disparities May Have a Biological Basis, Study Suggests-Spring '04
One of the most puzzling of all minority health disparities is that African-American women have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than white women yet are much more likely to die from the disease.

NCEMNA Expands Its Activities, Launches Web Site and Scholarship Program-Spring '04
The year 2003 was a busy one for the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations (NCEMNA)...

North Carolina Hospitals Receive Major Diversity Recruiting Grant-Winter '04
At Rowan Regional Medical Center, a private, not-for-profit acute care hospital in Salisbury, N.C., only 4.6% of the RN staff are men and even fewer (2%) are African-American or Hispanic. It's a situation that mirrors the demographic imbalance of the nation as a whole.

Federal Community Grant Program Takes "Steps" to Improve Minority Health -Winter '04
In June 2001, President Bush launched the HealthierUS Initiative to help improve the health and wellness of all Americans by focusing on four key areas: physical activity, preventive screenings, balanced nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices (such as quitting smoking). Since then, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has implemented a variety of activities to help health care professionals play an important role in achieving the President's goals, under the banner of the department's Steps to a HealthierUS program.

Volunteer Nurses Needed in California for MS Fundraiser -Winter '04
The National MS Society is looking for volunteers for it's MS Walk 2004, an event that benefits the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Orange County Chapter.

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2003

Nurses Honored as Champions of Health Care Diversity
Two of California's most distinguished minority nurses, both of whom have devoted much of their careers to mentoring, teaching and developing training programs for students from underserved communities entering health care professions, were honored this summer by The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) as inaugural winners of its Champion of Health Professions Diversity Award.

Newly Elected NSNA Board of Directors Makes History as Most Diverse Ever
Throughout its more than 50-year history, the National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA) has been a pioneer in embracing racial, cultural and gender diversity in the nursing profession.

A Reader Speaks Out: "Why Don't Minority Communities Encourage Graduate Education?"
We recently received this thought-provoking letter from Marie L. Lobo, RN, PhD, FAAN, a professor at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing in Albuquerque.

Diabetes Health Literacy Board Hopes to Close Patient Education Gaps
Poor literacy skills and diabetes have two things in common: They are reaching epidemic levels in the U.S. and they affect minority populations disproportionately. Put diabetes and low literacy together and the result is a recipe for disaster.

Groundbreaking HIV Prevention Campaign Targets Latino Gay Community
The colorful, bilingual advertisements first began to appear on San Francisco mass-transit buses in June. The messages and images they contain are simple but bold.

Diversity Leadership Initiative Aims to Develop More Minority Health Care Executives
Even though this issue of MN profiles several minority nurses who have broken through the glass ceiling to attain executive-level positions, the unfortunate reality is that persons of color are still severely underrepresented in the field of health care management.

Hispanics Get an A+ in Diabetes Awareness But F in Diabetes Action
A new survey sponsored by the American Heart Association contains good news and bad news for nurses who are working to eliminate diabetes health disparities in Hispanic communities.

Getting Tough About Recruiting Men into Nursing
These nine dudes are strong. They're tough. They're rugged. They're not sissies. They ride Harleys and snowboards. They play basketball and rugby. They've served in the Army and the Navy. Oh, by the way, they also happen to be nurses. And they've got a question for you, mister: Are you man enough to be a nurse?

How to Sell Kids on Nursing: Think Like a Kid!
An African-American nurse zooms through the air on jet-propelled shoes while a poem tells the story of "nurses with rocket shoes" who "flew to Mars and went faster than cars." A racially and gender-diverse group of costumed superheroes invites boys and girls to join the Nurse Force, where they can "save lives and pick up awesome skills." A similarly diverse group of teenagers smiles knowingly, because they've just found out that "nurses earn more than accountants and have more job choices than Web engineers."

ISHIB Offers Guidelines for Treating Hypertension in African Americans
According to the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB), African Americans are significantly more likely to die from high blood pressure than the general public. Yet until now, no clinical guidelines have been available to assist health care professionals in developing HBP treatment strategies targeted to the special needs of this vulnerable, high-risk population.

Hispanic Health Information Is Just a Phone Call Away
According to the most recent U.S. Census, Hispanics are the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group, accounting for 13% of the total population. Moreover, that figure is expected to rise to more than 25% by 2050. Yet in many parts of the country, Hispanics continue to face substantial health disparities, including underinsurance, a lack of linguistically and culturally competent health care providers, and disproportionately high rates of serious chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, cancer and HIV/AIDS.

A New Weapon in the War Against Sickle-Cell Disease
A medication traditionally associated with the treatment of cancer and AIDS has emerged as a surprise weapon in the fight against sickle-cell anemia, the painful and often fatal inherited blood disorder that occurs primarily in African Americans.

New Research Center Focuses on Health Disparities Solutions
At a time when the health care professions are being challenged to put more emphasis on fighting racial and ethnic disparities in health rather than simply gathering data about them, two Baltimore-based academic institutions-Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health and historically black Morgan State University-have joined forces to establish the appropriately named Center for Health Disparities Solutions.

"New" Isn't Always Better When Treating Hypertension
Because cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the six key action areas of the federal initiative to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health by 2010, the development of new drugs for treating high blood pressure in minority populations has become a major priority for many pharmaceutical companies.

Testing Kids'-and Nurses'-Asthma Knowledge
Are you thoroughly up to date on the newest guidelines and treatments for controlling asthma, a disease that affects 17.7 million Americans and is especially common in African Americans and Hispanics? Do you know what causes asthma symptoms and what triggers an asthma attack? Can you provide adult, child and adolescent asthma patients with effective education on how to manage their disease? If not, you aren't alone, according to a surprising new study of nurses' asthma knowledge published last fall in the Journal of Asthma.

"Too Much Talk and Not Enough Action"-A Reader Responds
In the Winter 2003 issue of Minority Nurse, our Editor's Notebook editorial, "Too Much Talk and Not Enough Action," expressed the opinion that it's time for the nation's health professionals to move beyond collecting data on minority health disparities and focus more aggressively on creating solutions based on the substantial information they already have. In response, we received this letter from Daisy Rodriguez, RN, MN, MPA, a board member of the Philippine Nurses Association of America.

Consumer-Targeted Prescription Drug Ads Help Close Minority Health Gaps
You've seen them on TV, heard them on the radio, encountered them while reading the Sunday paper or your favorite magazine. Prescription drug ads aimed directly at health care consumers-rather than drug companies' traditional customer, the physician-have become increasingly common in recent years and now account for as much as 15% of all pharmaceutical advertising. But when it comes to medications for treating chronic conditions that affect African Americans disproportionately, such as hypertension and asthma, do black patients really respond to these appeals to "ask your doctor about such-and-such drug?"

Journal Seeks Manuscripts on Rural Minorities Health
A special focus issue of The Journal of Rural Health is planned to examine health issues concerning minorities and multicultural populations living in rural areas. Featured manuscripts will cover preventive care, primary care, mental health and women's issues as they relate to these communities.

PNAA Study Paints Portrait of Today's Filipino Nurses
During the serious nursing shortage of the 1960s and '70s, hundreds of nurses from the Philippines were brought to America to fill RN staffing gaps. Many of these immigrant nurses chose to stay permanently in the U.S. and went on to achieve successful careers as clinicians and nurse educators. But who exactly are today's Filipino nurses? What roles do they play within the U.S. health care system? What impact have they made on nursing practice in America?

Helping "Sistahs" Learn to Live with Fibroids
African-American women are three to nine times more likely to suffer from uterine fibroid tumors than Caucasian women. While fibroids are usually not a life-threatening condition, they can seriously impair the quality of women's lives by causing severe pelvic pain, excessive bleeding that can lead to anemia, and increased risk of emergency hysterectomies. Although a number of self-help books for fibroid patients are available in the marketplace, virtually none of them have attempted to specifically address the concerns of black women-the audience who needs this advice the most.

Is the Bush Administration Ignoring Gay/Lesbian Health Issues?
So far, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)'s Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health-launched in 1998 as part of former President Bill Clinton's Initiative on Race-seems to have survived the transition to a new Republican administration with its minority health advocacy agenda reasonably intact. But some health experts and policy makers are concerned that George W. Bush's HHS is failing to address the health care needs of one of the nation's most important minority populations: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans.

New Medicare Rules Help Nurses Fight the Flu
Influenza and pneumonia season is here again, and that means an estimated 18,000 to 36,000 Americans age 65 and older are at especially high risk of dying from these illnesses this winter. Even though preventive vaccines are a covered benefit of the Medicare program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reports that in 2001 only 66.6% of white Americans in this age group received flu shots. The figures for Hispanics and for African Americans are even worse-only 55.7% and 48%, respectively.

WANTED: Funding for Culturally Competent Breast Cancer Education Resource
According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, Meet Ruby and Pearl, two lovable, grandmotherly African-American ladies who have recently learned that a combination of monthly breast self-exams, regular mammograms and an annual clinical exam can reduce their risk of suffering from breast cancer. Now they’re on a mission: to spread the word about the importance of early detection and screening to other black women, a population that has the highest breast cancer mortality rates of all racial and ethnic groups. All the two friends need is a little bit of financial assistance to help them take their show on the road.

New Evidence Confirms the Value of Routine Osteoporosis Screening
Is routine bone density testing for women age 65 and older really an effective tool for preventing osteoporosis, the bone-weakening disease that is especially common in women of Asian descent? Until recently, most bone health experts believed there was not enough hard evidence to support either a "yes" or "no" answer to that question.

Have a Nice Cup of Diabetes Prevention
Coffee, tea or milk? According to scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), tea is definitely the best choice for the 17 million Americans currently affected with diabetes, a disease so prevalent in minority populations that it is one of the six target areas of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health.

Coming Soon: 249 New Ways to Fight African-American Health Disparities
Just how serious are the nation’s drug and pharmaceutical companies about developing new medicines designed to close the gap of unequal health outcomes between African Americans and the white majority? Judging from a recent survey by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a national association representing the country’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, the answer appears to be: very serious indeed.

Another Perspective on Men in Nursing
In the Spring 2002 issue of Minority Nurse, our cover story on strategies for recruiting men into nursing examined, among other things, some of the stereotypes, prejudices and outright discrimination that continue to be significant challenges for men who choose to pursue this traditionally female career.

Strategic Plan for Nursing’s Future Includes Diversity on its Agenda
With America’s severe nursing shortage predicted to reach emergency levels by 2010, a national coalition of nursing leaders has united to launch a sweeping strategic action plan for ensuring the profession’s future health.

Minority Children’s Health Gets Poor Report Card
In the year 2000, 86% of Caucasian children in the U.S. were reported by their parents to be in excellent or very good health, compared to only 75% of Hispanic children and 74% of African-American children.

First American Indian Nurse Named to Nursing Hallof Fame
Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, RN (1903-1981) was a nursing pioneer whose life was filled with groundbreaking accomplishments.

Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day Targets African Americans
Physicians across the nation can expect to be busier than usual this fall, thanks to a new health promotion campaign launched by the federal Office of Minority Health (OMH).

DaimlerChrysler Donates Safety Seats to Save Minority Kids’ Lives
Each year, thousands of children in the U.S. are killed or injured in car accidents because they were not riding in child safety seats or because the seats were not installed properly - and a disproportionate amount of those children are African American or Hispanic.

Lupus a Growing Threat for Minority Women  
While efforts to close racial and ethnic health gaps in such areas as cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and cardiovascular disease are frequently in the national spotlight, lupus is one minority health disparity that has received relatively little attention.

Is Healthy People 2010 Ignoring Hispanics?  
The ambitious goal of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’ Healthy People 2010 program is to ensure good health and long life for all Americans...

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Rural Minority Health (But Couldn’t Find Information On)  
When it comes to accessibility and quality of health care, people of color who live in remote rural areas are one of the most severely underserved populations in America.

"Clair Huxtable" Helps Raise Awareness of the Link Between Heart Disease and Diabetes   
Former President Bill Clinton's initiative to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health categorizes cardiovascular disease and diabetes as two separate health issues. Yet the connection between these two conditions is so strong that it is virtually impossible to tackle one without also addressing the other.

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2002

The Face of Nursing Faculty 2001-2002: Still White and Female
Despite the efforts of many of the nation's nursing schools to recruit more minorities and men into their faculty ranks over the past year, a new report from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) paints a disappointing picture of the continued lack of diversity in the world of nursing academia.

AHRQ Seeks Input for 2003 Report on Healthcare Disparities
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is seeking input on the preliminary measure set for a report on prevailing disparities in healthcare delivery, titled the National Health Disparities Report

Racism in the Nursing Workplace Still a Persistent Problem
Have you ever been passed over for a promotion because of your race or ethnicity, even though you met all other qualifications for the job? Do you feel that nurses of color continue to face substantial personal and professional barriers to career advancement? In your opinion, do racial and ethnic minority patients receive lesser quality care than their white counterparts?

Nursing Recruitment Video Targets Students of Color
As the national nurse staffing shortage drags on, more and more nursing schools are launching aggressive campaigns to attract more students into nursing careers. A key element in many of these campaigns is the recruitment video, which typically features a culturally diverse group of nurses talking about why they chose this rewarding career.

Women of Color Face Wide Range of Unequal Health Outcomes
Women of color account for approximately one-third of all adult women in the U.S. Yet compared to women who are members of the white majority, minority women continue to bear a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality from a wide range of health problems-including heart disease, lung cancer, breast cancer, HIV/AIDS, suicide and lack of adequate medical insurance.

Burnes Bolton Appointed to Federal Nursing Advisory Council
Under former President Bill Clinton's administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) set a pattern of appointing minority nurses to serve in key health care policy-making roles.

Author of First-Ever Book on the History of Minority Nurses Wants to Hear Your Stories
Did you know that abolitionist leaders Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth both worked as nurses during the Civil War? Can you name the first black nurse to join the American Red Cross Nursing Service? (Answer: Frances Reed Elliott Davis, in 1918.) Were you aware that Dr. Phoebe Dauz Williams was the first Filipino-American nurse to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN)? Or that the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) was founded in 1975 by Ildaura Murillo-Rohde, RN, PhD, FAAN?

Two New Studies Paint Bleak Picture of Minority Health in America
Nurses who are familiar with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ national initiative to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health by 2010 are already well aware that accomplishing these goals will be no small task. Now two groundbreaking new reports on the status of minority health care in the U.S. not only confirm that fact but also present disturbing evidence that the gap of unequal health outcomes between Caucasian Americans and Americans of color may be even wider and deeper than experts had originally believed.

Minority Men’s Health Disparities Reaching Crisis Proportions
When it comes to health, American men who are non-white and poor are suffering from such a disproportionate burden of serious health problems compared to white males that some public health leaders believe the situa-tion has become a national crisis that will continue to worsen unless urgent interventions are made.

More Minority Americans Opt for Plastic Surgery
More Americans are getting face lifts and other types of cosmetic surgery these days, and more of those faces being lifted are likely to be non-Caucasian than ever before.

Maya Angelou Collaborates With Medical School to Launch Minority Health Research Center
When you hear the name of acclaimed African-American writer Maya Angelou, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Her best-selling autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? Her poem "On the Pulse of Morning," which she read at Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration ceremony in 1993? Now that Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., has established the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health, her name will also be associated with the national initiative to eliminate racial health disparities.

How to Treat Your Patients with CLAS
Nurses who have been following the progress of the federal Office of Minority Health's landmark project to develop a set of comprehensive national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in health care know that the final version of the standards was officially published in the Federal Register in December 2000.

War on Health Disparities Gets New Battlefront: The Workplace
America's team of doctors, nurses, researchers, epidemiologists and other health care professionals working to reduce long-standing disparities in health outcomes between majority and minority populations is about to be joined by an unusual new player: corporate employers.

Landmark Study Finds Flu Shots Safe for Asthma Patients If you were a person with asthma at the start of the annual flu season, which of these two options would you prefer: (A) Get a flu shot and risk dangerous side effects that could worsen your asthma attacks, or (B) Forego the shot and risk a dangerous case of the flu, a disease that can be particularly deadly for asthma patients?

Study Sheds New Light on Filipino Americans' Health Needs
Even though Filipino Americans are one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations in the U.S., relatively little research has been conducted on this minority group's health status, risk behaviors and health promotion practices.

MinorityNurse magazine named recepient of 2002 award of distinction
Evanston, IL -Leading career development publisher, CareerRecruitment Media, Inc., announced today its multicultural career and educational development publication, Minority Nurse, is the recipient of an Award of Distinction in the 2002 Communicator Awards competition.

Johnson & Johnson Launches Diversity-Based Campaign to End the Nursing Shortage
In February, millions of TV viewers who tuned in to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City got the chance to vicariously experience such thrilling activities as ski jumping, snowboarding, speed skating and nursing.

Muscular Dystrophy Research and Prevention Targets Hispanics
A rare form of muscular dystrophy previously thought to affect mostly French Canadians and an ethnic group in Israel known as Bukhara Jews has been discovered in a group of Hispanic families in New Mexico, reports the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).

Minority Entrepreneur Offers 366 Days of Caregivers' Comfort
America's baby boomers are aging at a rapid rate and living up to 15 years longer than their parents' generation. This rise in the elderly population is creating a huge need for more nurses to provide elder care in hospitals as well as more caregivers who provide health care to ailing family members in their own homes.

IHS Receives Research Grants and a New Headquarters
The Indian Health Service (IHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), both agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, recently agreed to continue their partnership initiative to include American Indians and Alaskan Natives (AIs/ANs) as participants in and beneficiaries of the research and training supported by the NIH.

Nurses Recognized for Their Work as Advocates for the Underserved
During its Annual Awards Banquet held last September in Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA) recognized the exceptional accomplishments of nurses working in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Filipino Nurse Honored by Schering/KEY for Asthma and Allergy Awareness
School nurses from across the country are creating innovative programs to teach students and parents about asthma and allergies in their communities.

Organizations Unite to Increase Seat Belt Use Among African Americans
In a keynote address delivered to a recent meeting of the Blue Ribbon Panel to Increase Seat Belt Use Among African Americans, U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) informed the panel that the seat belt campaign was vitally important, not only as a safety issue but also as a health initiative nationwide.

New Program Helps Reduce Risk of Reoccurring Heart Attacks
A new program, Get With the Guidelines, is playing an important role in heart disease prevention by significantly increasing the number of health care providers who follow the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for preventing second heart attacks.

Nursing Boards Endorse “Americans For Nursing Shortage Relief” Initiative
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Board of Directors endorsed the document “Americans for Nursing Shortage Relief” (ANSR) at a meeting this past fall.

New Diversity: Allied Health Careers Magazine to Debut This Summer
To help college students discover the latest job opportunities in allied health care and acquire the know-how to land those jobs, Career Recruitment Media, Inc., the publisher of Minority Nurse, will launch a new magazine in July 2002: Diversity: Allied Health Careers.

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2001

Senior Citizens At Risk for Untreated Asthma
Many elderly people have moderate or severe asthma that has been underdiagnosed or undertreated, according to a recent study by Johns Hopkins University.

Mobile Mammograms Serve Native American Women
The Indian Health Service, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, recently launched a new digital mammography unit, the Mobile Breast Care Center, which will improve access to mammography services for American Indian/Alaskan Native women.

African-American Women, Medicaid Moms, Receive Fewer Anesthesia Options
Ethnicity and insurance coverage may determine the kind of anesthesia a woman receives during labor, according to a recent study at the University of New York at Buffalo.

Philippine Nurse Receives DAISY Award in Neuroscience
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and The Foundation for the Elimination of Diseases Attacking the Immune System (DAISY) recently honored Cedars-Sinai's neuroscience nursing staff with the inauguration of the hospital's DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses program.

UAB Receives Grant to Study Diabetes Self-Care Among Black, Caucasian Teens
The National Institute of Nursing Research has given the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) a four-year, $1.3 million grant to study how parents should encourage responsible self-care in adolescents with chronic illnesses such as diabetes.

African Americans Missing Out on Stroke Treatment
African-American men and women, who are at a greater risk for strokes and are more likely to die from them than any other racial or ethnic group, face a racial gap in receiving new stroke treatments, according to studies by the American Heart Association.

Is TV Making African Americans Fat?
A new study released by the University of Chicago Children's Hospital finds TV shows geared toward African-American audiences have more overweight characters and 60% more food commercials than shows that attract a general audience.

At the Head of the Class
Minority Nurse 2001 Scholarship Winners.

Minority Nurse Population: Going Up!
Although the number of licensed registered nurses in the United States increased by more than 5% between 1996 and 2000, this growth rate was much smaller than in previous years, holding little hope of any quick fix for the nation’s worsening nursing shortage.

National Council of Negro Women Celebrates Nurses of Color
“If history has taught us anything, it is that people who don’t learn from their past have no present, and people who don’t preserve their past will never have a future,” keynote speaker Marie O. Pitts Mosley, RN, EdD, PNP, told her audience at the Women’s History Month Celebration dinner, “Highlight the Contributions of People of Color to the Profession of Nursing,” hosted by the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)’s Metropolitan Dade County Section.

Tribal Head Start Programs Get a Boost From Indian Health Services
To intensify and expand its efforts to assist tribal Head Start programs, the Indian Health Service (IHS) has named Orietta Cuellar, BA, a member of the Absentee-Shawnee tribe and a descendent of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, as director of the IHS Head Start Program.

Latinas Join Forces to Prevent Drug Abuse
More than 2,000 Latinas from Mission, Texas and the surrounding area gathered recently at Mission High School to launch a new bilingual public education campaign developed by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

Minority Immigrants Live Longer, Stay Healthier
There is an unfortunate stereotype in the United States that immigrants are less healthy than U.S-born residents—but in reality, minority immigrants are living longer, healthier lives than American-born racial and ethnic minorities.

Study Determines Effect of Breast Cancer Support Programs
Can stress management, social support and exercise have an effect on the overall health of women recently diagnosed with breast cancer? The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is conducting a study to find out.

Fair Care Act to Aid People of Color
According to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans without health insurance has declined since 1998, but Hispanics and other ethnic and racial minority groups continue to comprise a disproportionate number of the uninsured.

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