NBNA Launches Obesity Initiative in Honor of its 20th Anniversary
National Black Nurses Day on Capitol Hill
The National Black Nurses Association will host its 20th Annual National Black Nurses Day on Capitol Hill on Thursday, February 14, 2008, The Washington Court Hotel on Capitol Hill, 525 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. The theme of the event is “Black Nurses and the Presidential Health Agenda”.
Over 200 nurses and nursing students will attend the sessions. U.S. Representative Donna Christian Christensen, chair, Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust is our Congressional host.
Featured speakers are Dora Hughes, MD, MPH, Health Policy Advisor, Senator Barack Obama; Leecia Eve, JD, MPA, Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Hillary Clinton; Maryland State Delegate Shirley Nathan Pulliam; and, Caroline Powers, Deputy Director, Office of the Governor, State of Massachusetts (invited).
In honor of the 20th Anniversary of National Black Nurses Day on Capitol Hill, the NBNA is launching its National Obesity Initiative. It is calling on each of its 79 chapters to collectively lose 360 pounds or more by August 4, the beginning of the NBNA 36th Annual Conference. Each chapter will hold continuing education sessions on obesity and chronic diseases, reflecting the theme of the Conference, “Nursing Practice: The Prevention and Management of Chronic Diseases”. And, each chapter will host a community based physical activity program, testing a variety of exercise programs including line dancing, neighborhood walks, yoga, water aerobics, Pilates and tai chi. NBNA will collaborate with other organizations to host health and wellness activities around obesity.
States NBNA President Dr. Debra A. Toney, “NBNA chapters are already providing fantastic health screenings and health education programs in their communities. We now want to get to the heart of our health care disparities, being overweight and obese. Obesity is a preventable disease. We need to make sure that all of us have healthier lifestyle habits. We are going to start with our membership and in the communities where we live and work.”
The NBNA mission is to provide a forum for collective action by African American nurses to “investigate, define and determine what the health car needs of African Americans are and to implement change to make available to African Americans and other minorities health care commensurate with that of the larger society”.
