About me
I am Lisa George Jordan, PhD, RN. I am a member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (AHNE), and I work on the Education Work Group in AHNE. I began my nursing career as an oncology nurse within the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Currently, I am a Professor of Nursing at Prince George's Community College in Maryland.
In addition to teaching, I am President of the DC/MD League for Nursing, a constituent league of the NLN. Last year, with the support of a grant from Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), the DC/MD League offered a workshop to help nurses explore their role in the protection of the environment. The data obtained as a result of this workshop included the following interesting points: A majority of attendees, when questioned several months after the workshop, reported behavioral changes at home and at work which support the environment. While 93% of attendees agreed that Nurses should take the lead in addressing environmental health concerns, 73% felt nursing curricula did not adequately address strategies for fostering environmental health! All of the respondents agreed that attention to environmental issues is a matter of social justice.
I strongly believe that we as nurses have an obligation to raise our voices to effect policy decisions to support the health of our environment. Florence Nightingale indentified the essential importance of the environment to health. Following her example, we must commit our energy to share our evidence and understanding throughout our communities to bring about change. Join us in our work at enviRN!
