Over 400 ANHE Members in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas are working to assure that our patients, families, and communities have access to a healthy environment to live, work, learn, worship, and play. We host events, share information about what’s going on, and create opportunities for nurses to talk to their legislators and each other about all things environmental health.
What We’re Working On
Safeguard lead protections today!
With pressure from corporate lobbyists, Congress is trying to push through two resolutions that would ultimately leave millions of families exposed to more lead for decades. Send a letter to your members of Congress today and urge them to reject the proposed resolutions to roll back lead protections!
Join Nurse Heroes for Zero Emissions
Join forces with nurses committed to advocating for clean car standards and promoting sustainable transportation options to improve health. Learn more here.
UPCOMING WEBINAR: Children’s Hospitals and Climate Resilience
Join Children’s Hospital Association, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital for another webinar in our series exploring the creation and implementation of climate resilience plans at children’s hospitals across the country.
In this webinar, Texas Children’s staff will share how they collaborated across the organization to develop a climate resilience plan. They’ll share how the hospital has been preparing for natural disasters and their plans to provide care for and protect children during times of uncertainty.
The webinar will include a Q&A, facilitated by Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
Climate + Health Peer Learning Circle, 2025
Raise your health voice and make an impact! Join a dynamic community of health leaders dedicated to driving climate action and creating lasting change.
The Climate Advocacy Lab’s Climate + Health Peer Learning Circle is a free training program designed for experienced leaders at the intersection of climate and health. This regional initiative combines in-person workshops and virtual sessions to foster peer learning and collaboration. Participants will refine their leadership skills, gain strategies for community engagement, and exchange insights with a network of accomplished peers. If you’re ready to amplify your impact and drive systemic change, this program will equip you with the tools and connections to lead transformative climate action.
The health impacts of climate change are undeniable—and the time to act is now. As a health professional, you have the power to protect human health and inspire change.
Meet Your South Regional Forum Organizer
LaDonna Gaines, DNP, MPH, RN, CSPI (She/Her)
LaDonna Gaines, DNP, MPH, RN, CSPI is the Administrative Director of the Alabama Poison Information Center located at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham. She has been a nurse for 19 years. She has worked as a Hematology/Oncology Staff Nurse, Medical Case Manager, and a Specialist in Poison Information throughout her career. Her public health concentration is environmental health and toxicology. She is a 2022-2023 Fellow of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE), a 2023-2024 Mentor for the ANHE Fellowship program, and a recent member of the Climate Advocacy Lab’s Climate + Health Peer Learning Circle, 2023-2024. She sits on the Advisory Board of Nurse Heroes for Zero.
Contact LaDonna at anheforumsouth@gmail.com
Highlights
ANHE South Regional Forum Organizer, LaDonna Gaines, hosts The Environmentalist Nurse Podcast
Join LaDona Gaines every month as she delves into the world of environmental health and climate from a nurses’s perspective. We’ll explore environmental issues, climate change, climate health, advocacy, and much more with expert guests, nurses involved in the work, perceptive analysis, and thought-provoking conversation.
Whether you’re a seasoned environmental health advocate or just starting to learn, the Environmentalist Nurse Podcast will keep you informed and engaged.
Science and Art Collaborations: Engaging Gulf Communities in Understanding and Addressing Complex Environmental Issues
On February 19, 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program and the Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences convened a one-day workshop at the 2024 Gulf of Mexico Conference in Tampa, Florida focused on artist and scientist collaborations – and how they could support and inspire a healthy, resilient, and sustainable future across Gulf Coast communities. An ad hoc committee planned a workshop that delved into areas including creative problem-solving, ways to understand and engage with complex topics through creative practices, mutual learning and educational opportunities that result from artists and scientists working together, and how art and science collaborations can elevate community voices. Read the brief here.
Contributor(s): National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences; Gulf Research Program; Taylor Kate Brown and Sasha Allison, Rapporteurs
Building an Effective Environmental Sustainability Program
Join Children’s Hospital Association (CHA), Boston Children’s Hospital, and Practice Greenhealth (PGH) for the first webinar in our series exploring how children’s hospitals can launch and grow environmental sustainability programs improving the health of patients and their communities.
In this webinar, learn how Boston Children’s sustainability team gained support from C-suite leaders to champion the work across the organization. Hear how they connected environmental health efforts to the hospital’s mission, engaged employees in planning and prioritizing initiatives, and did an internal “road show” resulting in improved workstreams.
PGH will share resources to help begin and advance sustainability programs and discuss strategies that have been successful at other hospitals. Listen here.
