One nurse’s experience running for township trustee reveals how local governance shapes water, land, and community health.
Ann M. Stalter, PhD, RN, M. Ed. | Professor | Wright State University |College of Health, Education, and Human Services | School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences
Key Takeaways to Consider
- Local government decisions shape health. Land use, infrastructure, and environmental stewardship affect air quality, water systems, food security, and climate resilience.
- Governance is a nursing practice setting. Nurses can bring population health expertise to planning boards, township meetings, and elected leadership roles.
- Planetary health leadership starts locally. When nurses participate in governance, prevention and environmental protection become part of community decision-making.
One evening not long ago, I stood outside a local polling place explaining something unusual to voters.
“You have to write my name in.”
I was running as a write-in candidate for Township Trustee, something this nurse never imagined doing. But as I explored planetary determinants of health, I realized:
Decisions shaping community health are often made by local governments, not in hospitals.
Long before someone develops asthma, cardiovascular disease, or heat-related illness, local governments have already shaped the environment where they live. Decisions about land use, water systems, infrastructure, and development influence air quality, food systems, transportation patterns, and climate resilience. Yet nurses aren’t present to influence decisions. Running for office became an extension of health promotion.
You might ask, “What does the township government have to do with health?”
Township governments make decisions about land use, agriculture, infrastructure, stormwater, and public resources. Each affects air, water, food systems, biodiversity, and climate resilience– planetary determinants of health.
When farms are replaced with sprawl, communities experience cascading impact—more traffic emissions, flood risk, and reduced food production. Participating in these decisions is prevention and health promotion.
In my township, development pressure is increasing rapidly. Residents voiced their concerns– a farmer worried about losing land, and a mother about speeding traffic. Yet these concerns were not systematically translated into policy. Planning discussions included consultants, government staff, but lacked meaningful community engagement. As a nurse, I recognized a familiar pattern:
Policy decisions were being made without a comprehensive community assessment.
Listening to communities, identifying shared values, and translating evidence into action are core nursing skills and essential to governance.
Land as a Public Health Issue
Nurses understand that health is shaped long before clinical care is needed. Land use decisions determine access to nutritious food, safe activity, toxins exposure, and climate resilience. Local officials make these upstream decisions daily. Nurses bring a prevention lens that guides equitable, sustainable, and healthy outcomes.
My Story: Nursing Praxis in Action
Running as a write-in candidate required persistence and listening. At the same time, nursing students conducted a community assessment to inform land-use planning. Students completed surveys, observations, and interviews. Their role was assessment, not advocacy.
Two concerns surfaced repeatedly: Groundwater and Traffic Safety. Residents worried about wells running dry and aquifer contamination. In rural areas, aquifers take decades to recover. Residents also described fatal crashes involving teenage drivers on roads lacking safety improvements.
Students also identified priorities such as agricultural preservation, responsible growth, and environmental sustainability. Their findings demonstrated how local governance can serve as a real-world setting for nursing practice.
Why Should Nurses Participate in Local Governance?
Nurses bring a perspective often missing in decision-making. Our training emphasizes prevention, population health, environmental exposure, and equity across generations. Participating in governance allows nurses to move beyond advisory roles and directly influence community health outcomes.
Protecting farmland, planning sustainable development, and investing in resilient infrastructure are forms of public health prevention. These choices help preserve food systems, reduce exposure, protect biodiversity, and strengthen climate resilience.
Nurses can advance planetary health at the local level.
You don’t have to run for office to begin engaging in governance. Nurses can start by:
- Attending local government meetings,
- Serving on planning commissions or advisory boards,
- Bringing public health evidence into policy discussions,
- Supporting community health assessments, and/or
- Considering appointed or elected leadership roles.
Local governments need leaders who understand how environmental decisions affect population health.
Author Reflection
Running for township trustee reshaped my view of nursing. It made clear that health is shaped by land, water, and local decisions. Listening to residents revealed governance and care intertwine, showing politics is an extension of nursing practice. Township planning reflects prevention, ethics, and community voice. If planetary health begins locally, nurses belong in spaces where those decisions are made.
This blog reflects my professional experience and perspectives; I used an AI tool for drafting support and to assist with word count reduction, organization, clarity, and grammar.
Bio
Nurse leader and advocate for planetary health, this author is a full professor at Wright State University School of Nursing and Co-Chair of the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) Research Committee. Her work integrates population health, environmental stewardship, and community engagement, emphasizing the role of local governance in shaping health outcomes and advancing sustainable, community-centered nursing practice. Contact: drannmariestalter@gmail.com or ann.stalter@wright.edu
