Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™ - Champion Spotlight Series - ANA-Illinois
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State nurses association focuses on increasing physical activity for nurses and ending nurse abuse.
ANA-Illinois is the state affiliate of the American Nurses Association. They represent ALL registered nurses in the state of Illinois, without regard to specialty or practice setting. They have also just upped their partner level with Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation (HNHN) to Champion! And why not since they have set up a branch known as Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation-Illinois (HNHN-IL)? With their own HNHN private Facebook group of over 380 members and a dedicated committee, they are ready to take off. Recently, HNHN got to sit down and talk with HNHN-IL's State Lead, Molly Moran, MSN, RN, CCRN.
ANA-Illinois' initial involvement with HNHN started in 2017. Their past activities have included 5K races and the Chicago Summerdance. In January 2020, ANA-Illinois had a call for volunteers. The board was looking specifically to form a dedicated HNHN committee to further the program. In March, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee came together with a representative from each of the six regions in Illinois plus a program lead. Each representative has their reason for participating in HNHN-IL, and the group tries to capitalize on the strengths of each member. Still, they all share one overarching goal: encourage nurses to adopt healthy habits that lead to lifelong improvements in their health and wellness.
To achieve this, Molly outlines its metrics below:
Amazingly, they offered 31 days of small ways to get more active. Molly says, "We realize that not everyone is a runner or has a structured fitness routine. Trying to find a place to start can be overwhelming, and so we wanted to give our members ideas on how to incorporate more physical activity in their daily life." Some of the daily challenges included lunging for the duration of your favorite song, engaging in a small mountain climber challenge, trying a new yoga pose, and getting 2,000 steps more than the previous day. The committee did not just provide a daily challenge but incorporated education to inform members about proper technique, benefits to health, and the history behind some workouts.
An essential partner in the physical activity domain is "All Community Events". With HNHN-IL, they are promoting The Great Run Across Illinois Virtual Relay & Solo Challenge. They have a goal of $10,000.00 for the Illinois Nurses Foundation. The run is an exciting initiative as participants can choose to exercise (run, walk, bike) for 210 miles from the state's east to west borders or 390 miles from the state's north and south borders, individually or on a team. This event will continue through July 2020.
#EndNurseAbuse also plays a big part in HNHN-IL. Their work in this area includes a resource webpage and a dedicated committee. For HNHN-IL, committee members will share the various healthy ways they manage the stress associated with the secondary effects of nurse abuse. Their experiences are vast, and representation is broad: some are working inpatient, ambulatory care, community care, and even airline industry wellness.
As HNHN-IL looks to the future, literally and figuratively, they can't wait for September. In conjunction with HNHN-USA's initiative to include student nurses, they plan to host a town hall meeting focusing on student nurse health and wellness. And with the positive feedback they received, Molly assures us another month-long challenge is in the works! As ANA-Illinois continues to gain momentum, ANA-Illinois executive director, Susan Y. Swart, EdD, MS, RN, CAE, is excited to see what comes next. Swart says, "ANA-Illinois recently hit a milestone of 5000 members, and we know that members are looking for a meaningful way to engage in our work. The HNHN-Illinois program offers members an opportunity to become involved in activities that will improve their wellbeing and positively impact their patients."
Learn more about the work of our Champion partners here and become an HNHN Champion.
Have you joined the Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation yet? Join us today!
ANA-Illinois is the state affiliate of the American Nurses Association. They represent ALL registered nurses in the state of Illinois, without regard to specialty or practice setting. They have also just upped their partner level with Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation (HNHN) to Champion! And why not since they have set up a branch known as Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation-Illinois (HNHN-IL)? With their own HNHN private Facebook group of over 380 members and a dedicated committee, they are ready to take off. Recently, HNHN got to sit down and talk with HNHN-IL's State Lead, Molly Moran, MSN, RN, CCRN.ANA-Illinois' initial involvement with HNHN started in 2017. Their past activities have included 5K races and the Chicago Summerdance. In January 2020, ANA-Illinois had a call for volunteers. The board was looking specifically to form a dedicated HNHN committee to further the program. In March, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee came together with a representative from each of the six regions in Illinois plus a program lead. Each representative has their reason for participating in HNHN-IL, and the group tries to capitalize on the strengths of each member. Still, they all share one overarching goal: encourage nurses to adopt healthy habits that lead to lifelong improvements in their health and wellness.
To achieve this, Molly outlines its metrics below:
- Increase awareness of the national Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation initiative through:
- Utilization of the components of the HNHN Toolkit.
- Monthly advertisement or article in the ANA-Illinois Member Newsletter.
- Creation of an HNHN ANA-Illinois newsletter.
- Information sharing on our Facebook page.
- Increase participation in HNHN ANA-Illinois' Facebook group by 35%.
- Customize the HNHN-ANA monthly challenges for our Illinois members.
Amazingly, they offered 31 days of small ways to get more active. Molly says, "We realize that not everyone is a runner or has a structured fitness routine. Trying to find a place to start can be overwhelming, and so we wanted to give our members ideas on how to incorporate more physical activity in their daily life." Some of the daily challenges included lunging for the duration of your favorite song, engaging in a small mountain climber challenge, trying a new yoga pose, and getting 2,000 steps more than the previous day. The committee did not just provide a daily challenge but incorporated education to inform members about proper technique, benefits to health, and the history behind some workouts.
An essential partner in the physical activity domain is "All Community Events". With HNHN-IL, they are promoting The Great Run Across Illinois Virtual Relay & Solo Challenge. They have a goal of $10,000.00 for the Illinois Nurses Foundation. The run is an exciting initiative as participants can choose to exercise (run, walk, bike) for 210 miles from the state's east to west borders or 390 miles from the state's north and south borders, individually or on a team. This event will continue through July 2020.
#EndNurseAbuse also plays a big part in HNHN-IL. Their work in this area includes a resource webpage and a dedicated committee. For HNHN-IL, committee members will share the various healthy ways they manage the stress associated with the secondary effects of nurse abuse. Their experiences are vast, and representation is broad: some are working inpatient, ambulatory care, community care, and even airline industry wellness.
As HNHN-IL looks to the future, literally and figuratively, they can't wait for September. In conjunction with HNHN-USA's initiative to include student nurses, they plan to host a town hall meeting focusing on student nurse health and wellness. And with the positive feedback they received, Molly assures us another month-long challenge is in the works! As ANA-Illinois continues to gain momentum, ANA-Illinois executive director, Susan Y. Swart, EdD, MS, RN, CAE, is excited to see what comes next. Swart says, "ANA-Illinois recently hit a milestone of 5000 members, and we know that members are looking for a meaningful way to engage in our work. The HNHN-Illinois program offers members an opportunity to become involved in activities that will improve their wellbeing and positively impact their patients."
Learn more about the work of our Champion partners here and become an HNHN Champion.
Have you joined the Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation yet? Join us today!
Blog Champion Spotlight
06/04/2020 8:29am CDT
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