AARP CEO Bill Novelli Delivers Remarks On Creation Of Center To Champion Nursing

Source: AARP Press Center | December 6, 2007

Good morning everyone. We’re very pleased to be partnering with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch a new Center to Champion Nursing in America.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a powerful force for health and health care in America. When the book on America’s triumph over tobacco disease is finally written, the Foundation will be in every chapter. And now Risa is guiding the Foundation into the critical area of childhood obesity, which is going to create enormous improvements in our nation’s health.

The Foundation and AARP share a common goal of better health for all people in this country. And, today we are announcing that we will combine our resources—as we have in other initiatives—to work together toward that goal.

As Risa observed—and as everybody here knows—our health care system is in drastic need of an overhaul. There is a convergence of three dangerous trends: rising costs, increasing numbers of Americans without insurance coverage and poor quality of health care delivery. We need fundamental reform.

Part of our problem is a shortage of nurses. And, it’s only going to get worse if we don’t do something about it now. Nurses are on the front lines of health care in America; and they are the backbone of our health care system.

This shortfall affects the ability of today’s nurses to deliver effective and compassionate care. And as the need for nurses increases—as it will, with our aging population —the supply of nurses will not be there to meet that demand.

All Americans should have access to affordable, quality health care. And, without adequate numbers of well-trained nursing professionals, Americans will not have the health care they need.

Nurses are critical to ensuring that patients get the best care possible—not just in hospitals, but in the delivery of home health care, in assisted-living facilities and in nursing homes. They account for more than half of all health care providers. The research is clear: having more nurses means better quality care and improved health for patients.

So the nursing shortage is a major problem that must be addressed. With the announcement of the Center, we are going to do our part to solve this problem.

We will work with and engage all the stakeholders, starting with nurses and their leadership, and also including other health care providers, policy makers, business and consumers. We intend to educate and inform people about these issues and to advocate for change.

We especially have to get health consumers –the public -- engaged in this. They are the ones most affected by the shortage of qualified, trained nurses. As people get older, they tend to use more health care. So this is having a tremendous impact on our over 39 million members, all of whom are 50 or older.

In addition, many of our members are nurses. I talk to them all the time. They are proud of the important work they do. And many of them want to keep doing it, just as many other older workers want to keep active and contributing. In our Best Employers for Workers Over 50 program, many of the winners are health care organizations. I see how much they value their older nurses, and we want to involve all of these organizations and employees in this endeavor.

Informed consumers are powerful advocates. So, one of the charges of this Center will be to effectively communicate the problem and help mobilize consumers to add their voices to the call for change.

That’s what we are doing now with Divided We Fail, a nationwide movement to engage the American people, businesses and elected officials in finding bi-partisan solutions to ensure that everyone has access to quality, affordable health care and the opportunity to attain lifetime financial security.

Our partners in Divided We Fail are the Business Roundtable, the Service Employees International Union and the National Federation of Independent Business. I believe that they, too, will be involved in working to improve the supply and support of nurses in America.

As part of Divided We Fail, we’re collecting thousands of stories from ordinary people about the problems they face every day regarding health and long-term financial security. We are making those voices heard on Capitol Hill and in the presidential campaigns and demanding change.

In creating the Center to Champion Nursing in America, we intend to be a catalyst for change to help reverse the shortage of nurses. The Center will work in a broad national coalition of nurses, consumers, business, labor and others.

We want the Center will be a strong, voice for consumers demanding change, as well as for the nurses themselves, who need a bigger role in decision-making -- in policy and at the clinical and administrative levels. Their wisdom and insight can improve the quality and delivery of health care.

We thank Risa and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their commitment to this effort, and we look forward to working with them to help improve the health and health care for all people in this country.

One of the successes of AARP in the past year has been to welcome Susan Reinhard as director of our Public Policy Institute, which is the policy research and analysis arm of AARP. She will direct the Center to Champion Nursing in America, with the support and commitment of our entire organization.

We intend to make a major contribution to what the Center’s name clearly states: championing nursing in America.

Thank you.