Florence Nightingale’s energy, vision and activism live on in many of today’s nurses, some of whom have become legends in the profession. Nurse.com profiles several exemplary nurses from a variety of backgrounds who reflect the scope of Nightingale’s influence, including their thoughts on the link between Nightingale and current practice.
Linda Burnes Bolton, RN, DrPH, FAAN, is vice president and chief nursing officer, Cedars-Sinai Health System and Research Institute, Los Angeles
Burnes Bolton knows what can happen when children don’t believe they have options.
“I grew up in the projects, and all the kids would struggle to think about what their lives could be,” she says.
As a child, Burnes Bolton was in and out of hospitals with asthma. Her inspiration to become a nurse came from the caring nurses she encountered.
“I’ve always believed in the power of humans helping humans,” she says. “Nursing provides a venue to promote healing and caring. So my lifelong and career-long work has been about promoting human caring.”
Burnes Bolton became a nurse in 1970. She started a program to expand diversity in the sciences as she earned a doctorate in public health. She became an executive at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, a job she loves, she says, because it keeps her connected with patients, nurses, the community and academia.
Then, in 1991, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Nursing awarded a contract to the National Black Nurses Association, of which Burnes Bolton was a member. The contract called for the development of a community education program addressing eight objectives of the Healthy People 2000 program, the Public Health Services’ priorities for improving Americans’ health.
The Community Collaboration Model was born. Today, Burnes Bolton’s model is used in more than 100 communities throughout the U.S. as a framework for improving people’s health. It focuses on the power of a community to heal itself through collective knowledge, skills and commitment.
“We have to provide knowledge and resources to get people concerned enough to do something about their health,” Burnes Bolton says. “My work with various organizations has been about aligning the caring that already exists within communities.”
The model links physicians and nurses in professional societies with neighborhoods, beauty shops and other places to raise awareness of how individuals can improve their health.
No one saw the potential in this project more clearly than Burnes Bolton.
“When I was part of Upward Bound, a program to help kids get into college, my work was in mentoring Hispanic and black men and women so they could get into college. I asked, ‘How can we make sure we have the right policies to promote human potentialization?’ That led me to my national work, trying to influence those who have resources to help people be the best they can possibly be. I see myself as someone who has knowledge, skills and a strong passion for helping to make others’ lives better. You take that and marry it with nursing, and you’re able to do things for people.”
Burnes Bolton is still showing people their potential.
“A large segment of the nursing profession is Caucasian; but in the next three to four decades, no single group will have a majority. We used to focus on African-Americans. Now, the percentage of blacks in nursing mirrors the general population. Not so with Hispanics. We’re trying to get Hispanics to see nursing as a possibility — not just getting into the nursing profession, but excelling in it,” she says.
Long ago, another nurse wanted to help people learn to help themselves.
“Nightingale asked a simple question, ‘Is all this human suffering necessary?’” Burns Bolton says. “Today’s nurses and physicians ask that same question. Nursing assumes more responsibility for educating consumers about preventing disease and harm, and they do it not just as part of their daily work. They do it wherever they interact with people.”
See related stories:
A Legacy Lives On: Antonia M. Villarruel http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628004/-1/frontpage
A Legacy Lives On: Tim Porter-O’Grady http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628005/-1/frontpage
A Legacy Lives On: Mary D. Naylor http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628006/-1/frontpage
A Legacy Lives On: Margaret L. McClure http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628007/-1/frontpage
A Legacy Lives On: Loretta Ford http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628008/-1/frontpage
Burnes Bolton knows what can happen when children don’t believe they have options.
“I grew up in the projects, and all the kids would struggle to think about what their lives could be,” she says.
As a child, Burnes Bolton was in and out of hospitals with asthma. Her inspiration to become a nurse came from the caring nurses she encountered.
“I’ve always believed in the power of humans helping humans,” she says. “Nursing provides a venue to promote healing and caring. So my lifelong and career-long work has been about promoting human caring.”
Burnes Bolton became a nurse in 1970. She started a program to expand diversity in the sciences as she earned a doctorate in public health. She became an executive at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, a job she loves, she says, because it keeps her connected with patients, nurses, the community and academia.
Then, in 1991, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Nursing awarded a contract to the National Black Nurses Association, of which Burnes Bolton was a member. The contract called for the development of a community education program addressing eight objectives of the Healthy People 2000 program, the Public Health Services’ priorities for improving Americans’ health.
The Community Collaboration Model was born. Today, Burnes Bolton’s model is used in more than 100 communities throughout the U.S. as a framework for improving people’s health. It focuses on the power of a community to heal itself through collective knowledge, skills and commitment.
“We have to provide knowledge and resources to get people concerned enough to do something about their health,” Burnes Bolton says. “My work with various organizations has been about aligning the caring that already exists within communities.”
The model links physicians and nurses in professional societies with neighborhoods, beauty shops and other places to raise awareness of how individuals can improve their health.
No one saw the potential in this project more clearly than Burnes Bolton.
“When I was part of Upward Bound, a program to help kids get into college, my work was in mentoring Hispanic and black men and women so they could get into college. I asked, ‘How can we make sure we have the right policies to promote human potentialization?’ That led me to my national work, trying to influence those who have resources to help people be the best they can possibly be. I see myself as someone who has knowledge, skills and a strong passion for helping to make others’ lives better. You take that and marry it with nursing, and you’re able to do things for people.”
Burnes Bolton is still showing people their potential.
“A large segment of the nursing profession is Caucasian; but in the next three to four decades, no single group will have a majority. We used to focus on African-Americans. Now, the percentage of blacks in nursing mirrors the general population. Not so with Hispanics. We’re trying to get Hispanics to see nursing as a possibility — not just getting into the nursing profession, but excelling in it,” she says.
Long ago, another nurse wanted to help people learn to help themselves.
“Nightingale asked a simple question, ‘Is all this human suffering necessary?’” Burns Bolton says. “Today’s nurses and physicians ask that same question. Nursing assumes more responsibility for educating consumers about preventing disease and harm, and they do it not just as part of their daily work. They do it wherever they interact with people.”
See related stories:
A Legacy Lives On: Antonia M. Villarruel http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628004/-1/frontpage
A Legacy Lives On: Tim Porter-O’Grady http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628005/-1/frontpage
A Legacy Lives On: Mary D. Naylor http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628006/-1/frontpage
A Legacy Lives On: Margaret L. McClure http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628007/-1/frontpage
A Legacy Lives On: Loretta Ford http://news.nurse.com/article/20100628/NATIONAL02/100628008/-1/frontpage
Cindy Conover Dashnaw is chief copywriter at BohlsenPR in Indianapolis.Send a letter to editorNTL@gannetthg.com or post a comment below.
