Pace University Lienhard School of Nursing was among 20 schools invited to the University of Pennsylvania to participate in the announcement of a national initiative spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, EdD, wife of U.S. vice president Joe Biden. Pace’s school of nursing, along with other schools across the country who have pledged support, will focus on educating nurses and nursing students on caring for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Pace’s Harriet Feldman, RN, PhD, FAAN, former dean of the school and the university’s interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, attended the announcement of the commitment, part of the Joining Forces initiative, held April 11 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "It was quite an event," Feldman said. "Everything was kept secret and each invited person had to be reviewed for security purposes and approved before attending."

Feldman and deans of some of the other invited schools first learned about the First Lady’s announcement at an American Association of Colleges of Nursing meeting. During the meeting, Pace’s school of nursing and about 15 other schools were asked to attend, Feldman said. Since then more than 500 schools of nursing nationwide have committed to participate.

"These schools either were or had been involved in the Veterans Administration Nursing Academy Program, a three-year grant program designed to increase the nursing workforce and get more people interested in providing care for veterans," Feldman said. "We had a clinical affiliation with the Manhattan VA before the grant and through the VA Nursing Academy Initiative."

For information, visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/JoiningForces.