The Illinois Nurses Foundation is proud to announce the 2022 40 under 40 Emerging Nurse Leaders Award winners. This award was established in 2015 by the Illinois Nurses Foundation to highlight and celebrate young nurse leaders. It celebrates those who are impacting health care and the nursing profession today and who will undoubtedly shape the…
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Member Highlight: Sarah Ailey: Dismantling Disability Discrimination Through Participatory Action
Sarah Ailey, PhD RN FAAN, is a professor in the College of Nursing at Rush University Medical Center, which “has a history of being on the forefront of healthcare for people with disabilities.” “I’m a mother of a 46-year-old son with intellectual disabilities, so there’s that aspect of it. I have that family advocate role.…
Shortages Update: Nursing & Faculty
As we recapped here, in late March, ANA-Illinois Executive Director Susan Swart, EdD, MS, RN, CAE, addressed the nursing shortage with the Illinois Senate Health Committee. During her meeting with the committee, she ran through the projected shortage of nurses in Illinois and also provided them with ideas on how to combat it. Illinois is,…
ANA-Illinois: Healthcare Legislation in “Build Back Better”
After two quick victories with the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, President Biden’s legislative agenda is now stalled in the Senate. Because of the Democrats’ narrow majority in the upper chamber (a 50/50 split with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast tie-breaking votes), they originally planned to pass much of their…
ANA-Illinois Member Highlight: Dana Merk on Using Survivorship for Good
Dana Merk was completing her bachelor’s in theatre at DePaul University when her life took a dramatic turn. “My senior year I’m applying to ABSN programs and in December of my senior year, December 2003, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. I had to withdraw from school, have my treatment. Thankfully, I’m here. It’s…
ANA-Illinois Calls for Action on Nursing Shortage at Illinois Senate Health Committee Meeting
Springfield—March 29, 2022— On Tuesday, ANA-Illinois Executive Director Susan Swart, EdD, MS, RN, CAE, addressed the nursing shortage with the Illinois Senate Health Committee. She urged the committee to address the shortage—at all levels of nursing—that has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. “While the nursing shortage is not just an Illinois issue, the pandemic…
Access to Healthcare
While some believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is shifting to endemic status, from a healthcare perspective, the last few years should be examined closely. Despite the mass pain and tragedy that COVID has caused, the United States’ healthcare response to the pandemic was unprecedented. In this article by Natalie Shure, she writes that many private…
What’s New at Student Nurse Political Action Day 2022
On April 5, 2022, student nurses from across Illinois will meet in Springfield for the 24th Annual Student Nurse Political Action Day. This event, located at the Bank of Springfield Center, delivers relevant and timely content for the current state of nursing in Illinois and helps energize and fuel the growth of future nurse leaders.…
Elaine Hardy: Board Director & Community-Minded Educator
“I’ve been a nurse going on 22 years,” says Elaine Hardy, PhD, RN. “Anything I know I’m willing to share. If I’m the only one who knows it, what good does that do?” Hardy is an assistant professor at Illinois Wesleyan University and board director for ANA-Illinois. Her commitment to lifelong learning, to her students,…
Illinois Nurses Foundation Seeks Volunteers for Subcommittee Assignments
The Illinois Nurses Foundation is looking for engaged, innovative, and empowered nurses to serve on three new subcommittee task forces to enhance the Illinois Nurses Foundation Fund Development processes. Three Subcommittee taskforces will be created: Scholarship Honor a Nurse and Legacy Funding Events The above subcommittees will be tasked with three objectives. Review past and…