Sure, I’ve written about the important role that Nurses can and do play in bringing sustainability to healthcare…but aside from the occasional bandage on a scraped knee or a soothing icepack the morning after a particular intense hockey game, I’m probably the furthest thing possible from being a Nurse.
Which is why I’m thrilled when I hear Nurses themselves speaking about healthcare and the environment.
Any why I was doubly thrilled when I heard about the Luminary Project, which is dedicated to “Nurses lighting the way to environmental health”, and their Hollie Shaner–McRae Nursing Student Essay Contest.
And why I was thrilled beyond words when I found out that the 2012 winner of the Nursing Student Essay Contest, which was presented in May during CleanMed, was none other than Morgan Lincoln, a University of Toronto nursing student who has spent some time honing her nursing skills at our Princess Margaret Hospital, for her essay “Change is Possible: A Reflection on Environmental Health Advocacy in Nursing”.
Morgan, who is also President Elect of the RNAO’s Ontario Nurses for the Environment Interest Group (ONEIG), gives a brief overview of environmental health in nursing, and writes of her own experiences, bringing it all together with her concluding sentence:, “…nursing students play a special role in environmental health advocacy, and as such, should never underestimate the change they can help facilitate in the field.”
I’m thrilled – congratulations, Morgan!
Talkin' Trash With UHN 
I am finishing my first year at a nursing school in CA and have experienced many ups and downs (like all nursing students). I have heard about environmental health in nursing, but didn’t really know too much about it until reading this blog and her essay, which are both great. Many people don’t think about how they can make a difference for our environment, and with nurses the dialogue is always confined to indoor medical facilities. I am going to bring this up to one of my professors and start a dialogue in class about it. Thanks for sharing!
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Fantastic that you’re as inspired by Morgan’s essay as I am. Nurses get a first hand view of the link between health and the environment, and are some of the most caring, compassionate and professional people I know. If they’re not speaking out about the environment…who will?
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Hi Ed,
The Canadian Nurses for Health and the Environment is the Canadian Nurses Association nursing group who is also advocating for the vital links between health and the environment from as far back as biblical days (www.cnhe-iise.ca). Therefore, the importance of environmental health was founded in our faiths. Tonight, there will be a presentation in our synagogue: With Every Breathe We Take.
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