The Pennsylvania Action Coalition is excited to announce “At the Core of Care,” a new podcast series that highlights the creative efforts of nurses and their partners to meet the health and health care needs of patients, families, and communities. “At the Core of Care” weaves together themes of diversity, leadership, and practice innovation in nursing, while staying focused on the consumer experience.

Through four episodes, those at the core of care tell the stories of different health care situations, including sexual assault nurse examiners; breastfeeding clients from the Philadelphia Nurse-Family partnership; nurses as they attempt to ease state restrictions on the profession; and those involved in home care for medically complex children.

The stories are based in Pennsylvania but tell a much bigger story about important trends shaping health and health care across America.

It was an amazing experience to sit down and speak with so many incredible people about the work they do and how nursing impacts their lives. Here’s a preview of what to expect in the first season:

Episode 1: Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners

This episode takes a look at sexual assault nurse examiners in Pennsylvania. Few healthcare providers are trained to do this work, which requires a timely and skilled healthcare response that addresses physical and mental health. Examiners must also be trained on the forensic and legal component so they can collect evidence that can hold up in court. An innovative program out of Penn State University, the SAFE-T Center closes a gap in services offering telehealth support for medical practices in rural and underserved areas.

Episode 2: Breastfeeding Support at the Philadelphia Nurse-Family Partnership

The Philadelphia Nurse-Family Partnership is an evidence-based home visiting program that serves new mothers and families. They offer support for new mothers who are struggling with breastfeeding. In this episode we hear from nurses and the moms who were in this program about their challenges, and how their nurse helped them.

Episode 3: The Fight for Full Practice Authority in Pennsylvania

Nurse practitioners are educated and trained to provide primary care services, but state law creates barriers for them to care for patients. Pennsylvania has some of the best nursing schools in the country. Why doesn't the state allow graduates to practice to the full extent of their education? Nurse practitioners across Pennsylvania have fought for years to modernize the state's nursing law. In this episode, we speak to nurses as they gather in Harrisburg to meet with lawmakers and advocate for themselves and their patients at the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners’ Lobby Day.

Episode 4: Pediatric Home Care for Medically Complex Children

This episode focuses on the unique challenges of pediatric home care for medically complex children. Retaining nurses in this complex field can be difficult. This episode takes us to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and features one of the most interesting interviews of the series with a nurse who was inspired to pursue pediatric care because she is also the mother of a child who needs 24-hour care. She works tirelessly as a nurse, mother, and advocate for families like her own through the Technology Assisted Children’s Home Program.

Listen to a Preview

The At the Core of Care podcast series is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Action Coalition. Funding is provided by AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action Innovations Fund. The Pennsylvania Action Coalition is partnering with Kouvenda Media, a social change multimedia production company, to facilitate all interviews with project partners who will be featured in the podcast series. The Pennsylvania Action Coalition is housed in the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium, a subsidiary of the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC).

Please subscribe today on your favorite podcast app and listen to the full first season today.

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The National Nurse-Led Care Consortium is a member of the Nursing Community Coalition.

September 5, 2019

Dear Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray,

On behalf of all 62 Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) member organizations we respectfully urge the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to consider and advance Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2019 (S.1399) this year. S. 1399 is a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the Nursing Workforce Development Programs (authorized under Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act [42 U.S.C. 296 et. seq]), through Fiscal Year 2024. As the cross section of education, practice, research, and regulation, the NCC recognizes the immense value these programs have on nursing students, the nursing profession, patients, and communities across the country. That is why passing S.1399, Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization, is the NCC’s number one priority.

Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs bolster nursing education at all levels, support institutions that educate future nurses, recruit and retain the nursing workforce, and are essential to ensuring the demand for nursing care is met, especially in rural and underserved areas. These programs are crucial to ensuring that we are able to connect patients with high-quality care across a variety of settings including in community health centers, hospitals, long-term care facilities, local and state health departments, schools, workplaces, and patients’ homes. S. 1399, reinforces the lasting impact Title VIII programs have, while making slight modifications that reflect the current health care needs of our nation.

The NCC appreciates the Committee’s continued commitment to the nursing profession and encourages the swift consideration and advancement of S.1399- Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2019. The NCC looks forward to working with the Committee on this essential issue and if we can be of any assistance to you or your staff, please do not hesitate to contact the coalition’s Executive Director, Rachel Stevenson, at or 202-463-6930, ext. 271.

Sincerely,

The Nursing Community Coalition

Click here to download the letter.

National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC), a PHMC subsidiary, has partnered with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to design and implement an integrated nursing staffing model at CHOP’s Cobbs Creek primary care site. Funded by Vanguard’s Strong Start for Kids Program™, the project will integrate home visiting nurses into the pediatric primary care setting and aims to improve the health and well-being of mothers and their young children.

"Families served by nurse home visitors are often facing complex social issues and require enhanced services beyond the scope of what evidence-based home visiting models can typically independently provide," said Sarah Hexem Hubbard, Esq, executive director of NNCC. "We are excited to embark on this visionary journey to intentionally integrate our services with CHOP Primary Care in order to address the health and well-being of families, and see this integration as critical to achieving overall impact and outcomes for our communities."

CHOP’s PolicyLab will work closely with NNCC to improve efficiencies, reduce burden across providers and, ultimately, improve patient care. Researchers at PolicyLab will also evaluate the new model of care to see if it improves child health outcomes, reduces trips to the emergency room, increases parental awareness of quality child care options, and improves staff satisfaction and retention.

On August 21, 2019, the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium and 220 other organizations signed onto a letter by the The National Child Abuse Coalition urging the prevention of child abuse and neglect, and to express our concern and alarm about the ongoing treatment of children at the United States border. Read the letter below:

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, Leader McConnell, and Leader Schumer:

The undersigned organizations, which are committed to the prevention of child abuse and neglect and the well-being of children, write to express our grave concern with the ongoing treatment of children at the United States border. As child welfare advocates with expertise in the impact of trauma on children, we are deeply alarmed by the reports of government-sanctioned conditions and separations, which knowingly expose children to emotional abuse and physical injury and draw clear comparisons to child abuse. We urge Congress and the Administration to immediately end these abusive acts toward children.

Despite an official end to the Administration’s Zero Tolerance Policy, recent reports have made clear that the federal government continues to separate children from parents and other caregivers with whom they arrive, including aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. Reports have also made clear that the standard of risk needed to justify a child’s separation from a caregiver is often not being met; therefore, the government’s actions are decidedly not in the best interest of the child and causing serious emotional harm. These ongoing separations are unjustified, unlawful, and deeply detrimental to children’s wellbeing.

Separation, detention, cages, deplorable physical and hygiene conditions, bullying and intimidation by guards, and being held in enormous institutional facilities reflect traumatic practices in direct conflict with what science tells us about healthy child development. Traumatic experiences, toxic stress, and prolonged exposure to unsafe conditions, like those children are experiencing in ICE and CBP custody, have lifelong consequences for children. The U.S. government must stop intentionally subjecting children to these experiences, separating children from parents and caregivers, and holding them in conditions of confinement that violate state child abuse statutes across the country. It is unconscionable that the federal government would sanction conditions of confinement for children that can be equated to child abuse as part of any policy. For both U.S.-born children and immigrant children, the government has a responsibility to ensure safety and prevent an unreasonable risk of harm. The current policies at the border do not meet this minimal standard.

We urge the Administration take swift action to ensure children are never detained for more than 72 hours in CBP facilities and to ensure that all CBP facilities that temporarily house children provide safe conditions that do not expose children to an unreasonable risk of physical or mental harm. We also call on the U.S. Congress to take swift action if the Administration will not. The members of this Coalition are ready and eager to join with the Administration and the U.S. Congress to consider how to best achieve this goal.

Sincerely,

The National Child Abuse Coalition and 221 partner organizations

Download the letter and see the list of organizations who signed on: