New Hampshire - March 2022

Page 14 • New Hampshire Nursing News March, April, May 2022
ANA Professional Policy Committee - Policy Proposal
The Impact of Climate Change on Health
Topic: The Impact of Climate Change on Health
Strategic Goal: Evolve the Practice of Nursing to
Transform Health and Healthcare
Describe how this proposal relates
to the above strategic goal?
This proposal requests that American Nurses Association
(ANA) update its position statement on Climate Change
and Health, which has not been revised since 2008
(ANA HOD, 2008) and to host a Dialogue Forum to
inform that process. In August of this year, the World
Health Organization stated that climate change is now
“the single biggest health threat facing humanity.”
(WHO, 2021) A recent editorial published in 200
leading medical journals, including The Lancet, The
New England Journal of Medicine and the British
Medical Journal, argued that the world cannot “wait
for the COVID-19 pandemic to pass before addressing
climate change.” (Sommer, 2021) (Gaines, 2021) The
WHO (2021) recognizes nurse as effective and trusted
messengers of public health information, and once
again, the Gallop poll has ranked nurses as the most
trusted profession. (Gaines, 2021) As the leading nursing
organization, ANA needs to take a strong leadership
position in addressing the impacts of climate change on
human and population health, and help prepare nurses
to engage patients in conversations about climate change
and its health impacts.
Further, the health impacts of climate change
disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable
populations. A recent EPA analysis demonstrated that
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underserved communities disproportionally suffer
the most severe harms resulting from climate change
and are the least able to prepare for and recover from
the impacts of climate change. (EPA, 2021) The EPA
analysis further noted that “racial and ethnic minority
communities are particularly vulnerable to the greatest
impacts of climate change.” (EPA, 2021).
In a 2018 policy statement, the American Academy of
Nursing noted that nurses play essential roles in public
health and emergency services and through this work
they can respond to and reduce health consequences
of climate change. (Leffers & Butterfield, 2018) The
International Council of Nurses Position Statement on
Nurses, Climate Change and Health, as
ANA Professional Policy Committee - Policy Proposal
The Impact of Climate Change on Health revised in
2018, calls on national nurses’ associations, to “raise
awareness of the health implications of climate change
and how to assess and address climate change risks to
health by developing policy documents on the subject,”
(ICN, 2018).
Updating and revising position statements falls directly
within ANA’s strategic goal to evolve the practice
of nursing to transform health and healthcare, and
specifically within strategic objective 3.2 to evolve
nursing programs and practice priorities. ANA’s Nursing
Scope and Standards of Practice, 4th Edition, Standard
18 calls on registered nurses to practice so as to advance
environmental safety and health, and specifically to
advance environmental concerns through advocacy and
to promote “sustainable global environmental health
policies.” (ANA, 2021) What better way to promote
environmental health and safety for all patients than to
educate nurses on the links between climate change
and health and provide tools and resources so they can
incorporate climate change into their nursing practice
(many resources and tools already exist which ANA can
share through it nursing network)?
Climate change has helped drive a fivefold increase
in the number of weather-related disasters in the
last 50 years. (Pruitt-Young, 2021) Secretary-General
of the World Meteorological Organization, Peterri
Taalas, recently stated that the warming of oceans has
increased the frequency and geographic region of the
most intense tropical storms. (McDaniel, 2021) Charles
(2021) notes that rising heat is amplifying hurricanes and
torrential rain, which in turn trigger flooding, as well
as increasing the number of wildfires and the length
of the wildfire season in areas with diminished rainfall.
Nurses need to be prepared to help address natural
disasters, e.g. tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, extreme
heat, and wildfires, when they occur. This emergency
preparedness planning needs to occur before the climate
change induced disasters occur and must incorporate
public health and safety concerns including mitigation
strategies and response and recovery plans, taking into
special consideration populations most vulnerable
to significant negative impacts from these disasters.
Providing nurses with the requisite knowledge and
training to better prepare for climate-related disasters
exactly correlates with ANA’s strategic objective 3.1, to
enhance nurses’ disaster preparedness capabilities.
Does the proposal have national relevance? Yes
Identify if the proposal is being submitted by leaders
of an entity (e.g., C/SNA, Individual Member Division
(ANA-IMD), ANA Board of Directors or Organizational
Affiliate) or by an individual ANA member (e.g.,
ANA-C/SNA or ANA-Only).
Introduced By: Joan C. Widmer, MS, MSBA, RN, CEN,
Treasurer, ANA Board of Directors
Supported by: New Hampshire Nurses Association
(Judith Joy), ANA-Vermont (Meredith Roberts), ANA-
Michigan (Tobi Lyon and MaryLee Pakieser), Minnesota
Organization of Registered Nurses (Kathi Koehn),
Washington State Nurses Association (David Keepnews),
Montana Nurses Association (Vicki Byrd), Delaware
Nurses Association (Chris Otto), ANA-California
(Marketa Houskova), ANA-Massachusetts (Cammie
Townsend), Colorado Nurses Association (Colleen
Casper), New Mexico Nurses Association (Deborah
Walker), Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
(Katie Huffling)
Prepared by: Joan C Widmer, MS, MSBA, RN, CEN,
(ANA-BOD/NHNA), Judith A. Joy, PhD, RN, (New
Hampshire Nurses Association), MaryLee Pakieser,
MSN, RN, FNP-BC, (ANA-Michigan), Meredith Roberts,
PhD, RN (ANA-Vermont), Kathi Koehn, MA, RN, FAAN
(Minnesota Organization of Registered Nurses), Lisa Del
Buono, MD, (Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action)
and Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN (Alliance of
Nurses for Healthy Environments).
Primary Contact Person (or Designee):
This individual needs to be available to respond to
questions or requests from the Professional Policy
Committee or Membership Assembly Representatives
if the proposal is accepted.
Policy Proposal continued on page 16
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