State at
forefront
of fight
to gain
nurses
BY COURTNEY GAILLARD
THE CHRONICLE <i
The N.C. Center for Nurst,
ing (NCCN) wants you - not to
remind you of your routine
check-up but for a job in nurs
ing.
Grants have been distrib
uted to state hospitals and agen
cies, posters are hanging in
schools, brochures have been
printed and passed out, and
public service announcements
are being aired on radio and tel
evision. Why all of this propa
ganda? you might ask. TTiis
major public relations effort is
part of the new "Nursing: The
Power to Make a Difference"
campaign to promote the nurs
ing profession to children and
young adults in the beginning
stages of choosing a future
career path.
As the need for health care
booms and will continue to
skyrocket all over the country,
N.C. nursing professionals fear
that if the youths of today are
misinformed about this critical
and important profession in the
medical field, it may be
extremely detrimental to the
nursing shortage expected to
intensify by 2010.
After spending the past cou
ple of years performing random
surveys in four counties of 300
students in he sixth, 10th and
12th grades. NCCN determined
it needed to not only clear up
the myths regarding the nursing
industry but focus on young
people for a massive recruit
ment process. The reason is
simple: to plant the seed of
interest in as many young
minds as possible.
Surveys showed that most
children are interested in jobs
that would be intellectually
challenging after completing
KRT Photo
Studies have found that the nursing profession appeals to people who want to make a dif
ference in people's lives. Above, Florida R.N. Darryl Ephriam chats with a patient.
college. However, those same
children were not aware of the
career progression in pursing,
therefore hindering the field for
career consideration. Many
young people have been under
the impression that a nurse's
duties involved only bedside
assistance and taking orders
from a physician. NCCN wants
children to know that nurses do
perform those tasks, but that
nurses also make independent
choices on a moment-to
moment basis.
Dennis Sherrod, associate
director of recruitment and
retention programs for NCCN,
says that the focus is geared
toward growing nurses from
within the state whereas in past
public "relations efforts, nurses
were recruited from neighbor
ing states and even overseas.
The goal is to get youngsters
interested ar.d informed so that
they can go home and educate
their parents about nursing.
"(NCCN) is looking to get
kids from the community in our
marketing for the health care
field," Sherrod said. "The cen
ter is encouraging employers to
promote interest and awareness
to kids in communities that they
serve; that should have a big
impact on the campaign."
The organization has found
that one factor has remained:
nursing is the field of choice for
people who want to make a dif
ference in people's lives; thus
the campaign slogan "Nursing:
the Power to Make a Differ
ence" has been adopted as a
theme.
Posters and video vignettes
have been designed for middle
and high schools as well as
talking points for working nurs
es to use when educating the
public about the profession.
NCCN is relying on some of its
best nurses to serve as ambassa
dors in the 'Talk with Kids
about Nurses" marketing strate
gy in order to get past what it
calls the "squeamish factor " -
?the fear of blood, injections and
death related to a nursing posi
tion - so as to cater to children
who might be sensitive to the
matter and to also avoid scaring
away potential nursing stu
dents.
The demand for nurses is
expected to affect the entire
country, but officials say North
Carolina is out in front with a
strong marketing campaign
under the direction of Bernard
Hodes Advertising Agency, a
national agency that specializes
in recruitment and human
resources.
Past campaign marketing
was also geared toward nursing
schools, which it still is. hut
now NCCN is making a
stronger and consistent effort of
promoting nursing to youths
and minorities to reflect the
populations being served in
North Carolina. In its current
"Nursing Excellence Directo
ry," NCCN comments on the
fact that it has performed inad
equately in recruiting? ethnic
and even male nurses into the
field. Sherrod says the center is
making certain that all recruit
ing materials and activities will
appeal to and draw diverse, can
didates by even having a pres
ence at social and cultural
events and even expos attended
by minorities across the state..
"(NCCN) is making great
strides in North Carolina."
Sherrod said. "We have a lot of
people working together to
address this need for nurses."
Bill Means, coordinator for
recruitment, retention and aca
demic development for the
Northwest Area Health Educa
tion Center (AHEC), said
AHEC also is reaching out to
school-age students. AHEC.
which is a 'part of the Wake
Set Nurses <m A10
Good, bad news about
life expectancy in state
NMX'IAL roTHKCHRONICU
RALEIGH - A new report
from the N.C. Department of
Health and Human Services State
Center for Health Statistics show s
that the average North Carolinian
bom today will live to be more
than 75 years old. The bad news,
however, is that nearly 13 of those
years will be spent in fair or poor
health.
Titled '"Healthy Life
Expectancy in North Carolina.
1996-2000." the report is the first
information on life expectancy of
North Carolinians available since
1990, according to Paul Buesch
er, chief of the center's statistical
services unit. The current life
expectancy at birth is 75.6 years,
compared to 74.5 years in 1990
and 72.9 years in 1980.
"The report shows that there
are substantial differences in IHe
expectancy by-race and sex."
Buescher said.
"Females ljye longer than
males and whites I iv?> longer than
persons of minority race The
average life expectancy at birth is
73.8 years for white males. 79.6
years for white females, 68.0
years for minority males, antl
75.8 years for minority females."
Several measures of ill health
are used to estimate years of
"healthy" life remaining. The
average years of healthy life
remaining at birth - based on
health status as perceived by the
individual is 63.0. This means
that 12.6 of the 75.6 years of life
expectancy will be spent in a con
dition where health status is per
ceived to be fair or poor. Females
and minorities spend a higher
number of their remaining years
of life w ith health problems- or
some activity limitation. The
average number of years from
birth w ith health status perceived
as fair or poor is 10.6 for white
males. 13.0 for white females,
14.7 for minority males and 16.5
for minority females.
To produce these estimates,
the author, of tlie study combined
death certificate data with data
from a random telephone survey
of N.C. adults asking questions
about perceived health, physical
health, mental health and activity
limitation. 0
Thursday,January 17, 6-8 p.m.
New Hope United Methodist Church
5125 Shattalon Drive, Winston-Salem.
? Hear a presentation of the current Thoroughfare
Plan for Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
? Get information about the draft Thbroughfare
Plan update
? Learn about the comprehensive Transportation
& Land Use Study for the Town of Bethania
? Comment sheets will be available ^
for written comments about the
draft Thoroughfare Plan ^
Questions?
Call Greg Venable at 727-2707
E-mail:
gregv@cityofws.org
p Sponsored by the [J
I ill Winston-Salem M|
Uil Department of X?
Winston Sainu Transportation '?"j
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North Carolina
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