November 4, 2009

U of M School of Nursing hosts 2009 Summit of Sages

News Summary

The University of Minnesota School of Nursing will spotlight six influential nurses who have tackled difficult health care challenges and created new models of health care delivery. The nurses will tell their stories during the Summit of Sages, November 4-6, at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

As part of the summit, the school's 100th Centennial Gala celebration will occur on Thursday, November 5 from 5:30-9:30 p.m., where the school will honor 100 distinguished alumni, as well as 14 distinguished faculty alumni. The event will also celebrate nursing and the accomplishments of all nurses whose creative insights and passionate advocacy have shaped health care delivery, education, and science.

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About the School of Nursing

The University of Minnesota School of Nursing is ranked among the nation's top nursing schools. It is a leader in nursing research and has a combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment of approximately 850 students. The school produces 55 percent of the faculty in Minnesota's public and private nursing schools, advanced practice nurses, and nurses who can assume leadership positions. It is the oldest continuously operated, university-based school of nursing. The School of Nursing is one of six schools and colleges in the Academic Health Center, one of the most comprehensive facilities for health professionals in the nation, fostering interdisciplinary study, research and education. For more information, visit www.nursing.umn.edu.

Full Text

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL — The University of Minnesota School of Nursing will spotlight six influential nurses who have tackled difficult health care challenges and created new models of health care delivery. The nurses will tell their stories during the Summit of Sages, November 4-6, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The six include:

• Jeannine Bayard, who developed a model of care coordination that became the basis of Evercare, now a leading provider of health plans for people who have long-term or advanced illness, are older, or have disabilities.
• Jody Chrastek, who coordinates pain services and palliative care at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. The program, which offers combination of state-of-the-art pharmacology, physical therapy, and integrative therapies, is one of the largest of its kind in North America.
• Loretta Ford, who, in 1964, helped design a program for public health nurses that focused on well-child care and development, family education and empowerment, and preventive health. Ford is considered the founder of the nurse practitioner movement.
• Ruth Watson Lubic, who has devoted her career to championing nurse midwifery. Today at age 82, Lubic continues to lead the Family Health and Birth Center, the only independent birthing center in Washington, D.C.
• Ruth O’Brien, a member of the founding team of the Nurse-Family Partnership. O’Brien led three decades of rigorous research that allowed NFP to evolve into a nationally recognized, evidence-based, nurse-home visiting program that improves the health and lives of low-income, first-time parents and their children.
• Julie Schmidt, co-founder and CEO, Woodwinds Health Campus, a hospital devoted to providing compassionate, patient-centered, holistic care in a healing environment.

In addition to these six “sages,” the summit also includes presentations by:

• Daniel Pink, best-selling author of A Whole New Mind, which charts the rise of right-brain thinking.
• Rosemary Gibson, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who led a national strategy to improve end-of-life care and expand palliative care into mainstream health care. Her efforts resulted in the development of the Joint Commission pain standards. She is the author of Wall of Silence: The Untold Story of the Medical Mistakes that Kill and Injure Millions of Americans.
• Gregg Vanourek, founding partner of New Mountain Ventures, a personal-leadership development firm. He is the co-author of Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Leading Extraordinary Lives.

To learn more about the summit, visit: http://www.nursing.umn.edu/summitofsages

Centennial Gala Celebration
As part of the summit, the school's 100th Centennial Gala celebration will occur on Thursday, November 5 from 5:30-9:30 p.m., where the school will honor 100 distinguished alumni, as well as 14 distinguished faculty alumni. The event will also celebrate nursing and the accomplishments of all nurses whose creative insights and passionate advocacy have shaped health care delivery, education, and science.

To learn more about the gala or to register, visit: http://www.nursing.umn.edu/centennial/events/gala