One Nursing student has found a way to view health care through an environmental lens.
Nursing graduate student Erin Johnson was announced the winner of the 2010 Hollie Shaner-McRae Nursing Student Essay Contest, which is held annually to recognize a nurse’s role in environmental activism.
The competition was created by Health Care Without Harm and The Luminary Project — organizations focused on health care and the environment. Nursing students had to write a 600 to 1,500-word essay about how nurses can get involved with the environmental health movement.
“I have 14 forresters in my family. It was natural to come at health care with an environmental perspective,” said Johnson, who has had a lifelong interest in environmental health.
Her essay, “Voices of Students,” will be publicized on The Luminary Project’s web-site and she will receive a $200 travel stipend to attend CleanMed2010, an international conference on health care and environmental sustainability.
Her inspiration for the essay came from her clinical experiences and her observations on the amount of waste being produced.
“I was thinking about nursing voices,” Johnson said. “I became interested in the larger role nurses can take in the world as advocates.”
Johnson’s friends in Nursing are impressed by her commitment to the environment.
“I think the striking thing about Erin is that everything she does revolves around the environment,” said Megan Turnbull, a Nursing graduate student.
She rides her bike, is a vegetarian and even uses nature analogies when she talks, Turnbull added.
Johnson’s passion for the environment and health care is a “unique focus to have,” said Lydia Warner, a Nursing graduate student. “What she brings to Nursing is a fresh idea and a fresh approach.”
“When I heard about the [Hollie Shaner-McRae] contest, I spoke directly with Erin,” said Teresa Mendez-Quigley, director of Women’s Health and Environmental Network, a Philadelphia-based non-profit where Johnson volunteers.
Mendez-Quigley said the hope is that more nursing students will follow her lead of reaching out to non-profit organizations and picking a topic they want to focus on.
“We’re very proud and impressed with what she has accomplished,” Mendez-Quigley added.
CleanMed2010 will be held from May 11 to the 13 in Baltimore, where Johnson will be presented with her first place award.
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