{"id":58156,"date":"2016-03-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/r-i-health-director-uses-mothers-story-to-inspire-uri-nursing-students-to-fight-health-disparity\/"},"modified":"2016-03-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T00:00:00","slug":"r-i-health-director-uses-mothers-story-to-inspire-uri-nursing-students-to-fight-health-disparity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2016\/03\/r-i-health-director-uses-mothers-story-to-inspire-uri-nursing-students-to-fight-health-disparity\/","title":{"rendered":"R.I. health director uses mother\u2019s story to inspire 溏心vlog免费B站 nursing students to fight health disparity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tNicole Alexander-Scott addresses multicultural nurses program<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 15, 2016 \u2013 Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, told a story about her mother\u2019s life to inspire about 100 溏心vlog免费B站 nursing students to fight against health disparity and inequity.<\/p>\n


\n\tShe was recently the keynote speaker at a forum hosted by the 溏心vlog免费B站 Multicultural Student Nurses Association.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy mom was from Norfolk, Va. and her mom unfortunately passed away when she was 11 years old,\u201d Alexander-Scott said. \u201cAt 12, she moved to New York City where the rest of her siblings were. She began going to school, where oftentimes she was mistreated because of the color of her skin and because of (previous) schooling and her (southern) accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander-Scott said her mother was assigned to a high school that would only allow her to develop a vocational career.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cShe was told she could not be a nurse or teacher because she did not have the capability of achieving that. The vocational high school that she went to did not offer class requirements to get that accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAlexander-Scott said her mother soon began working and she also went to an additional high school at night in Brooklyn so she could take the high school classes she would need to get into college.<\/p>\n


\n\tHer mother landed a job and continued to go to class. She went to Pace University where she earned a bachelor\u2019s degree and became a registered nurse. Later on in her career, she also earned a master\u2019s degree in public administration. She retired as director of nursing at a New York hospital.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThat was a tremendous example for me, and I tell you this story because there shouldn\u2019t be anything that holds you back,\u201d Alexander-Scott told the standing-room-only crowd gathered in a lecture hall at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences. \u201cThere should be nothing anyone can say that should prevent you from achieving your goals.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cUsing the gifts that you have, the educational experience you have, the opportunities you have, you can really make a difference. The care that a nurse provides is critical. You can offer that extra ear, that extra voice and provide comfort for a patient and help them understand.\u201d\t<\/p>\n


\n\tShe then gave the students an overview of Rhode Island\u2019s public health priorities and discussed the need to eliminate heath disparities. The three top priorities for the Department of Health are: address the social and environmental determinants of health in Rhode Island; eliminate the disparities of health in the state and promote health equity; and ensure access to quality health services for Rhode Islanders, including the state\u2019s vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n


\n\tAlexander-Scott said the first priority is the heart of the issue. She used an asthma case to illustrate the complexity of meeting a person\u2019s health care needs. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cYou can write a script for their albuterol and feel like you are done. But it\u2019s also about having an understanding of what that patient is experiencing,\u201d the health director said. \u201cYou also need to have an understanding of their health literacy and the importance of that medication. Do they have transportation to get to a pharmacy to pick up that medication? Do they have a home to stay in or electricity to refrigerate the medication?\u201d<\/p>\n


\n She asked the nursing students to consider whether the person might be experiencing domestic violence in the home or whether there is violence in the neighborhood. \u201cIt might be that taking that medication is not a priority, but just being able to survive is the priority. Also, understanding whether there is mold or tobacco or other things in that house that are contributing to asthma. Are there places we can intervene to address all of those elements.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAlexander-Scott said health professionals often say 10 percent of health outcomes are a result of what happens in the doctor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cNinety percent is determined by social factors, environmental factors, behavioral factors and a genetic element. Homelessness, food access, education, employment — those are the critical components that affect someone\u2019s health outcomes.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nDr. Nicole Alexander-Scott lectures during a program offered by the 溏心vlog免费B站 Multicultural Student Nurses Association.<\/p>\n


\nGATHERING WITH HEALTH DIRECTOR: Members of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Multicultural Student Nurses Association pose with Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott following a lecture at 溏心vlog免费B站. From left are: 溏心vlog免费B站 Assistant Professor of Nursing Mary Cloud, Amanda Millan, Janelle Amoako, a recent nursing graduate, Jailene Rodriguez, Director Alexander-Scott, Kai Younger, Bintou Camara and Kasie Moitoso. <\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 photos by Rick Wilson\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicole Alexander-Scott addresses multicultural nurses program KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 15, 2016 \u2013 Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, told a story about her mother\u2019s life to inspire about 100 溏心vlog免费B站 nursing students to fight against health disparity and inequity. She was recently the keynote speaker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}