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| Rear Adm. Carol Romano |
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In her April 15 keynote address to the National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA) convention, Rear Admiral Carol A. Romano, PhD, RN, BC, CNAA, FAAN, urged students to “march forward into the future to create a healthier nation and healthier world.”
Romano, assistant surgeon general and chief nurse officer for the U.S. Public Health Service, drew on three themes in guiding students on their journey:
- Stepping up: Addressing health care challenges. “The power to move closer to the vision of a healthier nation lies in what nurses do now. Leadership,” she stressed, “is embracing your own power to be effective.”
- Stepping out: Addressing the priorities for health in the United States: disease prevention, preparedness to respond to manmade and natural disasters, and elimination of health disparities. Romano noted that past failures to protect and develop health have produced an epidemic of chronic disease. She urged students and nurses to step beyond their comfort zone and embrace three major challenges: high costs, lack of access and disparities in health care. Characterizing the elimination of health disparities as a “moral obligation and health care imperative,” she said the issue is not health care, but rather caring for health. Romano also emphasized the importance of health care literacy, which ensures that people have the ability to access, understand and appropriately use the health care system.
- Making it big: The ways nurses advance the health of the public are too numerous to list, Romano said. She described nurses as the “heroes of health who dare to care.”
Romano concluded by encouraging students to consider a career in the U.S. Public Health Service. She urged that they be “versatile, adaptable and powerful leaders with courage to face challenges and make a difference. The value and importance of nursing will not change. You will write the next chapters.”
Following the keynote address, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Gene Cotton gave a rousing performance that had the crowd singing and clapping along. To hear “I Am a Nurse,” a new song that Cotton recorded live at the NSNA convention, go to www.genecotton.com.
An interview with Romano was published in the Third Qtr. 2004 issue of Reflections on Nursing Leadership. RNL
