ABNA president strives to spread health awareness
Pulse editor
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Ora D. Williams always knew she wanted to be a nurse.
“As a little girl, I nursed my dolls. There was nothing else I wanted to do,” said Williams, a quality improvement specialist at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.
BARRY WILLIAMS / AJC Special
Ora D. Williams, RN-BC, BSN, MHCA, poses at work at Northside Hospital.
But becoming president of the Atlanta Black Nurses Association (ABNA) was never part of her plan. In fact, when a former nursing professor urged her to join the organization in 1995, Williams had all the usual excuses. She was married, had kids, was working and moving up the ladder in her career.
“I told her I didn’t have time,” said Williams, RN-BC, BSN, MHCA.
She’s glad she had a change of heart. Williams has been president for the past four years and is ready to run for a board seat of the national organization.
“I’ve gotten to be a part of a group of really active nurses and I’ve grown,” Williams said. “This association is an excellent forum for learning to be a leader. All of our vice presidents and presidents go to national leadership workshops to learn how to motivate people and organize programs within their chapters.”
The National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) was founded in 1971 under the leadership of Lauranne Sams, former dean and professor of nursing at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
“The mission of the nonprofit organization was to investigate, define and determine the health care needs of African-Americans and to implement change so that all minorities would have equal care,” Williams said. “It also served as a forum for African-American nurses to voice their concerns and raise issues in the health care workplace.”
The Atlanta chapter was formed in 1978, as the group’s eighth chapter. Today, there are 77 chapters nationwide.
“This is a great place to network with other professionals,” Williams said. “Nursing is such a wide field with so many areas of practice. Every day you hear of something new that nurses are doing.
“Our group includes LPNs, RNs and nursing students, and is open to anyone, not just African-
American nurses.”
The chapter motto is “magnifying health awareness,” and the group does that by mentoring, teaching, charitable giving, and by providing health care services.
“We do a lot of teaching. Our members go out to the high schools to talk to students and try to get more of them into nursing,” she said.
Members also mentor nursing students, and the association grants scholarships annually to students. The group also holds clothing and food drives to help Refugee Family Services, an organization that serves refugee women and children in metro Atlanta.
“African-Americans are at high risk for many health issues, so we want to get as much information out there as possible,” Williams said.
Her chapter helps staff health fairs with the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, the Kidney Association and breast cancer groups.
“We take blood pressure [readings] and measure blood sugar [levels] and talk about obesity and other health risks” she said. “If people don’t have health care, we refer them to free clinics.”
Nurses have taken their message about health care issues to places where they can reach targeted audiences — diabetes in churches, prostate health in barbershops and breast cancer at women’s professional basketball games.
“We’ve gone to the South Fulton County Community Rodeo and talked to the cowboys, who don’t take their medications like they should,” Williams said. “We give out lots of free materials that I keep stored in my garage. If they call us, we make every effort to participate.”
The Atlanta chapter’s efforts complement the work of the National Black Nurses Association.
“The national association also provides continuing education to our membership and publishes a journal of nursing research twice a year,” she said.
On Feb. 5, Williams participated in NBNA Day on Capitol Hill to voice the organization’s health care concerns to lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
“We made appointments with our members of Congress and had pages of questions to ask and information to give about what our communities want and need,” Williams said. “We want to be at the forefront of health care reform.”
Taking a leadership role in the ABNA has given Williams far more than she originally anticipated.
“In growing with this group, I’m helping myself and my community, and I’m helping to shape health care policy,” she said.
For information, call 404-215-4297 or go to National Black Nurses Association or Atlanta Black Nurses Association.