150多人, including Massachusetts Secretary of Elder Affairs Elizabeth Chen, gathered at 太阳城网赌平台 on March 22 to hear Jennie Chin Hansen ’70, H’08, a nationally recognized advocate and thought leader regarding the health care needs of older adults, give the 康奈尔护理学院’s Spring Pinnacle Lecture.
As CSON Dean Katherine Gregory noted in her introduction, Hansen is “a distinguished nurse leader whose career has been deeply committed to health equity, 关心老年人, 公共卫生政策.”
Dr. 莫林P. 麦考斯兰品尼高主题演讲嘉宾 Jennie Chin Hansen '70, H'08. (摄影:Caitlin Cunningham)
A former CEO for the American Geriatrics Society, Hansen served as president of AARP during the development of and negotiations for the Affordable Care Act.
She has received an honorary doctorate from 太阳城网赌平台 as well as the University of California-San Francisco Medal是加州大学旧金山分校的最高荣誉.
In 2022, she was presented with American Academy of 护理’s 健康 Care Leader Award. She also has received the American Society on Aging’s Hall of Fame Award and the National Council on Aging’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
作为博士. 莫林P. 麦考斯兰品尼高主题演讲嘉宾, Hansen presented “Reflections and Projections: My Career at the Vanguard of Public 健康 Policy.”
汉森是变革的推动者和开拓者. She was born and raised in Boston, the child of immigrants from China. She attended 太阳城网赌平台 in the late 1960s, a tumultuous period marked by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. 以及反对越南战争的抗议. At that time, she recalled, she was also the only Chinese female student on campus.
Hansen first made her professional mark in San Francisco at On Lok where she led an integrated, comprehensive program for older adults to receive medical and social services in the community rather than in a nursing home. 创新的主动性, Program of All-Inclusive Care to the Elderly, 速度, became national law and has been replicated in 32 states.
在她的讲话中, 她鼓励护理专业的学生, 教师, and practitioners to have a “beginner’s mind,” to question the traditional ways of doing things and be open to learn.
“我们受过教育和训练 把事情做好. But let's not have that be the only end,”她说。. “I would advocate that we advance our 教育 to include 做正确的事. Is there a better way to do [something] that's better for the patient, 对结果更好, 更有利于问责? 有时候程序已经过时了. I think 做正确的事 is important so that we can meet greater societal need.”
Citing data from the University of Wisconsin Population 健康 Institute, she noted that clinical care accounts for only 20 percent of the factors that determine health outcomes such as length and quality of life. She is currently focusing her energies on the factors outside of clinical care that affect health and well-being at the individual level and community level.
“I want to elevate conversations about the critical social factors that help people live healthily or not healthily,”她说。, noting that these factors—physical environment, 教育, 收入, 社区安全, and family/social support—combine to have a larger impact than clinical care on health outcomes.
(L-R): Massachusetts Secretary of Elder Affairs Elizabeth Chen, Jennie Chin Hansen, and 康奈尔护理学院 Dean Katherine Gregory at the Pinnacle Lecture.
Another area of focus for Hansen is workforce and health care spending. “We spend more [on health care] than any other country in the world, but we don't rank that high [in terms of outcomes]. 我们花钱不明智. Almost 30 percent of the money we spend on healthcare in the U.S. 被浪费了. There is abuse and fraud, but most of it is for unnecessary care. The fact that we do all this unnecessary care is a big issue.”
She added that there needs to be a reconsideration of talent and resources in the workforce. “我非常担心我们的员工, both the professional or direct care workforce and unpaid family caregivers. We need to think about how to deliver care of high quality, 但不同的, and hopefully less expensively and with a broader workforce.” She cited workforce examples from abroad, as well as within the U.S. 医疗保健系统, where some 27 states—including Massachusetts—allow nurse practitioners to work without physician supervision.
Hansen also talked about the burdens placed on unpaid family caregivers. 根据AARP的数据, one in four workers age 25 or older are family caregivers and nearly half provide medical/nursing tasks, 通常没有经过充分的培训. She reviewed recommendations for helping family caregivers, 包括提供税收抵免, strengthening paid family leave and paid sick leave, and supporting caregivers when a family member transitions from hospital to home through the CARE Act.
在她的讲座之前, Hansen met with CSON 教师 members whose clinical/research focus is palliative care, 老年医学, 和政策. 她还对一班D.N.P. 学生.
观看汉森的讲座，请访问 顶峰网页.
Kathleen Sullivan | University Communications | April 2023