Watch the new Raise the Voice video, which highlights two Edge Runners, Donna Shalala, the former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Click here to view the letter to members of Congress signed by the Raise the Voice Advisory Council, which reminds policymakers that no single group of professionals or politicians will solve our complex health care problems alone.  The letter also points out that for health reform to be successful, the voices of nursing must be heard.  This letter appeared in The Hill newspaper on April 24, 2009. Click here to view the ad, which ran in The Hill newspaper on September 24, 2008.  The ad makes the case that nurses must be part of the health care reform debate.  GOAL Transforming America’s health care system through nursing solutions Health care in America today is inaccessible to many, expensive for most and fragmented for all. Enabling the system to deliver the best possible care at an acceptable cost requires not just reformation but transformation – moving American health care away from its current hospital-based, acuity-oriented, physician-dependent paradigm toward a patient-centered, convenient, helpful and affordable system. America needs a system that keeps people as healthy as possible, treats the patient promptly, comprehensively and effectively. Through its Raise the Voice campaign, the Academy is mobilizing its 1,500 Fellows, partner organizations and health leaders to ensure that Americans hear and understand the exciting possibilities for transforming the health care system – and also that they see how nurses are leading the way. Due to the successes during the first year of the campaign, in 2007, the Academy received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to scale up activities and provide a platform to inform policymakers, the media, health providers and consumers about nurse-driven solutions for an ailing health care system – and to highlight the successes taking place every day.

As part of Raise the Voice, the Academy is showcasing stories of nurse “Edge Runners” – the practical innovators who have led the way in bringing new thinking and new methods to a wide range of health care challenges. Edge Runners have developed care models and interventions that demonstrate significant clinical and financial outcomes. Many of the stories underscore the courage and fighting spirit of nurse leaders who have persevered despite institutional inertia or resistance. Raise the Voice is a platform for the nursing community to press for new thinking in the health care debate. The initiative helps the Academy take its call for change to Congress, the administration, the medical community and every other group engaged in that debate. Raise the Voice spokespersons will appear in newspapers and on TV and radio, telling the story of nurses who are changing America’s approach to health care and, in doing so, helping our citizens live healthier and longer lives. The Academy’s Advisory Council for Raise the Voice is chaired by Donna E. Shalala, PhD, President of the University of Miami and formerly the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Joining her on the Board are some of the nation’s foremost health care champions – including foundation executives and former federal lawmakers and administrators. Raise the Voice tells a powerful story: how nurses are creating new, transformational options that help people stay healthy and cope better with illness. It’s a story that Americans need to hear.