Nurses United in Disaster Response:

Advancing Public Health Nursing Leadership for Climate-Ready Communities

This policy dialogue will focus on the critical role of nurses and public health nurse leaders in responding to climate change driven natural disasters and other public health emergencies. The Environmental and Public Health Expert Panel will collaborate with the Child, Adolescent, and Family Expert Panel to host this policy dialogue.

Purpose Statement:

Public health nurse leaders have a critical role in disaster preparedness and climate resilience, particularly for disproportionately affected communities. As climate-driven emergencies and natural disasters affect billions worldwide, strengthening the public health nursing workforce is essential for community resilience. Hosted by the Environmental and Public Health Expert Panel in collaboration with the Child, Adolescent, and Family Expert Panel, this policy dialogue will discuss the REAADI for Disasters Act, current workforce challenges, and evidence supporting public health nurses' unique impact on local health outcomes and emergency response capabilities.

Learning Outcomes:

As a result of attending in this policy dialogue, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how policy coupled with involvement of the public health nursing workforce can provide upstream interventions to reduce disaster-related morbidity and mortality in disproportionately affected communities.
2. Distinguish the essential skills and capabilities that environmental and public health nurse leaders need to effectively manage disaster situations across all phases – from preparation through recovery.
3. Outline funding sources to enhance nurse capacity in climate-related and other public health disaster preparedness.

Speakers:

	Betty Bekemeier, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN Professor, University of Washington School of Nursing Dr. Betty Bekemeier is a professor at the University of Washington (UW) School of Nursing and Director of the UW School of Public Health’s Northwest Center for Public Health Practice. She is a distinguished public health systems researcher focused on examining and improving the effectiveness of our public health systems and workforce. She had a career in public health practice before becoming a researcher and is dedicated to producing evidence in collaboration with the practice community and to advance their efforts in health promotion and reducing inequities.
	Aisha K. Brooks, DNP, MPH, RN, FADLN, FAAN Former Chief Nurse Officer, U.S. Public Health Service Founder & CEO, VitalVoice Nursing, LLC Dr. Aisha K. Brooks is a nationally recognized nurse leader and public health strategist with a 29-year career dedicated to transforming health systems and advancing equity. As the 12th Chief Nurse Officer of the U.S. Public Health Service, she led nearly 1,400 active duty nurses through complex disaster response operations, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and helped shape national policy for health emergency preparedness and nursing workforce development. Throughout her federal career, Dr. Brooks served across multiple agencies—including HRSA, ASPR, and the Department of Homeland Security—where she bridged clinical insight and policy action. Dr. Brooks is the Founder and CEO of VitalVoice Nursing, where she equips nurse leaders to drive policy, build resilient communities, and advance health equity. She is an expert in community-centered disaster readiness, systems thinking, and strengthening nurse capacity to lead before, during, and after crises.
	Tara Heagele, PhD, RN, FAAN Assistant Professor, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing Hunter College of the City University of New York Dr. Tara Heagele is an Assistant Professor at Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Hunter College of the City University of New York. She has clinical nursing experience in telemetry, emergency department, critical care transport, and post-anesthesia care unit nursing. As a member of her local Medical Reserve Corps, Dr. Heagele volunteers her nursing expertise to her community during extreme weather events and public health emergencies. She holds several certifications in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery and has presented her research regionally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Heagele is especially interested in the role that nurses have in mobilizing the community to prepare for and recover from extreme weather events and disasters. She hopes that her disaster nursing research will ultimately save lives and promote disaster-related community resilience.
	Tener Goodwin Veenema, PhD, MPH, MS, RN, FAAN Senior Scholar & Senior Scientist Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Dr. Tener Veenema is a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Senior Scientist in the Department of Environmental Health & Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. At the Center, she leads national and international research projects to explore public health systems optimization and healthcare worker protection during disasters and large-scale biological events. As an internationally recognized expert in disaster nursing and public health emergency preparedness, she has served as Senior Scientist to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). She has conducted national workforce analyses evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on our nation’s nursing workforce, along with emergency healthcare worker readiness and coordination of acute and public health systems for disaster response on behalf of the Ministries of Health in Ireland and Japan and in the United States.

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Nursing Continuing Professional Development
The American Academy of Nursing (Academy) hosts policy dialogues to discuss leading topics related to the organization's policy priorities. The American Academy of Nursing is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. There are no relevant financial relationships identified for any individual in a position to control the content of this activity.