Northwest Hispanic Nurses Conference on campus Friday

The first Northwest Hispanic Nurses Conference will be held on Friday, May 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the South Campus Center on campus. The UW School of Nursing is a co-sponsor of the conference.

Keynote speaker is Dr. Ildaura Murillo-Rohde, founder of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and former dean of the School of Nursing at the State University of New York, Brooklyn, who will discuss the history of Hispanic nurses' organizationxs in the United States.

Other speakers include Vicki Ybarra, director of community health services, Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic; Margarita Suarez, a psychosocial nurse in private practice; and State Sen. Margarita Prentice, a nurse.

Hispanic health issues, health policy, developing partnerships in the Hispanic community, and an overview of Northwest Hispanic history will be among the program highlights.

Two work groups will convene during the afternoon sessions: one to plan a 1999 Northwest Hispanic health conference, and the other to create chapters of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses in the Yakima Valley and in the Puget Sound area.

“ Hispanics are expected to be the largest and youngest minority group in the U.S. by the year 2000,” said Mari Lou Siantz, professor of family and child nursing and a member of the conference planning committee. “ They have expanding health and social needs. However, of the nation's 2.5 million registered nurses, only about 40,000 are Hispanic. The need to network among those interested in Hispanic health issues has never been greater.”

For more information, call 221-5877. ¶
Laurie McHale