Registered Nurse Response Network Offers Free Health Screening

Followed by Discussion of Solutions to Health Disparities in DC

Today, Registered Nurses from the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) will offer a free health screening to community members, including glucose and blood pressure checks, at the Dorothy Height/Benning Library.

After the health screening, community members are invited to participate in a discussion on health disparities in Washington DC and possible solutions to make residents of the District healthier. According to the DC Department of Health, black residents suffer from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and other diseases at much higher rates than white residents.

Speakers will include Tamara Henry, Adjunct Professor at George Washington University, who will focus on the root causes for the District's health disparities, examining the factors of class, race and geographic location.

Floyd Little, Sr. of the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association Disparities Committee, which is co-hosting the event, will discuss health disparities from his perspective as a patient.

Bonnie Linen-Carroll, an RN at Washington Hospital Center, will explain why the proposed Patient Protection Act, is part of the solution to health disparities in the District. The Patient Protection Act is a bill pending before the District Council that requires hospitals to ensure enough nurses at the bedside so that patients receive quality care.
 
What:     Free Health Screening & Discussion on DC Health Disparities
When:    Today-Thursday, July 31
               Health Screenings - 6:30 p.m - 7:30 p.m.
               Discussion - 7:30 pm
Where:   Dorothy Height/Benning Library
               3935 Benning Rd, NE  Washington D

This event is co-hosted by the Registered Nurse Response Network, the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association Disparities Committee, a multi-racial group that focuses on engaging the DC community to improve the health of the District, and the Dorothy Height/Benning Library of the DC Public Libraries.

About RNRN: The Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), a project of the 185,000-member National Nurses United, works to send nurses to disaster stricken areas both inside the U.S. and internationally. RNRN was formed in 2004 in the aftermath of the South Asia tsunami in 2004, when the need for nurses was not being met by traditional disaster relief organizations.  Since that time RNRN has sent hundreds of direct-care nurse volunteers to assist following Hurricane Katrina, the massive earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Sandy and Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda in the Philippines.