Agenda

• Welcome and introduction to the conference
• Housekeeping and logistical information

Speaker: Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH,

FAAN Professor Emeritus, University of San Francisco and Leadership Council, California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice

In a context of so many crises - immigration, mental health, substance abuse, chronic diseases, and more - how can nurses also think about our environment and its impact on our health? This session is going to give you some suggestions and help you think about how to stay buoyant and supported in the work that must be done.

Speaker: Sahar Nouredini, PhD, RN — CSU East Bay

Fires, floods, and extreme heat events are challenging our communities on a regular basis. This session will focus on nurses’ roles in disaster preparedness.

This topic is relevant to all nurses.

Visit with your fellow participants!

Speakers: Mechelle Perea-Ryan, Associate Professor, CSU Stanislaus; and Katy Vosburg, MPH, Browne-Musser

This session will focus on how extreme heat can affect all of us, especially vulnerable populations, and how we can prevent harmful health effects.

• Clinical and physiological effects of extreme heat
• Human health and heat
• Heat-related information and findings from San Joaquin County
• What communities and populations need during extreme heat events
• The public health heat-prevention plan that was developed
• How to develop a true public health heat-prevention plan
• Opportunities for discussion or small-group discussion

The session will also present a community-wide plan to keep all its members healthy and safe when the heat is on.

Lunch will be provided.

• Attendees will have an opportunity to network.
• California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice will provide lunch.

The one-hour breakout sessions will be designed for specific groups so attendees can see how environmental health relates directly to their work.

Breakout 1: Greening Hospitals

Speaker: Erika Kimball, RN, MBA, Kimball Sustainable Healthcare

This session will review some of the environmental health and sustainability issues that hospitals face. We will explore how nurses can help influence their hospitals, create green teams, decrease environmental risks, and help make the health care sector as green as possible.

Breakout 2: Integrating Heat and Disaster Preparedness into Nursing Education

Speaker: Mechelle Perea-Ryan, PhD, RN, Associate Professor, CSU Stanislaus

This breakout has been created for nurse faculty to consider ways to integrate:

• Results related to heat and disaster preparedness
• Barriers identified through the HEAT work
• How heat and disaster preparedness can be incorporated into nursing curricula
• Disaster preparedness generally
• Extreme heat events specifically
• Relevant nursing competencies
• How faculty can integrate these issues into their programs
• Discussion with faculty about implementation

Sharing results first, followed by discussion.

Breakout 3: Community Health Workers and Public Health Nurses

Speaker: Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN

Reducing Toxic Chemicals in Our Everyday Lives

This session will review some of the toxic chemicals that we can do something about and suggest ways to advise our patients and community members.

Break

Facilitator: Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN

This is a very interactive portion of the conference. It will provide time to consider the context in which we exist as individuals, as nursing leaders, and as advocates who can contribute to a world that is:

• Environmentally Sustainable: Recognizing that human actions must preserve and protect Earth’s natural systems, ecosystems, and the climate rather than consuming them destructively.
• Socially Just: Ensuring equity, fairness, and respect for all people, communities, and Indigenous cultures, moving away from a society that treats human beings as disposable.
• Spiritually Fulfilling: Fostering a deep sense of connection, meaning, and purpose in life that transcends purely materialistic or consumerist pursuits, contributing to human and ecological health and justice.

We invite you to join us for dinner Friday night.

The dinner is intended to:

• Give attendees time to talk about what they learned
• Help participants build relationships
• Continue conversations from the first conference day

Housekeeping and logistical information.

Speaker: Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN

The food system is complex and at every juncture there are opportunities for health and the potential for health risks. This session will provide a high level review of some of the major health implications associated with the food system, starting with how we grow/raise our food to what actually gets on our plates. Emerging issues like “Food as Medicine”, Ultra-Processed Foods, and Regenerative Agriculture practices will be discussed - lots of things we don’t typically learn in nursing school but are so important to our health every day.

Speaker: TBA

Lunch with Speaker
Arohi Sharma, Senior Policy Analyst, Nature, Natural Resource Defense Council

Speaker: Mechelle Perea- Ryan, Associate Professor CSU Stanislaus and Katy Vosburg, MPH, Browne-Musser

This session will describe the health, mental health and safety issues that farmworkers face and explore nurses roles in their clinical practice and as advocates for farmworker health and safety.

Time to visit with your fellow participants!

Speaker: Sarah Brown Blake, PhD, RN, PHN, CNE Associate Professor Sacramento State School of Nursing

This session will focus primarily on drinking water issues in the Central Valley - access to drinking water, quality of the water, and common contaminants. water session will include:

Integrating what you’ve learned into:

• Education
• Practice
• Research
• Policy Advocacy