Photo: Jennifer Kennedy
Celebrating the International Year of the Nurse and Honoring Pioneering Nurses across the Globe
To mark both the International Year of the Nurse & Midwife and Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday, St. Christopher’s Hospice in London has been celebrating palliative nursing throughout 2020 with activities to educate, raise awareness, and honor those at the forefront of hospice and palliative care nursing.
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) is proud to congratulate Jennifer Kennedy, EdD, MA, BSN, RN, CHC, who is being honored by St. Christopher’s Hospice as one of 30 Nursing Pioneers from across the globe. Read St. Christopher’s tribute to Kennedy.
Kennedy serves as NHPCO’s Senior Director for Quality and Compliance. She has dedicated 34 years of her life to nursing, 20 of them to hospice and palliative care. Currently, she is one of the team members developing NHPCO’s new Quality Connections program, a national continuous-quality improvement program for hospice and palliative care providers that is in beta-testing now and will launch in January 2021. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she serves as the lead for the NHPCO COVID-19 team and has spearheaded creation of many free resources for hospice and palliative care providers and the public. A highly regarded presenter and speaker at state and national events, Kennedy proudly serves as a representative for hospice on two National Quality Forum committees.
Learn more about Jennifer Kennedy in the Winter edition of NHPCO’s digital quarterly, NewsLine.
“NHPCO congratulates Jennifer on this significant honor as a Pioneer Nurse of 2020 and thanks her for her commitment, passion, and service,” said NHPCO President and CEO Edo Banach. “Jennifer’s influence and commitment to quality hospice care has a national impact and NHPCO is privileged to have her working on behalf of the organization’s efforts to lead person- and family-centered care.”
In honoring nursing pioneers, St. Christopher’s charge was to recognize nurses making a profound difference to people’s lives anywhere in the world, nurses motivated by creativity and compassion, pushing for change in nursing today, leading the way, and provoking change for the better. A call went out across the international community seeking nominations of nursing professionals who reflect eight characteristics inspired by the life and work of Florence Nightingale and of Dame Cicely Saunders.
“Nursing in palliative and end of life care has a rich history and remains a central element of its delivery. We want to shine a light on its contribution past and present… and consider its future shape so that it remains pertinent, visible, and impactful,” St. Christopher’s shares on its website. As part of its “Year of the Nurse” initiative, St. Christopher’s has created a virtual resource, offering webinars and a growing article collection that is available for all to enjoy at stchristophers.org.uk/yearofthenurse/.
Learn more about hospice and palliative care at NHPCO’s CaringInfo.org.
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