ONA is proud to be at the forefront of improving diversity, equity, and inclusion practices within the nursing profession. ONA will host our first-ever Health Equity Conference, with the theme of “A Vision for Equity and Nursing,” on August 5-6, 2021 in the Pearl District in Portland.  

Key Issues and Topics

• The crucial role that equity can, and must, play in nursing and in ensuring healthcare equity for all
• The connection between nursing practice and health equity
• Identifying opportunities for nursing practice to promote greater health equity for our patients and the communities we serve
• The dual impacts on our Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) nursing colleagues of system failures and facing bias, discrimination, and psychological trauma in the workplace
• The intersectionality of health as a commodity and its historical impacts on diverse communities
• How nurses are ideally positioned to be advocates to advance health equity
• Much more…

Registration and Who Should Attend?

The ONA Health Equity Conference is FREE for ONA members!

To follow current COVID-19 protocols and maintain safe social distancing, we are limiting attendance at the conference, so register early to ensure you are able to attend.  

Registration closes Wednesday, July 21.

Schedule of Events

The topics for many sessions are still being finalized. The current schedule draft can be found below:

Thursday, August 5, 2021, 8:30 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.

• Opening Remarks & Reflections
• Nursing’s Professional & Ethical Obligation to Advance Health Equity
• ONA’s Member Mandate; Board & Member Leaders’ Vision 
• BIPOC Nurses: Professional Experiences, Lessons Learned & Opportunities
• Keynote: Health Equity as a Social Justice Imperative
• Immigrants, We Get the Job Done
• Closing and Debrief
  

Thursday, August 5, 2021, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

• Evening Reception

Friday, August 6, 2021, 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

• Local Policy Tables: Priorities
• Local Health Equity Leaders (breakout session)
  
• Health Equity and the APRN Practice (breakout session)
  
• Intersections: Brewing A Movement; The Crossroads of Labor, Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation & Race in One
• Members' Reflections
• Closing Remarks

Featured Speakers

ONA is deeply honored to have confirmed keynote addresses by American Nurses Association President Ernie Grant (pre-recorded) and a live in-person address by Salon's Editor at Large and New York Times bestselling author D. Watkins. They will speak about the crucial role that equity can, and must, play in nursing and in ensuring healthcare equity for all.

Ernest Grant, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANA President

Dr. Ernest J. Grant is the 36th president of the American Nurses Association (ANA), the nation’s largest nurses organization representing the interests of the nation’s 4.2 million registered nurses.

A distinguished leader, Dr. Grant has more than 30 years of nursing experience and is an internationally recognized burn-care and fire-safety expert. He previously served as the burn outreach coordinator for the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals in Chapel Hill. In this role, Grant oversaw burn education for physicians, nurses, and other allied health care personnel and ran the center’s nationally acclaimed burn prevention program, which promotes safety and works to reduce burn-related injuries through public education and the legislative process. Grant also serves as adjunct faculty for the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing, where he works with undergraduate and graduate nursing students in the classroom and clinical settings. Click here to read more.

D. Watkins, Editor at Large - Salon and New York Times Bestselling Author

D. Watkins is Editor at Large for Salon. His work has been published in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and other publications. He holds a Master’s in Education from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Baltimore.

He is a college lecturer at the University of Baltimore and founder of the BMORE Writers Project, and has also been the recipient of numerous awards including the BMe Genius Grant, and the Ford’s Men of Courage. Watkins was also a finalist for the Hurston Wright Legacy Award and Books for A Better Life. He has lectured at countless universities, and events, around the world. Watkins has been featured as a guest and commentator on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN’s The Erin Burnett Show, Democracy Now and NPR’s Monday Morning, among other shows.

Watkins is from and lives in Baltimore. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America and The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir and We Speak for Ourselves: A Word from Forgotten Black America. Click here to learn more.

Allyson P. Brantley, Ph.D., Dept. of History and Political Science and Author

Allyson P. Brantley is an Assistant Professor of History & Director of Honors and Interdisciplinary Initiatives at the University of La Verne, in Southern California. She is also a recipient of a 2020-2021 Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders Fellowship from the W.W. Foundation.

Brantley is the author of Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors & Remade American Consumer Activism (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). Through research in organizational records, activist publications, and oral histories, Brantley positions the consumer campaign at the center of late 20th-century political culture and social movements. In this campaign, Latinx, labor, gay and lesbian, Black, feminist, environmentalist, indigenous, and student activists united in opposition to Coors – a product and company that, to them, symbolized the anti-union, anti-minority, and anti-women New Right. The Coors boycott became a means through which individuals made sense of and projected their own politics. Brantley argues that the act of non-consumption offered a platform for new alliances but also sparked tense debates over belonging, community, and corporate power, especially among Chicanxs, feminist, and gay and lesbian activists. At end, the boycott divided as much as it united. Additionally, her work highlights the boycott’s impact on the Coors Brewing Company and its conception of corporate social responsibility. Activists’ purchasing power and decisions influenced the terms by which the company came to discuss its corporate responsibility, philanthropy, and outreach efforts, which in turn set a model for other corporate leaders. Click here to learn more.

Meals and Lodging

Attendees will be provided breakfast on Friday and lunch both days of the conference. The reception on Thursday night will feature heavy hors d’oeuvres.

ONA members that travel more than 50 miles (one way) to attend the event will be provided with a room on Wednesday and Thursday night, at our event hotel (Canopy by Hilton Portland Pearl District) if needed. If the Canopy cannot accommodate a request for Wednesday night, alternative lodging will be found nearby. If you have questions, or need assistance with your lodging needs, please contact us at Riddick@OregonRN.org.

COVID-19 Protocols for the Conference

ONA is dedicated to the science and using recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Oregon Health Authority to help ensure a safe event for all. We are following the ever changing COVID-19 landscape and recommendations and will adjust as necessary.

At this time, we are planning on requiring all attendees to wear masks while indoors except for when eating.

To follow current COVID-19 protocols and maintain safe social distancing, there is limited attendee space available.

Continuing Education

Participants can earn up to a maximum of 9.5 contact hours.

To obtain a CE certificate for this educational activity, the learner must complete the following criteria:

• Sign-in each day at the conference on August 5 and 6, 2021.
• Attend one or more sessions at the conference
• Complete the online evaluation form by September 6, 2021.

Participants who successfully complete the above requirements will receive a CE certificate from ONA for the contact hours claimed during the evaluation process. Participants should only claim the sessions which were attended in full. Any participant who has NOT claimed their contact hours by September 6, 2021 will NOT receive a CE certificate.

Oregon Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Disclosure Statements

All presenters and planning committee members declare no conflicts of interest in the development and implementation of this educational activity.

All presenters for this activity have attested that they will provide the best available evidence for this content and present information fairly and without
bias.