FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORTLAND, Maine – Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Senior Vice President for Patient Care and Chief Nurse Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, DNP, FAAN returned to Portland last week to speak at the University of New England (UNE) about nursing leadership and interprofessional education. Ives Erickson is a native of Portland, Maine and she earned her BSN from Westbrook College, which is now the Westbrook College of Health Professions and part of UNE. Returning to the campus as an alumna to partner on important educational initiatives exemplifies her commitment to both quality health education and to the institution.

Ives Erickson gave two talks to students at UNE on Dec. 4. During the morning session, Ives Erickson was welcomed to the Biddeford campus by Karen Pardue, PhD, RN, CNE, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education, Associate Professor of Nursing and Jennifer L. Morton, DNP, MPH, APHN, Director of Nursing, Associate Professor, BSN Coordinator. Ives Erickson presented the topic “Creating a Professional Nursing Practice Environment” to a group of community-based nurse leaders. The nurse leaders were part of a cohort participating in a grant-funded program under the direction of Jennifer Morton. In the afternoon, Ives Erickson was welcomed to the Portland campus by Shelley Cohen Konrad, PhD, LCSW, Director of the Center for Excellence in Interprofessional Education, and Associate Professor in the School of Social Work. The afternoon presentation was about dedicated interprofessional education units at MGH, which ties in with UNE’s interprofessional education collaborative (IPEC). UNE students and faculty participated in this presentation. According to the UNE website, “the mission of IPEC is to educate practitioners, scholars, and researchers to work together and with patients and clients for relationship-centered health care that is comprehensive, collaborative, caring, safe, and continuous throughout the life cycle.

“It means a great deal to me to return home to Maine and help our vibrant community of interprofessional leaders, students and faculty that put patients at the center of health care. I’m fortunate to have gained a strong educational foundation here in the UNE system, and IPEC is a best-practice initiative not just in Maine, but a model for the nation. It highlights the outstanding work being done here in Maine and it supports what we’re doing with Lunder-Dineen in terms of collaborating with experts here to create and disseminate education that improves the health of Maine residents,” said Ives Erickson.

Ives Erickson finds the IPEC initiative to be very much in line with the mission of the Lunder-Dineen Health Education Alliance of Maine (Lunder-Dineen), of which she is one of three co-chairs. Lunder-Dineen educational programs are designed to help meet the continuing health education needs of Maine health professionals, their patients and the community.

“UNE is delighted with the partnership potential that Lunder-Dineen offers in the areas of education, training and services,” said UNE Director of Nursing, Associate Professor, and BSN Coordinator Jennifer L. Morton, DNP, MPH, APHN. Morton is also the Project Director of UNE’s CHANNELS program. CHANNELS is an acronym for community, health, access, navigate, network, education, leadership and services.

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Photo Caption: Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, DNP, FAAN with Shelley Cohen Konrad, PhD, LCSW

Editor’s Note: Download high resolution version of photo here.

About Jeanette Ives Erickson:
Ives Erickson was born and brought up in Portland and currently splits her time between her homes in Boston and Kennebunkport, Maine. She earned her diploma in nursing from Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, her BSN from Westbrook College, her MS from Boston University, and her doctorate of executive nursing practice from the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Ives Erickson is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a past Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow where her research was the role of the chief nurse in integrated health care systems. Ives Erickson is the recipient of numerous awards including the AONE Prism Award, UMass Chancellor’s Award for longstanding community commitment and service, and the Boston Business Journal Champion in Health Care award. She has numerous publications including her research on the professional practice environment. In 2001, she was featured in the book, “How Jane Won” which describes her roots from Maine and the many mentors she had while practicing at Mercy Hospital. In 2007, she was appointed to serve on the U.S. National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice.