UMass Magazine Online

Spring 2005

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On Health Care's Frontlines
Barbara Blakeney ’76




	Photo is the property of the American Nurses Association Photo courtesy of MATTOX Photography, mattoxphotography.com, Copyright 2002-2003

AMERICA IS EXPERIENCING A CRISIS in nurse staffing, with well more than 100,000 jobs currently vacant. And that number is rising fast. No one knows this better than Barbara Blakeney, president of the American Nurses Association (ANA). In a recent speech, Blakeney said that the Department of Health and Human Services has projected a 29 percent nurse shortage by the year 2020, equal to more than 800,000 vacant nursing positions.

If anyone has the power to turn the tide, it’s Blakeney. As head of the ANA she represents the nation’s 2.7 million registered nurses—from the halls of Congress to hospital boardrooms. “The most pivotal moment in my professional life was being elected president of the ANA,” says Blakeney. In her post she combines skills learned during a long career in public health practice as well as policy expertise and a gift for leadership. In addition to protecting and promoting the profession of nursing, the association is at the forefront of policy initiatives pertaining to health care reform.

At the heart of Blakeney’s professional success is a personal commitment to do her very best. As adjunct professor in the Department of Family and Community Nursing at UMass Boston, Blakeney shared her professional motto with future health care leaders: “Make sure that you would be proud to see what you’ve done each day on the front page of the paper.”

Blakeney has plenty to be proud of as the recipient of numerous awards, including ANA’s Pearl McIver Public Health Nurse Award for significant contributions to the field of public health and being recognized as one of the 100 most powerful people in health care by Modern Healthcare Magazine. And while she may spend her days crafting policy and lobbying for legislators, she never forgets the power of nursing; she says she is most proud of the times that she truly made a difference in the lives of her patients.

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