AHNA Endorsement

The American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) is committing its support to the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH) and the Nightingale Declaration to achieve a healthy world.

As the definitive voice for holistic nursing, AHNA promotes the education of nurses, other healthcare professionals, and the public in all aspects of holistic caring and healing.  The association is a non-profit membership association serving  more than 4,000 members in the US. It also has over 145 local chapters across the country. With members in some 44 countries, AHNA's impact is spreading rapidly throughout the world.

Through AHNA, nurses are leading the way for complementary and alternative therapies.  Over the last two decades in the US,  the growth of integrated health care facilities has been staggering. According to the US National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Therapies, approximately 36 per cent of adults are using some form of complementary or alternative medicine.

Lucia Thornton, President AHNA

"The Nightingale Declaration is a powerful and divinely inspired document. It creates a “global intention” which is a potent precursor for global healing. We are pleased to be a part of this process. Together, we can make a difference."

In December 2006, due to the efforts of AHNA, holistic nursing was recognized as an “official nursing speciality” by the American Nurses Association, with its own defined scope and standards of practice.  AHNA serves as a bridge between conventional healthcare and complementary and alternative healing practices.

In her statement of support, Lucia Thornton, MSN, RN, AHN-BC, President of AHNA, says: “We are honoured to sponsor the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health. Florence Nightingale's teachings and philosophy form the core of holistic nursing. 

“The focus of the AHNA is to foster caring and healing in this world and is in complete alignment with the noble purpose and objectives of this movement.  The Nightingale Declaration is a powerful and divinely inspired document. It creates a “global intention” which is a potent precursor for global healing.  We are pleased to be a part of this process. Together, we can make a difference.”

As AHNA President, Ms Thornton, with the AHNA Leadership Council, are empowered by a mission statement that nurtures and inspires its members and advances the philosophy and practices of holistic nursing.

The AHNA Leadership Council has adopted a vision statement that communicates the great power of holistic nursing: that holistic nursing is healing and transforming to those in our care - and to each of us.

Ms Thornton, is also a Holistic Nurse Educator and Consultant, from ?Fresno, California. She has been involved in nursing, holistic healing and healthcare for over 25 years. Early in her nursing career, she worked in various clinical settings, including emergency and trauma, intensive care, school nursing, research and development, and served as Director of Nursing Quality Assurance for the University of Miami Medical Center.

Ms Thornton’s desire to provide care for the dying prompted her to help develop one of the first inpatient hospice homes in the country. She also helped create the national process of Board Certification for Holistic Nursing and served as the first Executive Director for the American Holistic Nurses' Certification Corporation. She also established and directed The Visions in Healthcare Council and the Institute of Health and Well Being to foster an awareness of health and healing in her community.

Ms Thornton has taught undergraduate and graduate courses related to psychiatric nursing, leadership and nursing theory at California State University in Fresno. She served on the faculty for the Certificate Program for Holistic Nursing, teaching classes and mentoring students throughout the United States. For the past 7 years, she has been involved with developing seminars for hospitals and communities that focus on renewal, transformation, and the Model of Whole-Person Caring.

This model was developed in 1999 in response to the challenge of creating a healthy and healing environment in a hospital that she was consulting with. The implementation of the model within the hospital had a measurable effect on increasing patient satisfaction, improving staff retention, and creating a healing environment. As a result of implementing the Model of Whole-Person Caring, the hospital was awarded the 2004 Norman Cousins Award by the Fetzer Institute for excellence in patient care and relationship-based service.

Ms Thornton is committed to helping people understand and integrate the Model of Whole-Person Caring at a personal, professional and organizational level. The model is a vehicle to engage students in a scholarly and practical pursuit of defining themselves in a way that acknowledges the infinite, energetic and transcendent fields of Being.

The American Holistic Nurses Association is a Gold Sponsor of NIGH.

For more information on the American Holistic Nurses Association see: http://www.ahna.org .