American Red Cross Headquarters, Washington, DC. Photo by Laura Padgett, via Flickr.
Sharon A. R. Stanley, PhD, RN, RS, has been named chief nurse and director of disaster health and mental health services by the American Red Cross. AJN is pleased to see that the Red Cross decided to renew the position of Chief Nurse—especially now that its Red Cross Nursing Service is poised to celebrate its 100th anniversary next month. As we reported in AJN last July, the organization’s leadership gave early retirement to Chief Nurse Nancy McKelvey, and cut the position as part of its plan to deal with a $200 million deficit. Our report was the basis for an emergency resolution at the 2008 American Nurses Association (ANA) meeting of its House of Delegates, in which the delegates directed the ANA to write and urge the Red Cross to reinstate the position.
Stanley will represent nurses on a strategic level and will direct disaster response services, which relies heavily on nurses as volunteers. Nurses have been instrumental in the American Red Cross since its founding by nurse Clara Barton in 1881 and the founding of its Red Cross Nursing Services in 1909 by Jane Delano, and more than 30,000 nurses today participate in Red Cross programs. AJN wishes Stanley a long and productive career as chief nurse.
–Maureen “Shawn” Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editorial director
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