American Nurses Association Named Recipient of AHA Award of Honor

WASHINGTON (April 21, 2022) – The American Hospital Association (AHA) today announced that its 2021 Award of Honor will be presented to the American Nurses Association (ANA) in recognition of its valuable leadership and collaboration with AHA on advocacy and communications during the COVID-19 pandemic. The award also recognizes ANA’s partnership with the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) to provide resources and support for the nation’s nurses and leaders. The Award of Honor recognizes individuals or organizations for exemplary contributions to the health and well-being of our nation through leadership on major health policy or social initiatives.

ANA Enterprise CEO, Dr. Loressa Cole, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, will receive the award during a ceremony on April 25 at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C.

“It is an honor to receive this award from our partners at AHA,” said Dr. Cole. “ANA will not cease our tireless support of the nation’s 4.3 million registered nurses who are still responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting colossal recovery efforts. We greatly value our partnership with AHA to help support and protect nurses working in all health care settings across the nation.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, ANA, the American Medical Association (AMA) and AHA forged a strong and influential partnership to help ensure the health of the nation. The three associations collaborated on advocacy that helped secure billions of dollars of funding for hospital and health systems’ many emergency expenses; direct payments to health care personnel, facilities, or schools and daycare centers so health care professionals could continue to work; and to create surge capacity for the care of mildly or moderately sick COVID-19 patients. The associations also worked together to issue open letters and public service announcements encouraging the public to wear masks, wash hands and scale back holiday gatherings, while urging health care professionals and the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The ANA, American Nurses Foundation and AONL also launched the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative to educate nurses on the safety, effectiveness, and importance of COVID-19 vaccines.

“The ANA was an invaluable partner during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with the AMA, we advocated for resources and support for the health care field, as well as educated the public on vaccines and safety measures,” said Rick Pollack, AHA president and CEO. “ANA also worked closely with the American Organization for Nursing Leadership to educate and support nurse leaders throughout the pandemic.”

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Contact:       Marie Johnson, mjohnson@aha.org 
                           Colin Milligan, cmilligan@aha.org

About the American Hospital Association
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA advocates on behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners – including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers – and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides insight and education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.