Nursing legend advocates involvement in issues
by Cindy AbolePublic Relations
A living legend graced the hallways of the College of Nursing and MUSC’s campus on Oct. 13 as part of the annual Distinguished Leader in Nursing Lecture Series. Nursing pioneer, researcher and policy maker Mary Starke Harper, Ph.D., R.N., spoke to a gathered crowd of faculty, staff, students and the public at the Institute of Psychiatry auditorium.
Dr.
Mary Starke Harper, left, speaks to Laurie Zone-Smith, center, and Lynn
Nemeth with other nursing doctoral students in a special gathering.
Throughout her short visit she participated in small group meetings, panel discussions and responded to personal dialogues with students, staff and researchers at the College of Nursing and MUSC’s Center on Aging. Her hour-long presentation on Oct. 13 titled, Living Leadership in Nursing Care and Health Policy, spanned topics on activism and involvement in social and public policy, mental health issues, rural health of the elderly and processes involved in policy making.
An internationally recognized expert on issues of aging and mental health needs, Harper spoke passionately about issues on aging, challenging educators and health care providers to develop tools that can assist family caregivers who support the elderly. According to Harper, research shows that women today are spending more time caring for their parents than spent raising their own children. One in 20 American women are involved in some type of caregiving for their parents. Harper would like to see more available programs that help focus on parenting the parent.
In a separate interview, Harper discussed the need for more health policy reform in various areas from improvements in cultural competencies in medical care to a mismatch in training and preparation of today’s health care providers as it relates to the needs of Americans within today’s society.
“Many of today’s health care providers are being prepared to care for patients in an acute care setting, while 85 percent of the nation suffers from one to three chronic diseases,” Harper said. “Our reimbursement system lacks severely for these patients with multiple chronic illnesses. It’s a fact that we must all face.”
These issues were her motivation during the years working as White House advisor in aging and mental health issues to four U.S. presidents. Harper’s distinguished career spans 60 years of federal government service beginning as a young nurse with the U.S. Public Health Service’s Tuskegee Syphilis Study to coordinator for long-term care programs with the National Institutes for Mental Health and numerous other activities in research and education.
“One of the most important aspects of professional education is expanding one’s world view. Dr. Harper’s visit with us as a distinguished leader in nursing provides our students, faculty and the broader community with a critical perspective on issues that rise above the local and immediate, to that of national policy and system change,” said Gail W. Stuart, Ph.D., R.N., dean of the College of Nursing.
A native of Phoenix City, Ala., Harper, 84, received her nursing degree from Tuskegee Institute and earned bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D., in clinical psychology and medical sociology from St. Louis University. During May’s commencement ceremony, she received an honorary doctor of science degree from MUSC.
She is credited for initiating the National Research and Development Mental Health Centers for minorities with the National Institutes of Health helping to produce more than 10,000 psychologists, nurses and social workers on a doctoral level through funding.
Harper is currently a Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Company consultant to the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Family Caregiving and the Dartmouth School of Medicine's Bridge to Mental Wellness Program. She has received numerous awards and accolades during her career and was presented the Living Legacy Award in Aging from the American Academy of Nursing and a recent inductee to the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame.
Harper’s visit is the second in an annual program of CON’s Distinguished Leader in Nursing Lecture Series. Last fall, Distinguished Professor of Nursings Jean Watson, Ph.D., R.N., from the University of Colorado Health Science Center, began the series.
“Dr. Harper, as a true ‘living legend,’ has brought a richness of experience,
wisdom and insight to our students and faculty that will be certain to
influence our thinking in the days ahead,” Stuart said.
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