April 26, 2021 | Under Pressure: Nursing Care During Community Crises

This event highlights the struggles and triumphs of Oregon nurses caring for our community through a pandemic and unprecedented social, political, and economic upheaval. Speakers will consider the mental and physical health of essential health care workers and their patients.

Moderator:

Susan King, MSN, RN, CEN, FAAN is the former Executive Director of the Oregon Nurses Association, retiring in 2017, and she continues a clinical practice in emergency nursing in a Portland area emergency department. Susan has been an influential presence in the Nurse Practitioner (NP) landscape for over three decades, working in her many roles within the Oregon Nurses Association. She has been a champion for the role of the nurse, student nurse, and advanced practice nurse, especially NPs. She was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 2011 and the inaugural class of the NPO Hall of Fame in 2016.  She holds a Masters Degree from the Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing.

Contact Susan King at bnesta@msn.com.

Speakers:

Margaret Ngai, DNP, PMHNP-BC, is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner in an outpatient setting. Dr. Ngai graduated with her Bachelors of Science in Liberal Studies from Portland State University in 2009. She received her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Linfield Good Samaritan School of Nursing in 2012. She received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Rush University in 2019 where she focused her research on suicide screening and assessment for adolescents. Dr. Ngai’s clinical practice focuses on serving the psychiatric needs of children and adolescents ages 3-21. Prior to receiving her nurse practitioner degree, Dr. Ngai was employed by area hospitals and outpatient clinics as a staff nurse providing direct patient care in psychiatric-mental health nursing.

Contact Margaret Ngai at MargaretNgaiRN@gmail.com

Debdeep Nath, MSN, PNP-BC, PMHS is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Pediatric Mental Health Specialist in private practice in Portland, OR. He specializes in working with children with autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and related mental health conditions within the primary care setting through medical management, case management and close collaboration with specialists and community clinicians. He also has a significant interest in educating families & teachers, equity, and justice within the medical community, and exploring the effect of technology on the future of children’s physical and mental health. Debdeep completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Yale University and worked at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut before moving to Oregon. He serves on the Board of Directors of Autism Society of Oregon, a community nonprofit, and is a peer-reviewer for the Journal of Pediatric Health Care, the official journal of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. In his free time, he enjoys reading and spending time with his family exploring the Oregon outdoors.

Contact Debdeep Nath at nath@claritypdx.com.

Dr. Diane Solomon originally received her Master of Science in Nursing from Yale, becoming a Certified Nurse-Midwife devoted to women’s empowerment and health. After two decades of practice, she returned to Oregon Health & Sciences University for her Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner post-master’s certificate. Dr. Solomon also holds a certificate in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and a PhD in Nursing. With a private psychiatric practice in Portland, she is a health policy advocate, promoting the NP role and NP solution to primary and behavioral healthcare through systems-level change, organizational consulting, engagement, action, and collaboration. She volunteers as adjunct faculty at OHSU, on the Boards of Oregon Nurses Association, Nurse Practitioners of Oregon, the Oregon Wellness Program, and most recently on the Governor’s Behavioral Health Advisory Council.

Contact Diane Solomon at dnsolomon@me.com.

Rep. Rachel Prusak (D) has over 20 years invested in nursing across a multitude of settings including the last 12 years as a family nurse practitioner. She currently works for House call Providers where she provides primary care, palliative care and hospice care to the homebound and chronically ill members of her community. She was previously an ambassador for the National Health Service Corps where she was dedicated to serving families in rural areas of the country with limited access to care. Rachel serves as Chair of the House Health Care Committee and serves as a member of the Task Force on the Resolution of Adverse Healthcare Incidents where she brings her public health lens to the issues at hand. She chairs the ‘Access to Primary Care Work Group’ which will develop a set of policy considerations for the legislature in its effort to achieve universal access to adequate level of high-quality health care at an affordable cost.

Contact Rep. Rachel Prusak at Rep.RachelPrusak@oregonlegislature.gov.

Presenting Sponsor:

Annual Sponsors:

To share your ideas or if you are interested in sponsoring future events, please contact Robin Moody at robin@oregonhealthforum.org.