First Nursing Resource Center Opens in CEE

Latvian nurses opened the CEE region's inaugural Nursing Resource Center (NRC) this fall at the Latvia Nurses Association in Riga, Latvia. The center is the first in a series of NRCs scheduled to open at five to seven CEE partner institutions by next spring. A network of NRCs began opening in the NIS last year; the next NIS center will open this fall in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Invited to the September 9 opening in Riga were Latvian First Lady Aina Ulmane, Latvian Ministry of Health representatives, US Ambassador to Latvia Larry Napper, Latvian USAID representative Howard Handler and partnership representatives from Riga and St. Louis, Missouri.

Barbara Bogomolov, RN, MS, manager for Community Health and International Services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, said the NRC's location at the nurses association would enable nurses from across Latvia to take advantage of a wide range of learning materials contributed by both Latvian and US partners.

"The NRCs will benefit as many nurses as can use them, expanding the influence of partnership activity beyond the partner institutions," said CEE Nursing Task Force co-chair Pam Thompson, RN, MSN, of the CEE NRC initiative. "There are limited learning resources for nurses in nursing schools, as well as for nurses in practice. Access to knowledge is a powerful leverage for change, and this will give nurses in CEE access to that leverage."