[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 100 (Thursday, July 21, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING DR. BARBARA HELLER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 21, 2005

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Barbara R. 
Heller, Rauschenbach Distinguished Professor of Nursing and Executive 
Director, Center for Health Workforce Development, University of 
Maryland, Baltimore for her many years of service to the citizens of 
Maryland, and to commend her for her leadership and unwavering 
commitment to help alleviate the shortage of nurses and allied health 
care workers.
  The Center for Health Workforce Development at the University of 
Maryland is dedicated to analyzing and understanding health workforce 
issues, dynamics and trends with the goal of translating knowledge 
derived from research and evaluation studies into policies and programs 
to enhance the nursing and health workforce. Since its inception in 
2002, the Center has produced documentation of the extent of the 
nursing shortage in Maryland; sponsored interdisciplinary consensus 
conferences on seeking solutions to nursing and health workforce 
shortages in acute and long term care; collaborated in the development 
of innovative nurse retention initiatives; and designed and implemented 
a model AmeriCorps Health Care Volunteer Service Program to train a 
cadre of skilled volunteers who are assigned to serve as auxiliary 
health care workers in hospitals and nursing homes. This program aims 
to lessen critical nursing and health workforce shortages and augment 
service delivery to patients while at the same time establishing an 
educational pipeline that encourages AmeriCorps members to pursue 
nursing and other health careers.
  Dr. Heller has more than 30 years of academic and administrative 
experience. She served as Dean of the University of Maryland School of 
Nursing from 1990 until 2002, and previously held senior academic 
administrative posts at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, and the 
State University of New York. Her past experience also includes an 
inter-governmental personnel assignment at the Clinical Center, 
National Institutes of Health; a Congressional Fellowship in the U.S. 
House of Representatives; an appointment to the Commission on Health, 
Montgomery County, Maryland; as well as service as a member of the 
Board of Directors of the Southern Council on Collegiate Education for 
Nurses; the Board of Governors of the National League for Nursing; and 
the Board of Directors of Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem. 
She currently serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of the 
Washington Hospital Center and Nurses Educational Funds, Inc.; as a 
member of the Greater Baltimore Health Subcommittee; as well as my 
Health Care Advisory Committee. She is an alumna of Leadership 
Maryland, Class of 1996; the 1998 class of the Robert Wood Johnson 
Executive Nurse Fellows Program; and has been named to the Circle of 
Excellence of Maryland's Top 100 Women.
  Mr. Speaker, it is for her dedication to the pursuit of academic 
excellence and her contributions to improvements in nursing and health 
care that I rise to thank Dr. Heller. Nurses across the Nation and the 
people of Maryland are in her debt. I ask my colleagues to join me 
today in recognizing Dr. Heller's accomplishments and thanking her for 
her service to Maryland.




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