GVSU has strong connection to national health care organization

Three people with connections to Grand Valley serve on the council of the National Academies of Practice, a health care advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., reflecting the university's commitment to interprofessional health care.

The NAP president is Michelle R. Troseth, who earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in nursing from Grand Valley; Evelyn Clingerman, executive director of the Bonnie Wesorick Center for Health Care Transformation, was re-elected in May as vice chair of NAP's nursing academy; Denise Ludwig, associate professor of speech language pathology (SLP), was elected in January as vice chair of the SLP academy.

The NAP has representation from 14 health care academies, including medicine, nursing, SLP, dentistry, social work, optometry and veterinary medicine. The Wesorick Center is an endowed center promoting interprofessional collaboration through Grand Valley's Kirkhof College of Nursing.

Grand Valley's connection to NAP was strengthened in the spring when the organization presented Bonnie Wesorick, namesake of the Wesorick Center, with its Cummings award for her contributions to interprofessional health care; and the Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education and Research Center, housed in Grand Valley's Office of the Vice Provost for Health, was recognized with the Interdisciplinary Group award. 

Troseth said the national recognition reflects Grand Valley's commitment as a leader in interprofessional health care. "It is thrilling for me as an alumna to have two Grand Valley leaders on the NAP council," Troseth said.

Clingerman said Grand Valley's nursing students are learning in an environment that teaches interprofessional practice at its highest level.

"It's more than health care workers from different disciplines working together to improve patient care, it's having a shared mission and vision within an organization," she said. "Interprofessional education and practice touches all aspects of care: acute, primary and community, and across multiple sectors of health care."