BARRY WILLIAMS/ Special

"Making the connection with patients and finding ways to improve the program are the best parts about this job," said Debbie Spamer, a bariatric specialist at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

Occupational health nursing is a small specialty with a huge client population.

"Our nurses focus on keeping workers and their dependents safe and healthy on and off the job, and they also play leadership roles in their communities," said Ann Cox, executive director of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN), which is headquartered in Atlanta.

"It's a very eclectic job description," Cox said. "Occupational health nurses have to be health experts, hazard- and disaster-prepared, have business and workplace competencies and knowledge of national OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] rules and regulations. It's one of the smallest nursing niches, but [it's] an important one."

Occupational health nurses have always played a part in dealing with hazards and disasters, but their role was ratcheted up after Sept. 11, 2001.

"All companies now need to be prepared for terrorist activities and biological warfare, as well as explosions, fire and other accidents," said Susan A. Randolph, MSN, RN, COHNS, FAAOHN, and AAOHN president. "They need plans for getting people out of buildings quickly, communicating and moving supplies when power is out, training people to care for themselves and injured co-workers. When those discussions take place, the occupational health nurse has to be at the table."

The aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the threat of a pandemic bird flu have also spurred the AAOHN to find ways to help employers, employees and their families during disasters.

"Members of our association began to ask how we could increase our knowledge and partner with organizations to play a larger role in disaster-relief efforts, so we began to talk with the American Red Cross," Cox said.

On Oct. 11, the AAOHN leadership team and the American Red Cross met at the Red Cross national headquarters in Washington to sign a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on disaster-preparedness.

"We're pleased to team up with the American Red Cross, an organization that has a 125-year history of providing disaster relief to Americans," Randolph said. "This new collaborative relationship will allow our organizations to share expertise and recruit nurses for deployment to Red Cross disaster relief operations. It's a way for our members nationwide to get some additional training and be a cadre of nurses ready to go where needed."

The association sees opportunities for members of the two organizations to share education, protocols and research.

"The whole topic of preparedness has been on our platform for years. Many nurses wanted to go down to help after Katrina and Rita but had licensure issues," Randolph said.

One issue the two organizations will work on is getting more states to pass the Nurse Licensure Compact, which allows nurses to be licensed in one state but practice in others, as long as they acknowledge that they are subject to each state's practice laws and disciplines. So far, 24 states have passed the agreement.

Cox sees the agreement having long-term effects. While strategic planning is under way at the national level, local chapters of the AAOHN and the Red Cross are getting to know each other. Their goal is to build communications and resources to better respond to disasters.

There are about 10,000 AAOHN members in 40 chapters.

"We have a lot of commonly held interests, and we can do things together that will benefit both our organizations and our communities," Randolph said.