Valda Boyd Ford has been appointed director of community and multicultural
affairs as part of the community partnership between the University of
Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Health System.
Since 1999, Ford had served as a consultant for the UNMC Community Partnership.
She succeeds Judy Dierkhising, Ph.D., who recently took a position as administrator
for the oncology service line at Memorial Health Care System in Chattanooga,
Tenn. Fords new title reflects a broadening of the departments strategic
vision for diversity, cultural competence, and community relations.
I believe that health is much more than the absence of illness — its
the ability to live well, Ford said. We are trying to touch the whole
city. We want everyone to understand that UNMC and NHS are here to
assist with more than just healthcare as it is usually described. We want
to be involved in facilitating healthy attitudes, healthy lifestyles, and
healthy neighborhoods.
In order for people to have a healthy life, they must feel safe. In
order to feel safe, they must believe that the institutions created for
their protection are really working for them. I want to build upon the
work of Judy Dierkhising and also move into some new arenas. I want to
help neighborhoods understand that UNMC is truly interested in the issues
affecting their ability to live well.
Ford brings an expansive career as a health professional, cultural diversity
strategist and business administrator to her new appointment at UNMC. While
consulting for UNMC, Ford was an assistant professor in the School of Nursing
at Creighton University and also the executive director of the Center for
Human Diversity, a program sponsored by the Urban League of Nebraska, Inc.
The center offers an intensive 10-month course for health-care professionals
on how to develop cultural competency.
According to Ford, Cultural competency is a concept that encompasses
diversity but is so much more. It is not just about race and ethnicity.
Cultural competence is not only recognizing and respecting differences,
it is the recognition and development of skills, strategies, and sometimes
policies and procedures, to ensure that all people in the organization
and all people served by the organization feel good about being here and
about the care they receive.
Ford is an internationally acclaimed speaker who has lectured at World
Health Organization conferences, the Mayo Clinic, and overseas in Saudi
Arabia, Poland, Denmark, Wales and several Caribbean nations. She has published
dozens of articles on health care and is currently authoring a book on
cultural competence. She has developed videos and CD-ROM teaching tools
on the use of website conferencing and cultural competency in healthcare.
Ford has started or expanded four healthcare businesses, as well as her
own consulting firm.
Nebraska cable television viewers are familiar with Ford as the host
and executive producer of Valdas Place, a talk show on health
and diversity issues. Nationally, she is the chairwoman of the National
Advisory Committee for Lift Every Voice — the Diabetes Education program
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes
of Health and the Urban League; and a participant of the NIH study on womens
issues following heart attacks. She also is a member of the Presidents
Council on Race and Ethnicity.
Ford earned her bachelor’s of science degree in nursing in 1991 from
Winston Salem State University in Winston-Salem, N.C. She earned
a master’s degree in public health, health policy analysis and administration
in 1995 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C., and
a master’s of science degree in nursing administration in 1999 from Creighton
University.
In the greater Omaha community, Ford is chair-elect of the Nebraska
Urban League board of directors, a member of the advisory board of the
Healthy Start program and Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society
and an affiliate member of the American Association of Nurse Attorneys.
My life is dedicated to never limiting myself, Ford said. This belief
extends above all to ideas — what may or may not work For example, look
at the current nursing shortage. Not only are there less people entering
the nursing field, many already practicing are leaving the field quite
early in their careers. We have to think about developing new strategies
to encourage not just young people to consider nursing, but older adults
or even current professionals in totally unrelated fields. A 40-year-old
who graduates as a nurse and has thought seriously about the challenges
of nursing before entering the profession may work as a nurse for 10 or
15 years while a twenty-something may leave the profession in less than
five years.
My mission is to expand UNMCs and NHSs presence in the community
and broaden the diversity of people we encourage to pursue health science
careers,” she said.