{"id":47839,"date":"2001-10-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-10-15T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/10\/15\/valda-boyd-ford-appointed-director-of-unmc-nhs-communityand-multicultural-affairs\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T10:51:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:51:17","slug":"valda-boyd-ford-appointed-director-of-unmc-nhs-communityand-multicultural-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/10\/15\/valda-boyd-ford-appointed-director-of-unmc-nhs-communityand-multicultural-affairs\/","title":{"rendered":"Valda Boyd Ford Appointed Director of UNMC\/NHS Community\n\nand Multicultural Affairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valda Boyd Ford has been appointed director of community and multicultural<\/p>\n

affairs as part of the community partnership between the University of<\/p>\n

Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Health System.<\/p>\n

Since 1999, Ford had served as a consultant for the UNMC Community Partnership.<\/p>\n

She succeeds Judy Dierkhising, Ph.D., who recently took a position as administrator<\/p>\n

for the oncology service line at Memorial Health Care System in Chattanooga,<\/p>\n

Tenn. Fords new title reflects a broadening of the departments strategic<\/p>\n

vision for diversity, cultural competence, and community relations.<\/p>\n

I believe that health is much more than the absence of illness — its<\/p>\n

the ability to live well, Ford said. We are trying to touch the whole<\/p>\n

city.  We want everyone to understand that UNMC and NHS are here to<\/p>\n

assist with more than just healthcare as it is usually described. We want<\/p>\n

to be involved in facilitating healthy attitudes, healthy lifestyles, and<\/p>\n

healthy neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

In order for people to have a healthy life, they must feel safe. In<\/p>\n

order to feel safe, they must believe that the institutions created for<\/p>\n

their protection are really working for them. I want to build upon the<\/p>\n

work of Judy Dierkhising and also move into some new arenas. I want to<\/p>\n

help neighborhoods understand that UNMC is truly interested in the issues<\/p>\n

affecting their ability to live well.<\/p>\n

Ford brings an expansive career as a health professional, cultural diversity<\/p>\n

strategist and business administrator to her new appointment at UNMC. While<\/p>\n

consulting for UNMC, Ford was an assistant professor in the School of Nursing<\/p>\n

at Creighton University and also the executive director of the Center for<\/p>\n

Human Diversity, a program sponsored by the Urban League of Nebraska, Inc.<\/p>\n

The center offers an intensive 10-month course for health-care professionals<\/p>\n

on how to develop cultural competency.<\/p>\n

According to Ford, Cultural competency is a concept that encompasses<\/p>\n

diversity but is so much more. It is not just about race and ethnicity.<\/p>\n

Cultural competence is not only recognizing and respecting differences,<\/p>\n

it is the recognition and development of skills, strategies, and sometimes<\/p>\n

policies and procedures, to ensure that all people in the organization<\/p>\n

and all people served by the organization feel good about being here and<\/p>\n

about the care they receive.<\/p>\n

Ford is an internationally acclaimed speaker who has lectured at World<\/p>\n

Health Organization conferences, the Mayo Clinic, and overseas in Saudi<\/p>\n

Arabia, Poland, Denmark, Wales and several Caribbean nations. She has published<\/p>\n

dozens of articles on health care and is currently authoring a book on<\/p>\n

cultural competence. She has developed videos and CD-ROM teaching tools<\/p>\n

on the use of website conferencing and cultural competency in healthcare.<\/p>\n

Ford has started or expanded four healthcare businesses, as well as her<\/p>\n

own consulting firm.<\/p>\n

Nebraska cable television viewers are familiar with Ford as the host<\/p>\n

and executive producer of  Valdas Place, a talk show on health<\/p>\n

and diversity issues. Nationally, she is the chairwoman of the National<\/p>\n

Advisory Committee for Lift Every Voice — the Diabetes Education program<\/p>\n

of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes<\/p>\n

of Health and the Urban League; and a participant of the NIH study on womens<\/p>\n

issues following heart attacks. She also is a member of the Presidents<\/p>\n

Council on Race and Ethnicity.<\/p>\n

Ford earned her bachelor’s of science degree in nursing in 1991 from<\/p>\n

Winston Salem State University in Winston-Salem, N.C.  She earned<\/p>\n

a master’s degree in public health, health policy analysis and administration<\/p>\n

in 1995 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C., and<\/p>\n

a master’s of science degree in nursing administration in 1999 from Creighton<\/p>\n

University.<\/p>\n

In the greater Omaha community, Ford is chair-elect of the Nebraska<\/p>\n

Urban League board of directors, a member of the advisory board of the<\/p>\n

Healthy Start program and Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society<\/p>\n

and an affiliate member of the American Association of Nurse Attorneys.<\/p>\n

My life is dedicated to never limiting myself, Ford said. This belief<\/p>\n

extends above all to ideas — what may or may not work For example, look<\/p>\n

at the current nursing shortage. Not only are there less people entering<\/p>\n

the nursing field, many already practicing are leaving the field quite<\/p>\n

early in their careers. We have to think about developing new strategies<\/p>\n

to encourage not just young people to consider nursing, but older adults<\/p>\n

or even current professionals in totally unrelated fields. A 40-year-old<\/p>\n

who graduates as a nurse and has thought seriously about the challenges<\/p>\n

of nursing before entering the profession may work as a nurse for 10 or<\/p>\n

15 years while a twenty-something may leave the profession in less than<\/p>\n

five years.<\/p>\n

My mission is to expand UNMCs and NHSs presence in the community<\/p>\n

and broaden the diversity of people we encourage to pursue health science<\/p>\n

careers,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nValda Boyd Ford Appointed Director of UNMC\/NHS Community and Multicultural Affairs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Valda Boyd Ford has 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