A friend I’ll call Howard just completed a three-day stay in the hospital. At 40, this was his first intense experience as a patient. “I was amazed at how great the nurses were. They were incredibly knowledgeable and basically did almost everything,” he said.

Howard learned one of the best-kept secrets in America: Most of what our health care system does is provide nursing care. At four million strong, nurses are the most populous of all health professionals in the United States.

AARP knows the secret. Fourteen years ago, the organization launched a remarkable initiative called the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA), with a mission to see that Americans have the nurses they need, now and in the future.  CCNA also runs the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of those same organizations that strives to build a healthier nation for all through nursing. Both are funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), which has a century-long history embracing the power of nursing.

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