Contact: Susan Lamontagne
(631) 899-3825 or
slamontagne@iqsolutions.com

An Oregon nurse who has made extraordinary efforts to improve the treatment of patients with mental health issues will be recognized as one of the 10 recipients of the new Breakthrough Leaders in Nursing award created by the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a joint initiative of AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Jake Creviston, MN, RN, PMHNP, DNP student, grew up in a family of nurses in rural Oklahoma. He has conducted nursing missions to Central America and Africa, where he helped to build a medical clinic for Ugandan refugees.

“I believe that we, as health care providers, need to do a better job of listening to our patients,” said Creviston, who thinks the health care system needs to improve the way people with mental health issues are treated. “There are many outside influences that affect people’s health, environmental factors, life circumstances, and we need to consider those issues when we propose a treatment plan.”

Working with the Oregon Action Coalition, Creviston wants to help create a health care system that is more patient-focused and patient-centered. “The only way to make real change in our health care system is from the inside out and interprofessionally,” he said.

The Campaign for Action created the 2014 Breakthrough Leaders in Nursing award to celebrate nurse leadership and the importance of efforts by nurses to improve health and health care. The award recipients have worked to help victims of sexual assault, medically fragile children, neurologically impaired individuals, and low-income women in rural areas, among others. Their work is helping to improve the quality of medical care in Vermont, prevent bedsores and reduce Medicaid costs in Texas, and recruit minority nursing students in Wisconsin, to name a few.

“Jake has worked tirelessly to improve health care for the people of Oregon,” said Leslie Ray, patient safety consultant, Oregon Patient Safety Commission. “This award recognizes Jake’s leadership and his efforts to make sure people with psychosocial issues are treated with dignity.”

Learn about the other recipients.