Newswise — PARK RIDGE, ILLINOIS – The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) has joined the G4 Alliance as a member organization to promote universal access to safe, essential surgical, obstetric, trauma and anesthesia care. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) Richard Henker, PhD, FAAN, will serve as the AANA representative to the alliance.

“All patients have a basic right to receive quality healthcare,” said Wanda Wilson, PhD, CRNA, CEO of the 50,000-member AANA. “We are proud to partner with the G4 Alliance to advocate for patients’ access to care both here at home and around the world.”

Henker, who is a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh nurse anesthesia program, has coordinated the development of nurse anesthesia programs through Health Volunteers Overseas in Belize, Cambodia, Laos and Bhutan. He practices as a nurse anesthetist at UPMC-Presbyterian (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Angkor Hospital for Children (Siem Reap, Cambodia), Lao Friends Hospital for Children (Laos), and Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (Thimphu, Bhutan). “Dr. Henker is beyond compare in his efforts to bring the nurse anesthesia profession to countries in Asia and South America,” said Wilson. “He is the 2016 recipient of the AANA Foundation’s Janice Drake Humanitarian Award, and his research focuses on genomics related to postoperative pain and malignant hyperthermia. We are proud to have him serve as the AANA representative to the G4 Alliance.”

AANA joins the other alliance member organizations in an international effort to implement anesthesia training and related human resources for health programs tailored to meet patient needs at the local level. The overall goal of the alliance is to strengthen health systems and increase access to healthcare for generations to come.

About the American Association of Nurse AnesthetistsFounded in 1931 and located in Park Ridge, Ill., and Washington, D.C., the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) is the professional organization representing more than 50,000 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and student registered nurse anesthetists across the United States. As advanced practice registered nurses and anesthesia specialists, CRNAs administer approximately 43 million anesthetics to patients in the United States each year and are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America. In some states, CRNAs are the sole anesthesia professionals in nearly 100 percent of rural hospitals. For more information, visit www.aana.com and www.future-of-anesthesia-care-today.com and follow @aanawebupdates on Twitter.