| Course | NU733 Ethics, Policy, and Advocacy for Population Health |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Advocacy letter |
| Length | About 580 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU733 Unit 9
Zero, Not Minus Fifteen: An Advocacy Letter Asking Composite Port Hadley's County Health Officer to Change the Cold-Weather Trigger and Send a Public Health Nurse to Every Clearance She Recommends
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU733: Ethics, Policy, and Advocacy for Population Health
Unit 9 Advocacy Letter
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The health officer, writer, patient and figures are composite; numbers are bracketed placeholders.
The Letter
[County Health Care for the Homeless Program letterhead]
[November 3]
Dr. [Karen Mitchell] Health Officer, [Harbor] County Health Department
Dear Dr. [Mitchell]:
I am a nurse practitioner at the county's Health Care for the Homeless clinic and a resident of Port Hadley, and I am writing to ask for two changes within your office's authority before the coldest weeks arrive. First, please activate the county's cold-weather protocol, which opens warming centers and extends outreach hours, when the forecast wind chill reaches zero degrees Fahrenheit, rather than minus fifteen. Second, please require that a public health nurse be present at any encampment clearance your office recommends.
Last winter I treated a man in his fifties whose tent and sleeping bag were removed during a clearance two days before a cold snap. He spent the next two nights in a doorway. When he reached our clinic his feet were white and numb, and he was admitted to the county hospital, where he lost four toes. He told me he would have gone to a warming center if one had been open.
His case was not unusual. Last winter [23] of our unhoused neighbors were hospitalized for frostbite, and [11] of them lost fingers or toes. [Eight] of those admissions followed nights when the wind chill was between zero and minus fifteen, when the current protocol stayed inactive. A Toronto study found that each 5-degree Celsius fall in the daily low raised the odds of a hypothermic event among homeless people by about 64 percent (Zhang et al., 2019), so the nights just above your current trigger carry real danger.
Eight of last winter's frostbite admissions came on nights when the county's own protocol said it was not yet cold enough to act.
I understand that lowering the trigger adds staffing costs. By my estimate, the change would activate the protocol on about [nine] more nights a winter, at roughly $[4,000] a night for warming center staff, about $[36,000] in all. A single frostbite admission with amputation costs the county hospital far more than that, and eleven occurred last winter. A nurse at clearances would ensure that medications, vaccinations and treatment plans are not lost when people are moved; a national model of repeated sweeps found that displacing people who inject drugs could cost many lives through overdose and infection (Barocas et al., 2023).
I can bring our clinic's frostbite records to your office whenever your schedule allows and go through them with your staff. Thank you for considering these requests.
Sincerely,
[Name], DNP, APRN Nurse Practitioner, Health Care for the Homeless Program
Why the Letter Is Built This Way
The letter makes two requests, both within the recipient's control, stated in the first paragraph. It gives one human story in a few sentences, then the numbers that show the story is typical. It answers the most likely objection with an estimate rather than a principle. And it ends with a concrete offer of help. It is short enough to be read in two minutes, which is about how long a busy health officer will give it.
References
Barocas, J. A., Nall, S. K., Axelrath, S., Pladsen, C., Boyer, A., Kral, A. H., Meehan, A. A., Savinkina, A., Peery, D., Bien, M., Agnew-Brune, C., Goldshear, J., Chiang, J., Linas, B. P., Gonsalves, G., Bluthenthal, R. N., & Mosites, E. (2023). Population-level health effects of involuntary displacement of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness who inject drugs in US cities. JAMA, 329(17), 1478-1486. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.4800
Zhang, P., Wiens, K., Wang, R., Luong, L., Ansara, D., Gower, S., Bassil, K., & Hwang, S. W. (2019). Cold weather conditions and risk of hypothermia among people experiencing homelessness: Implications for prevention strategies. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(18), Article 3259. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183259
Reading the NU 733 Unit 9 instructions
The Unit 9 assignment asks you to write a letter advocating a specific change to a specific official. Most versions want the requests stated early, a brief story that makes the issue concrete, evidence of scale, an answer to the most likely objection, and a respectful close with an offer of help. One page, around 400 to 450 words, is the usual length. Faculty reward letters addressed to someone who can grant the request without further approval, stories that are composite or fully de-identified, numbers that show the story is typical, and a cost estimate or other answer to objections. Anything you send under your own name must rest on your own facts and judgment, since a real letter carries your professional credibility.
Inside the NU733 Unit 9 example
The letter opens by introducing the writer as a clinician and resident and stating both requests in the first paragraph. The second paragraph tells one composite patient's story in five sentences, from a clearance two days before a cold snap to the loss of four toes. The third gives the winter's frostbite admissions and amputations, notes that eight came on nights between zero and minus fifteen, cites a Toronto study of cold and hypothermia, and carries the highlighted sentence on the protocol's trigger. The fourth estimates the added staffing cost and explains the value of a nurse at clearances. The close offers the clinic's data, and a short section explains why the letter is built this way.
NU733 Unit 9 rubric: what earns full points
Advocacy letters are generally assessed on the choice of recipient and request, persuasive structure, use of evidence, handling of objections and professionalism. The recipient criterion rewards a request within the official's own authority. Structure is judged on whether requests come first and each paragraph has one job. Evidence earns credit when figures are specific and a patient story is de-identified. Handling of objections is credited when the letter anticipates the most likely concern, often cost, with an estimate. Professionalism covers tone, length, letter format and a clear offer of follow-up. A letter that can be read in two minutes and still makes both requests and their reasons clear usually scores highest.
Common NU733 Unit 9 mistakes, and how to avoid them
A common weakness is writing to the wrong official, asking a health officer for a change only the council can make. Another is burying the request after several paragraphs of background. Some letters tell a patient story in identifying detail. Others give numbers without a story, or a story without numbers, and lose either attention or credibility. Many ignore the obvious objection. And some letters are angry or accusatory, which rarely persuades an official who must work with the writer again. Ask for what the reader can grant, tell one short story, show that it is typical, answer the likely objection, and close with a specific offer of help.
Get an NU733 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Name the official your Unit 9 letter will address and what you believe that person can grant, then attach the prompt and rubric. A free first custom sample follows in 24-48h, prepared to those instructions, the ask in its opening paragraph and every claim sourced, as a model for the letter you write and sign yourself. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More NU733 papers and DNP samples
- NU733 Unit 1: Issue Analysis, Homelessness Deaths
- NU733 Unit 2: Discussion Post, Costs of a Clearance
- NU733 Unit 3: Ethical Framework Paper, Kass
- NU733 Unit 4: Population Profile, Unsheltered Adults
- NU733 Unit 5: Statute Analysis, Public Camping Act
- NU733 Unit 6: Policy Brief to the City Manager
- NU733 Unit 7: Seminar Reflection, Involuntary Holds
- NU733 Unit 8: Stakeholder Power Map
- NU733 Unit 10: Position Paper
- NU713 Unit 9: Structural Framework Application, WHO
- NU703 Unit 9: Practice Problem Statement, Depression
NU733 Unit 9 questions, answered
How do I choose the right official to write to?
Find who can grant the specific request without needing anyone else's approval. A statute change needs a legislator, often a committee chair; an administrative protocol may need an agency head or health officer; a budget line needs whoever controls that budget. Reading the relevant ordinance or statute usually reveals the authority. Writing to someone who cannot act is the most common misstep.
Can I send a letter based on this sample?
Once it carries your signature, the letter belongs to you, so its facts, experience and judgment must be yours as well. The sample shows how the ask is placed, how evidence is compressed and how tone is managed. Use it to understand the form; the version you send, if you send one, should be written by you for your own community.
Should an advocacy letter include a patient story?
Often one brief story helps, provided it is composite or thoroughly de-identified, with no name, date, location or detail that could point to a real person. Keep it to a few sentences and connect it directly to the request. A story that stands alone, without evidence of scale beside it, can read as an appeal to sympathy rather than a case.
Where can I find a free NU733 Unit 9 sample paper?
The full NU733 Unit 9 advocacy letter is on this page, with two requests, a composite patient's story, the winter's figures, a cost estimate that answers the staffing objection and a close, followed by a short analysis of its structure and two references. A letter to your own official can be requested.
Why lower the cold-weather trigger in NU733 Unit 9?
Eight of the winter's 23 frostbite admissions came on nights between zero and minus fifteen, when the current protocol stayed inactive. Opening warming centers at zero would cover those nights at an estimated added cost far below the cost of amputations.