From the Desk of the
President... ...
Greetings to All,
We have now formed all of
the Maryland State ENA committees. I can’t believe that 3 months
have already passed by. It seems like we have so much to do.
I have just returned from
the 2004 ENA State Leadership Conference and Leadership Symposium. I
also attended the National ENA Board of Directors meeting. The big
talk is about the Blue Ribbon Commission of 2004. The intent of the
commission is to make things better for all. The Commission is
recommending that ENA become a 2-tiered organization. The organization
is currently a 3-tiered system in the majority of the states -
National, State Council and local chapters. The change would have
National work directly with the State Councils and the State Councils
would have more direct management of the local chapters. The National
office is currently identifying ways they can provide assistance
directly to the State Councils. During the initial transition period,
the National office will provide support to the chapters. However, as
the transition moves forward, the chapters will be supported by the
State Councils. This will be a hot topic at the General Assembly 2004
in San Diego.
I have had my doubts about
this change until Judy Kelleher, one of the founders of ENA, stood up
at an out-break session at Leadership and stated she felt these
changes would be good for the organization. She has recognized that
the organization has grown and changed over the years and that this
new system of communication and management will help the organization
keep information straight. By having too many routes of information -
some to the State level and some to the chapter level - information
can be confused or redundant.
Another topic I would like
to address is membership. We currently have 573 active members from
the State of Maryland. We have 34 that have not renewed their
membership. I would encourage every member to keep their membership
active to stay in touch with changes in our profession. If these
members were discontent in some aspect of the organization, I would
again encourage them to speak up about concerns. We in Maryland ENA
and the National organization want to try to meet the needs of the
membership. This is in fact your organization, so your voice is
important.
Thank you for your interest in
your State Organization and Emergency Nursing.
Sincerely,
Lawrence "Jeff" Jefferies, RN,
MDENA President
Past Messages:
March
2002 July
2002 September
2002 November
2002 December
2002
February
2003
September
2003 January
2004