From the Desk of the
President...
September/October 2006
Presidential Update
I am writing this fresh off the plane with
enthusiasm from our National ENA Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Our
Maryland State Council delegation represented our nurses well. We
ensured that we, the members, all the members, continue to have the
right to vote for the candidate we feel will best represent our
wishes, without term limits. The delegation debated other proposals
and successfully helped to rewrite some resolutions to accurately
reflect the desires of our membership.
The educational portion of the conference
covered a wide range of topics. You will be proud to know that two of
our delegation, Linda Arapian and Mary Alice Vanhoy each were invited
to present and speak at the National Conference. The State of Maryland
was also highlighted in the open remarks by our national president,
Nancy Bolanomi. She read the letter I wrote about what ENA means to
me. It was a great personal honor, but I just reflected in writing
what each of you does every day in your practice.
We just held our state meeting on October 4
at Frederick Memorial Hospital. If you have ever been to a state
meeting, a lot of time is spent on committee reporting. We are trying
to change that and make the meetings more "member friendly"
for lack of better term. The committee chairs and officers will submit
their reports via email a week before. At the meeting, we can focus on
new business and new projects. If you have a special interest in a
certain project, please feel free to come to the meeting and share
your ideas or needs from ENA. We look forward to having new members
and new ideas to help our association grow. Our next meeting will be
held in December, the location to be announced.
We have a number of hot topics in the nation
and on state level. Of course, since the IOM reports have been
presented there has been a huge buzz across the nation. These reports
are said to shape our health care policies in years to come. We
received a summary at the national convention and discussed ENA's
position. There will be a town hall meeting on December 11 in
Washington, D. C., where our ENA president will be asked to testify.
We will also be there in our white lab coat and purple ENA buttons,
showing support. Please join us, but you will have to register by
November. Check the national web site (ena.org) for more information.
On the business side of running our
association, we have are discussing the two tier system versus the
present three tier and working with our tax consultant on changing our
status. To better define our purpose, we in the process of changing
our status to a 501c3 non profit organization. We were originally
established as a non-profit 501c6 with our chapters as subsidiaries.
We function as a three tier system within our national ENA
organization. We are currently reviewing our tiered system considering
chapters status and member and association needs. Since we accomplish
our work on a volunteer basis (juggling family, professional and
personal activities to meet our ENA goals), we are working to
streamline the reporting of chapters to National ENA and other
agencies. We are actively involved in debate on this matter to
determine how this can best be accomplished. We look forward to
"out of the box type thinking" to resolve the tier system
issues. The next meeting will cover this topic, if you would like more
background information, please feel free to email me.
We are in the planning stages for our annual
conference "ENA by the BAY 2007". This year is a special
year for our state, because we are trying something new. We are
looking at combining our conference with the EMS conference being held
in Baltimore during early April. The committee co-chairs are
attempting to arrange some pre-conference courses. We usually hold a
state meeting at ENA by the Bay, but this year we will just hold an
"ENA Meet and Greet" rather than a meeting. Please let us
know your ideas and maybe your suggestion will be put into action for
this conference!!
Mid-Maryland Chapter is putting on their
annual educational day, Barbara Proctor Day, October 27 at Laurel
Regional Hospital. Everyone is invited to come, including nursing
students and EMS providers. We all need a fun day of education to
empower and recharge our careers. This year the committee chair,
Sandra Waak has some special surprises in store for you. It is
definitely a do not miss. Look for the registration in your mail or on
this web site.
It seems more and more that we are turning to
computers to spread information because of the rapid response and wide
distribution. We spend thousands of dollars with mailing every year,
for newsletters and election ballots. Instead of spending money
through mailings, we would love to go more to our website for
elections and monthly informational updates. There are the
disadvantages of being more likely to read something that is in your
hand, than searching through the web but money saved on mailings could
be better used in scholarships and more educational classes like TNCC
and ENPC. We need you to let us know how you feel so that we can
implement your ideas. Do you like the direction we are moving towards?
I look forward to seeing more members at our
local chapter and state meetings. Feel free to email me or our board
members with your ideas or concerns. Have a safe autumn and do not
forget to vote in November! We have power through our numbers; let
your voice be heard.
Sincerely yours,
Tamra White, RN
President
Maryland State Council ENA
Past Messages:
March
2002 July
2002 September
2002 November
2002 December
2002
February
2003
September
2003
January
2004 April
2004 June
2004 November
2004
January
2005 March
2005 April
2005 May
2005 July
2005
March
2006