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The 2004 ANA Convention was held in Minneapolis,
Minnesota June 25 – 29th, . Activities included the House of
Delegates, educational sessions, election, speakers, honoring our
leaders, and collaboration and discussions among nurses. The House of
Delegates is composed of 630 delegates from the Constituent Member
Associations (state nursing associations), Organizational Member
Associations (AOM’s) and Affiliate Nursing Organizations (10
organizations ex. Oncology Nursing Society).
The ANA House of
Delegates officially opened on June 26 with opening remarks by President
Barbara Blakeney, MS, APRN, BC, ANP. In her remarks President Blakeney
noted how the meeting’s theme, “Nurses: Your voice, Your Health, Your
life, “speaks to nurses collective strength and it’s importance when
trying to address the growing nursing shortage. She stated “Working
together, we can accomplish great things for our profession.” Blakeney
spoke to numerous initiatives that ANA and it constituent member
associations have been addressing, such as federal funding for nurse
education, limits on mandatory overtime. She also talked about “Safe
patient Handling and Movement” to prevent injury to nurses
Linda Sterlie, ANA
Executive Officer provided an update on the current status of affairs at
ANA. She spoke about membership, the new look to the web page and the
move of ANA Headquarters to Silver Springs, MD. Membership and the need
to increase membership were discussed by the president and chief
executive officer. She also spoke of the necessity to vote in the dues
escalator for ANA to continue the programs and services that are
presently being offered. It is hoped that the multiple membership types
offered by ANA and the CMA’s will provide options that will appeal to
more nurses and memberships will increase in ANA and the CMA’s.
The House of
Delegates spent much of their time discussing and passing Reference
Reports. These Reference Reports pertained to nursing issues such as
transforming the workplace and Environmental Health. See a synopsis of
all of these Reference reports as reported by the 10 Georgia Delegates
in this issue of “Georgia Nursing.”
Educational
sessions included an intensive workshop on the new guidelines for
hypertension, a lobbying workshop, and many other sessions including
environmental issues, treatment of pain in persons with a history of
substance abuse and other health and safety issues as well as new
nursing roles (ex. Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL)and many more. The
educational sessions provided topics that appealed to a very diverse
group of nurses.
The U.S. Surgeon
General Richard Carmona, MD, MPH, FACS was the key note speaker to open
the ANA Convention. He spoke to the importance of his previous
experience as a registered nurse and the importance that being a
registered nurse had played throughout his career, including his current
role. He acknowledged the essential role that nurses played in the
health care delivery system.
The American Nurses
Foundation honored Margaretta Madden Styles, EdD, MN, RN, FAAN with the
ANF Nightingale Lamp Award. Also Imogene M. King, EdD, MSN, RN, FAAN and
Luther P. Christman, PhD, RN, FAAN were formally inducted into the ANA’s
Hall of Fame.
The new officers
were elected as follows:
President – Barbara
Blakeney, MS, APRN, BC, ANP (Massachusetts)
First Vice
President – Patricia Yoder-Wise, EdD, RN, CNAA, FAAN (Texas)
Secretary -
Katheren Koehn, RN (Minnesota)
Treasurer - Janice
E. Bussert, BSN, RN (Washington State)
Directors at large
and Members of the Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics were also
elected.
Debbie Hatmaker,
the Program Officer of GNA was elected President of the Center for
American Nurses (CAN). The Center for American Nurses is one of the two
Associate Organizational members of ANA.
Congratulations to
all of the elected officers.
The ANA Convention
offered opportunities for much collaboration with fellow nurses and time
to conduct the work of the organization. For more details about the
convention go to the ANA web site,
www.nursingworld.org. |
