President’s Letter
August 2006
I hope all of you are having an enjoyable, leisurely summer and are surviving the Midwestern heat and storms.
As we gear up for our second year of MPCNA lectures and networking, the board of directors has reevaluated our goals and purposes. Our first goal is to continue offering educational opportunities with increased CEU availability. In association with St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, we are now able to offer educational credits for all lectures that meet specific criteria prescribed by MONA.
Our second goal is to ramp-up involvement and visibility of our committee members. We have asked our current committee members to attend a meeting with the board to explore goals and responsibilities for each committee. Per our current bylaws, we are in need of a Bylaws committee and a Nominating committee. We will address this lack at our fall business meeting.
Also at the first meeting of our 2006-07 year, we will vote on a logo for our nursing association. We have four submissions from two members thus far. Feel free to submit your art work for a free year’s membership if you create the most popular logo.
Many of you have asked about a membership card and we plan to design a membership card for the upcoming year.
The topic for the evening is "Post Surgical Arrhythmias" presented by Dr. Edward Rhee. The evening will be sponsored by Medtronic, Inc. and will be on Oct. 24, 2006 at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
We have elected to restructure our membership fees for the upcoming year. Local membership dues will be $20.00/year or $35.00 for two years. For those outside of the St. Louis Metropolitan area and unable to attend dinner lectures, our Regional membership fee will be $15.00/year or $25.00 for two years. Student or associate membership fee is $15.00/year. Non-members will be asked to contribute $10.00 to attend a specific lecture to cover costs of the meal.
I invite all of you to visit our website which is up and running thanks to Heidi Fields! It looks great and contains the first newsletter, bylaws, standing committees and members, membership application, upcoming educational events, and links to sites of interest. If you have suggestions for more links please email the contact info to Heidi. The site address is www.mpcna.org
As always I encourage everyone to consider submitting an article, a question for members, or pearls of wisdom to share with your colleagues in our newsletter.
I thank all of you for your support and enthusiasm during our first year and will strive to improve and strengthen our vision of providing educational and networking opportunities for nurses and healthcare professionals dedicated to caring for children with congenital heart disease.
Tammy M. Bowman, MSN, RN, CPNP-AC
|
