Print Page | Contact Us
Inside AzNA
Blog Home All Blogs
Updates on AzNA Activities and what AzNA is doing to advance and promote professional nursing in Arizona.

 

Search all posts for:   

 

Top tags: ANA  Public Policy  Robin Schaeffer  APRN  Consensus  ACA  event  ObamaCare  Press Release  This Week  Advocacy  Ebola  Education  In The News  Injury  Legislature  OSHA  West Nile Virus  Zika 

This week at AzNA – Friday, February 13, 2015

Posted By AzNA Staff, Friday, February 13, 2015

 

Over 45 RNs attended AzNA’s annual Nurse Lobby Day on Wednesday, February 11. With a lot of positive feedback from both attendees and legislators, AzNA marks this one as a success in the books. Look for highlights on Nurse Lobby Day, APRN Lobby Day, and Public Policy Day in the May 2015 issue of the Arizona Nurse.

 


Senator Don Shooter (center) with AzNA Members Pat Mews and Selina Bliss at Nurses Lobby Day.

 

On Monday, Robin Schaeffer, Executive Director, met with Senator Nancy Barto and Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) stakeholders regarding state level budget changes that impact licensure issues and funding for both RNs and CNAs. If you strip out all of the legal and accounting words, the issue boils down to budgets. The federal government has been giving money to state boards to offset costs of maintaining CNA registries. Those funds are no longer being passed down and as a result the Arizona General Fund is going to stop passing those funds on to the Arizona Board of Nursing. Because CNAs don’t pay any licensure fees, the loss of funding results in the State Board of Nursing being forced to use RN licensure fees to offset the cost of regulating CNAs, CNA disciplinary investigations, and background checks for CNAs. A bill has been written and is likely to be heard by the legislature on Tuesday. AzNA will update members on this issue and on ways to contact your legislator as information becomes available.

 

Other items of note-

Debby Wood, Office Manager:

  • Served as the face at the registration table for Lobby Day on Wednesday. She came back to the office with a lift in her step, inspired by the nurses she talked to and getting a reminder of why it is AzNA Staff works so hard every day.
  • Spoke with a first-time attendee who was excited about her experience with her legislators, how much she had learned about the legislative process and how excited she was already to return next year.
  • Spent the remainder of the week jumping  into the deep waters of AzNA’s accounting.  Wendy and Debbie passed her Swim Floaties.
  • Had no interaction with insects of any type in the office this week. Thankfully.

Wendy Schulz, Communications Manager:

  • Met early in the week with Shawn Harrel, RN, Editor of the Arizona Nurse to discuss plans for the May issue.
  • Spent a lot of the week working on event task lists for upcoming events to ensure that they run more smoothly than ever. This process necessitated over 88oz of coffee be ingested. Wendy anticipates further coffee consumption in the upcoming weeks.
  • Spent time on Friday writing this blog and pondering how many members would show up to read it. Login to leave a comment and let her know.

 

Debbie Blanchard, Administrative Assistant:

  • Has been busy processing AzNF Scholarship Applications.  Nursing Program students can be awarded anywhere from $500 to $2500 per semester. If you or a student you know would like some financial assistance for schooling, make sure to get your scholarship applications in before the March 1 deadline.

 

 **TO LEAVE A COMMENT, PLEASE SIGN IN HERE, AND THEN REFRESH THIS PAGE*

 

 

 

Tags:  Robin Schaeffer  This Week 

PermalinkComments (4)
 

This Week at AzNA -- Friday, February 6, 2015

Posted By AzNA Staff, Friday, February 6, 2015

Final preparations are underway for Nurse Lobby Day on Wednesday, February 11 -- this includes handout packets, snack bags, and the always present Lifesavers to give to legislators with our sticker: "Save one life, you're a hero. Save 1,000 lives, you're a nurse." We are looking forward to seeing many familiar faces, as well as eager new faces, included in the 50 nurses registered to attend. Registration for this event is closed, but if you're interest, please register for APRN Lobby Day on March 4.

 

Robin Schaeffer, Executive Director, was involved in a conference call with other executive directors of Multi-State Divisions of ANA around the country. Arizona is a part of the Western Multi-State Division. The Western MSD website is set to go live at the end of this month, and preparations are underway to make the Continuing Education Credit Application process an online option. We're crossing all of our fingers and toes for that happening this summer!

 

Robin had networking opportunities to begin talks about public health nursing with state-based thought leaders and also enjoyed a lunch meeting on Thursday with Melissa Stafford Jones, U.S. Health and Human Services Region 9 Director, Matt Heinz, Director of Provider Outreach for the Health and Human Services Department, and Rory Hays, JD, AzNA Lobbyist.

 

Left to Right: Matt Heinz, Director of Provider Outreach for Health and Human Services; Robin Schaeffer, RN, MSN, CNE, CAE, Executive Director of AzNA; Melissa Stafford Jones, Region 9 Director, Health and Human Services, Rory Hays, JD, AzNA Lobbyist

 

Friday was the second time the AzNA Board of Directors has met for 2015. Topics of discussion included review of the survey results for the AzNA Mission Statement and Convention 2015. A Big Thank You to all 150 members who participated in the survey. Your feedback was invaluable. 

 

Debby Wood, Office Manager, met with the Convention Planning Committee and a title for Convention has finally been nailed down. We look forward to seeing you at 2015 AzNA Convention - The Changing Landscape of Healthcare: Trends in Nursing Leadership, Practice and Education. Registration will open later this spring. This year Convention will offer three different tracks focused on Leadership, Clinical Practice, and Nurse Educators.  If you have any thoughts about these topics, we’d love to hear from you in the comments or via email at info@aznurse.org.

 

Debby also has been working on the Approved Provider Annual Reports for review in the area of Continuing Education. Additionally, she deftly removed one dead roach from the front office.

 

Wendy Schulz, Communications Manager, has been busy with theme-based branding for multiple events, communications timelines for marketing, and a revised Event Task List to help the office keep organized and ahead of the game for events. It doesn’t sound exciting, but we in the office are especially looking forward to an organized event planning process for 2015 and onward.

 

Debbie Blanchard, Administrative Assistant, has spent much of her last week on the phone with the offices of various AZ Representatives and Senators scheduling appointments for Nurse Lobby Day Participants to speak with their legislators. She’s looking forward to doing it all again next month to schedule appointments for APRN Lobby Day!

 

The office took a brief bit of time on Monday between meetings to celebrate birthdays for Robin (Dec 31), Debby (Feb 1) AND Debbie (Feb 7). We wish them all a wonderful year filled with love and happiness.

 

**TO LEAVE A COMMENT, PLEASE SIGN IN HERE, AND THEN REFRESH THIS PAGE*

Tags:  Robin Schaeffer  This Week 

PermalinkComments (0)