Washington ENA Community Appreciation, Recognition & Support (WA-ENA CAReS) was conceptualized by Jenna Hannity and Andi Foley in 2016 as an idea after a state council meeting. The goal is to highlight local organizations that provide services to the community. WA-ENA holds state meetings on a quarterly basis across Washington state and chooses the beneficiary that is located in the meeting city.

How did WA-ENA CAReS begin? Here’s the original article submitted to ENA Connection for full story of its beginnings…

WA-ENA CAReS: Giving Back to our Communities

It began as so many great ENA ideas do, on the drive home from a meeting. “What can we do to make a difference for the communities who so generously support us?” Washington ENA, like so many other chapters and state councils, depends on the generosity of host hospitals for meeting space.  Sites are rotated around the state for quarterly meetings.

During the preceding state council meeting, the discussion had circled around doing community service work complicated by coordinating such volunteerism regularly with different organizations. The desire was to support an organization of interest to the host hospital. Jenna Hannity mentioned her emergency department has a close relationship with a local elementary school to provide art supplies and an idea was born: WA-ENA CAReS.  

WA-ENA CAReS, an abbreviation for Washington ENA Community Appreciation, Recognition, and Support, is a program to give back to the communities of hosting hospitals. Our first community drive in December 2016supported the elementary school art program which sparkedthe idea for WA-ENA CAReS.  2016 and 2017 WA-ENA leaders attended the leadership retreat and role hand-off meeting and contributed several bags of school and art supplies, which were then dropped off to a surprised and grateful elementary school.  

For our January meeting, the hospital CNO was actively involved in coordinating the WA-ENA meeting and was excited to hear about our community drive. The hospital works closely with the local domestic violence shelter and the CNO shared the name and contact information for the shelter. After working through the initial confusion with the shelter and reassuring that we were not asking them for funding but rather wanted to do a drive on their behalf, they shared specific needs of their organization. This particular shelter has a fall fundraiser called “Stuff the Purse” in which purses are donated and auctioned to raise funds.  While they also asked for general supplies, purses for their fundraiser was an unexpected and fun request for our first state council WA-ENA CAReS drive.

Local organizations are as varied as the hospitals WA-ENA visits.  WA-ENA CAReS has collected clothing for anED clothing closet, winter coats and school supplies for an elementary school, coloring books and puzzles for pediatric violence survivors, and ready to eat, individually packaged snacks for advocates to share with children in transition. One shelter told us that while they have a very generous community, one supply item always forgotten is feminine hygiene products, which was then the ask for another WA-ENA CAReS drive. At a meeting not hosted by a hospital, the favored organization of a past WA-ENA leader was selected and pet food was collected for a local animal shelter.

The WA-ENA CAReS drive is publicized through blast email, on social media, and on the WA-ENA website for member awareness. Donations are collected during the meeting and delivered to the organization following the State Council meeting. Most donation drop-offs have been accompanied with a photo opportunity for the organization and for WA-ENA. Photos, when available, were posted to WA-ENA social media sites.

​WA-ENA CAReS has been well received by our members, our host hospitals, and the communities we visit. A recent evolution of WA-ENA CAReS, starting in August 2018, has been to have a speaker from the WA-ENA CAReS drive organization attend our State Council meeting to share information about how the organizationmakes a difference in the community. This face-to-face interaction creates a connection between WA-ENA members and the drive organization, provides the organization time to raise awareness and educate WA-ENA members about the needs of the community citizens served by the organization, and increases awareness of local members in attendance about the resource in their community.

​Another possible future evolution to the WA-ENA CAReS program is to coordinate a simultaneous drive done by the host hospital emergency department in conjunction with the collection donated by WA-ENA members.  This coordinated drive would increase the contributions to the community, raise awareness about the drive organization,and possibly increase attendance at the WA-ENA meeting.

The idea of WA-ENA CAReS was initiated by a single member and brought to fruition through dedicated and continued efforts of WA-ENA state council leaders. Through moderate, optional donations of WA-ENA members, the drive organization benefits, the host hospital’s relationship with the drive organization is improved, the relationship between WA- ENA and the host hospital is solidified, and members feel good about making a difference in small, but meaningful ways. The inspiration and continued success of WA-ENA CAReS serves as a reminder that “Safe Practice, Safe Care” extends beyond the walls of any emergency department and far past any state council or chapter meeting. Consider a CAReSprogram in your area too!

Jenna Hannity, MSN, RN, CEN, TCRN
Trauma Program Coordinator
CHI-Franciscan, Tacoma, WA
Member:  Washington ENA

Andi Foley, DNP, APRN-CNS, ACCNS-AG, RN, CEN, TCRN
Emergency Services Clinical Nurse Specialist
CHI-Franciscan, Federal Way, WA
Member:  Washington ENA