December 2023 Year-End Report

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Message from Marie S. Yabut, 2023 President, Washington State Emergency Nurses Association (WA-ENA)

Hello Everyone,

My 2023 president year is ending in December 31st, 2023. This year sure went by swiftly. We had successes to celebrate and challenges that will continue to work on.

I want to share with you what we accomplished in 2023:

Goal 1. Continue to provide a space to learn new or refresh knowledge at our quarterly meetings; perform skills via our “Learning Space” event.

This year we offered the following learning events:

  1. January 13th, Tulalip, WA on. Free continuing education contact hour (CECH) featuring Karen Kettner Trauma Program Manager from Bellevue, WA and WA-ENA Co-chair of Government Affairs. Karen presented on “Engaging nurses in the political process. It’s more than just yelling on social media”.
  2. March 7th-8th, Virtual CPEN Course in collaboration with Solheim Enterprises. We give back to members by offering reduced cost registration fee on CEN review courses. We had 20 participants from 12 US states. We also offered the opportunity for registration fee reimbursement to early bird registrants and a nurse from Florida took home the win!
  3. April 14th, Wenatchee, WA on we had a whopping 50 registered attendees, 22 attended in-person. Free CECH featuring Jerry Siegel, a retired pharmacist from Ohio State University (OSU) Medical Center and Assistant Dean for the OSU College of Pharmacy. Jerry presented on Awareness and improvement in prevention of rabies with proper use post-exposure prophylaxis protocols.
  4. April 14th, Wenatchee, Launched our first ever “Learning Space” Learn, Practice, Refresh. A hands-on skill session in collaboration with industry partners.
  5. August 3-4, 2023, Virtual CPEN Course in collaboration with Solheim Enterprises. We had 4 participants for this course.
  6. August 11th, Vancouver, WA. Free continuing education featuring Cody Staub, WA-ENA 2023 Immediate Past-President and ENA 2023 Resolutions Committee Chair. Cody shared information on “ENA Delegate: Essential Facts & More”
  7. October 13th, Walla-Walla, WA. Free contact hours featuring Brian Burns, 2023 WA-ENA ENPC/Pediatric Chair. Brian prepared the audience for the impending pediatric patient surge for the winter season and discussed “Preparing for the Winter Surge: Pediatric Respiratory Care in the ED”
  8. November 13th, Virtual CEN Review, in collaboration with Solheim Enterprises. We had 13 attendees that took advantage of our reduced registration fee.     

Goal 2. Continue to increase membership by offering the “WA-ENA President’s Membership Grant”. This was offered as an opportunity to win one annual membership fee (new or renewal) to first-time meeting attendance at the quarterly State Council/Members Meetings in January, April, August and October meetings.

Our Washington emergency nurses heard the news, and they showed up! Here are the numbers of first-time attendees based on registration info in our 2023 state meetings:

  1. January meeting. Eleven (11) first-time attendees and Hanni Johnson’s name was drawn to receive the membership grant.
  2. April meeting. Seventeen (17) first-time attendees and Lesley Moses redeemed the grant.
  3. Learning Space event, Becky Lux’s name was drawn, but since Becky is already a Lifetime member, she gifted it to the next name drawn, Erin Rogers redeemed the grant.
  4. August Meeting. Five (5) first time attendees and Liz Wolkin redeemed the grant
  5. October Meeting. Fourteen (14) first-time attendees and Melissa Bowe redeemed the grant.

We continue to increase emergency nursing awareness through member outreach at local conferences/events. WA-ENA board members were present at the

  1. April 14th, Wenatchee Marathon, about 35 + participants signed the attendance and participated in the antidote, CPR, and tourniquet (ACT) education that our QSIP co-chairs, Emily P, Jenna and Jen, provided.
  2. April 30th, Cheney Stadium, Tacoma, WA. Childhood Safety: Gun buy-back, Jennifer Yang was at the event
  3. May 17-19th, Tacoma Convention Center, WA. WSNA Education Conference. Jon, Cody and Jen were at the WA-ENA booth

Current membership…

 Goal 3.     Continue to engage membership by timely and frequent communication and visibility through email and social media communications.

This year we released our first newsletter in February 28th. We had planned to release the second quarter newsletter in July, but our ability to run the mailing list with the new ENA HQ’s member portal encountered challenges that we were not able to. In spite of this challenge, our communications chair, Jamie Keener pivoted and remained consistent with our social media postings and gained __x__ followers and ______XX likes. WA-ENA continues to send announcements from our webpage on opportunities for education and networking.

We have been posting on social media about our continued engagement in local and state advocacy. Government Affairs Co-chairs Jon Olson and Karen Kettner represented WA-ENA at the Day on the Hill (DOTH) in Olympia on February 2nd. Some notable bills we are following are SB 5454, insurance coverage for PTSD affecting registered nurses; SB 5373, requiring equal reimbursement for advanced registered nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians; SB 5236, concerning hospital staffing standard.

Six first-time delegates served to represent Washington State emergency nurses’ voice at the 2023 ENA General Assembly (GA) in September 20-21. We hope to get more new first-time delegates this year. How to be a WA-ENA delegate to #GA24? One of the criteria is to attend a state meeting between August 2023 and May 2024. Attendance to a state meeting adds delegate points for the applicant. Check waena.org to register for the next meeting! 

Goal 4.     Start and sustain nursing leaders’ engagement via our newly formed Emergency Leaders Council.

We will continue to work on this goal and will inform members of any updates. But, happy to report that we have a chair that will serve this role in 2024.

Goal 5.     Continue to support career advancement by offering four $1000 education assistance to deserving student nurses and registered nurses advancing their nursing degrees.

At the April state meeting three $1000 education assistance were awarded to Anna Fryhover, Jessica Herklotz and Sydney Zeldes. Sara Crauer, education co-chair led this effort. Application information  is now open.

Goal 6.     Continue the fundraising project on the commissioned artwork “Catch us when we fall” benefiting our education assistance award.

In January 2023 Cody Staub, immediate past-president led the launch of our fundraising project. The online auction closed on February 28th with the winning bid going to Dede Utley from Kittitas Valley, WA. Congratulations Dede for scoring that one-of-a-kind art work.

Goal 7.     Recognize and celebrate emergency nurses in Washington State through the Anna Mae Ericksen Award and Special Recognition Awards.

Our Anna Mae Ericksen Award nomination closed on September 1st, 2023. We will announce at the May 2024 meeting. Please check out nomination info and nominate the exemplar emergency nurse you know!

At the April state meeting, our state ENPC chair, Brian Burns and TNCC chair, Beki Hammons recognized top performers in delivering ENPC and TNCC courses. WA-ENA recognized the following course directors/instructors: Natalie Meacham, ENPC In-Person, most held at 12 courses and top score; Bill Cantrell, TNCC Virtual, 526 courses and top score; and Jason Vest, TNCC In-Person, 28 courses and top score.

Goal 8.     Provide grants toward injury prevention initiatives.

Our quality, safety, and injury prevention (QSIP) committee have been engaging the community. In April 15, our QSIP co-chairs Janna Finley, Emily Pinkham and Jennifer Yang and treasurer Karin Kloppel were at the 2023 Wenatchee Marathon providing education on antidote, CPR and tourniquet (ACT) at the booth.

April 30th, Cheney Stadium, Tacoma. Childhood Safety event led by Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Tacoma Police Department. QSIP co-chairs, Jennifer participated by sharing materials on childhood and firearm safety.   

Other goals. WA-ENA continues to highlight local organizations that provide services to the community. At our quarterly meetings we survey the local hospital at the meeting city to choose the organization. Here are the organizations we supported:

  1. January we supported Cocoon House of Everett, WA. Cocoon House empowers young people, families, and the community to break the cycle of homelessness through outreach, housing and prevention.
  2. April meeting we supported SAGE, which stands for safety, advocacy, growth, empowerment. SAGE is a center for Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault. SAGE Crisis Center of Wenatchee, Washington, believes that all people deserve to live in safety.
  3. October, we supported Hope Heals Walla Walla, an organization that supports the homeless community.
  4. I mentioned the names of our volunteer board members working on their specific projects. I have to continue in recognizing the other members who work in the background and support our operations: Theresa Crowell, Secretary; Karin Kloppel, Treasurer; Carla Brim, Events Chair; and Diana Meyer, Senior Advisor.

We had a significant year!

  • WA-ENA elections in July to August had a Xx% participation in 2023 from xxx% in 2022
  • September 21st we had a networking event in a dueling piano place, Shout! House in San Diego during the ENA Conference. We had about 35 participants and had a great time connecting with members from Eastern and Western WA.

More to celebrate! In September 21st, Washington State Council was recognized at the Hall of Honor Reception for two awards. I want you to know that this state council is a leader with organizational management as this is the 4th year in a row that WA-ENA was recognized for the state council achievement awards

STATE COUNCIL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

The ENA state council achievement award recognizes ENA state councils for achieving best practices and organizational excellence in the core areas of association management, including administration and governance, communications and public relations, education, membership and advocacy/government affairs. States selected for the award have not only remained accountable for meeting ENA requirements but have gone above…

 STATE COUNCIL INNOVATIVE PROJECT AWARD

The innovative project award gives state councils the opportunity to be recognized for innovative ideas and projects that support one of the pillars of ENA’s strategic plan.

The State Council Innovative Project Award went to the Washington ENA State Council for commissioning an art piece titled “We Catch You When You Fall,” which honors and expresses appreciation for the efforts of emergency nurses.

We look forward to meeting you at our next meeting

On behalf of the WA-ENA Board & Chairs, 

Marie Yabut, MN, RN, CEN    marie.yabut@ena-wa.org
2023 President | Pronouns: she/her/hers