Message from the 2023 President of Washington State Council, Marie S. Yabut
Hello Everyone,
2023 is at its half-way mark! Where has time gone? Well, your colleagues at Washington Emergency Nurses Association (WA-ENA) have been busy refreshing connections with other nurses and the community. At the beginning of the year, I listed our goals for the year and we are making them happen. I hope you will be as proud as we are with the efforts of this volunteer group. I hope this mid-year report inspires you to actively involve in your professional organization, WA-ENA and refresh your connections.
Goal 1. Continue to provide a space to learn new or refresh knowledge at our quarterly meetings; perform skills via our “Learning Space” event.
We begin with the state meeting at Tulalip, WA on January 13th where we had 33 registered attendees, 22 attended in-person. We offered a 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”.
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! Watch out for additional prep courses CPEN in August and another CEN review in October. Watch out for announcements from Deb Rossie, Education co-chair.
At the state meeting in Wenatchee, WA on April 14th we had a whopping 50 registered attendees, 22 attended in-person. We offered a 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.
April 14th, Wenatchee, following the state meeting we launched our first ever “Learning Space” Learn, Practice, Refresh. A hands-on skill session in collaboration with industry partners. Attendees reviewed and practiced airway skills presented by Airlift Northwest; post-resuscitation targeted temperature management (TTM) by BD-Arctic Sun; pediatric simulation by LifeFlight; rabies prophylaxis by Kedrab/Kedrion; cath lab preparation by Health Catalyst; mechanical chest compression device by Stryker; eye irrigation by MorganLens/MorTan,Inc; chest tube set-up and intraosseous devices.
Goal 2. Continue to increase membership by offering the “WA-ENA President’s Membership Grant”. This will be offered as an opportunity to win one annual membership fee (new or renewal) to first-time meeting attendance at the quarterly State Council/Members Meeting that will occur in the January, April, August and October meetings.
Our Washington emergency nurses heard the news and they showed up! At the January meeting we had 11 first-time attendees and Hanni Johnson’s name was drawn to receive the membership grant. At the April meeting we had 17 first-time attendees and Lesley Moses’ name was drawn. At the 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.
We continue to increase emergency nursing awareness through member outreach. WA-ENA board members Jon, Cody and Jen were at the WSNA Education Conference at the Tacoma Convention center on May 17-19.
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 and releasing a second quarter in July as planned. Our communications chair, Jamie Keener has been 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. I hope you are finding the right information in our webpage, otherwise please send us your feedback in our “Contact Us” form.
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. At the national front, Jon, Karen and I, Marie, participated at DOTH in Washington DC on May 3rd. We successfully met with the health policy legislative assistants (LA) of our two senators Cantwell and Murray; and all ten WA legislative districts’ members of congress. As an organization, ENA advocated to obtain more cosponsors and support of these bills: H.R. 2663/S. 1176, Support the Workplace Violence Prevention for Healthcare and Social Service Workers; and H.R. 1205/S. 1346 Support the Improving Mental Health Access from the Emergency Department Act.
Delegates have been selected to go to San Diego. I am happy to report that there will be eight first-time delegates who were selected and made a commitment to represent Washington State emergency nurses’ voice at the 2023 ENA General Assembly in September 20-21. This initiative of delegate selection is led by Annie Lin, membership chair.
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.
Goal 5. Continue to support career advancement by offering four $1000 education assistance to two 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.
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 is open and closes on September 1st, 2023. 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 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, Emily and 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. In 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. At the 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. WA-ENA CAReS is followed up by our president-elect, Leslie Kees.
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.
What a busy 6 months so far! There are many opportunities to engage with your state council and we hope to see you in one or all of them. Calling all active and retired emergency nurses: I invite you to join us in one or all of these activities coming up.
- WA-ENA elections
- August State meeting in Vancouver or attend virtually. Learn about being a delegate and meet old and new friends.
- September 21, 7pm, save the date and join us in a WA-ENA networking event in a dueling piano place in San Diego during the ENA Conference. More info TBA
- October 13, State meeting in Walla-Walla, save the date.
- November 3, find WA-ENA at a booth at the Tacoma Trauma Trust Conference
We look forward to meeting you at our next gathering!
On behalf of the WA-ENA Board & Chairs,
Marie Yabut, MN, RN, CEN president@ena-wa.org
2023 President | Pronouns: she/her/hers