February 2014

What’s New at the Nurse Practitioner Association of Greater Rochester?

(What’s New at NPAGR?)

 

News!

The NPAGR co-sponsored the 29th annual Legislative Reception on February 13th. The event was held at St. John Fisher College and brought together members of our local and state elected government officials to discuss concerns within the nursing community. The evening began with Sister Christine Wagoner, director of the St. Joseph Neighborhood, who spoke passionately about the impact of the Affordable Care Act and the role that nurses have during each stage of its roll out. Specifically, the opportunity we have in helping to identify commonly encountered problems or challenges our patients are having, and reporting these problems to our legislative leaders. There was a question and answer session where the Nurse Practitioner Modernization Act, RNFA (registered nurse, first assistant) reimbursement and promotion of RN to BSN programming were discussed.

NPA members should have received a letter announcing that our NPA website will be going through an upgrade very soon. The letter will include your initial username and password. The overall website look will remain the same but there will be several enhancements to the user portal section. Stay tuned!

The NPA Annual Membership Campaign kicked off on February 1st and runs through April 30th. This is a great time of year to help recruit new members to the NPA because each new member & referring member will receive a $65 voucher to be used towards 2015 membership or the 2014 annual education conference! In addition, the NPAGR will award a $100 gift certificate to the Delmonte Spa to whoever recruits the most new members by April 30th!

One of our 2014 Student Representatives is Jessica Henneman. Jess is currently a graduate student in the FNP program at the University of Rochester, with a desire to focus on adolescent medicine and reproductive health. She works on the progressive care unit at Highland Hospital. She is a board member for the Young Professional Group of Planned Parenthood and a steering committee member for the Primary Care Progress group of the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing.

Upcoming Programs & Events:

March:

• Stroke Treatment Alliance of Rochester presents the 3rd Regional Stroke Management Symposium. Thursday March 27th from 8:00-4:30pm at the Hyatt Regency in Rochester. See www.starrochester.com for more information.
• NPA Capital Chapter of NYS presents: Document, Coding and Compliance for Today’s Nurse Practitioner and Advance Practice Clinician. Friday March 28th beginning at 8am at the Holiday Inn Express in Latham NY.

April:

• Nursing Lobby Day – Albany, NY. Travel to the capital with fellow NYS nurses to speak with our legislators on NP issues and concerns. Details to come on exact location and time.
• 10th Annual NPA Region One Conference – hosted by the NPA Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Chapter. Saturday April 5th beginning at 8am at the Holiday Valley Mountain Resort and Conference Center in Ellicottville, NY.

June:

• 2014 AANP (American Association of Nurse Practitioners) National Conference. June 17th-22nd at the Opryland Convention and Resort Center in Nashville, TN.

October:

• NPA Annual Conference. October 20th -26th at the Saratoga Hilton and City Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. Contact Sue Hubbard at shubbard@thenpa.org for more details.

November:

• Nurse Practitioner Week is from Nov 10th – 16th. See AANP website for more details.
• NPAGR Regional Conference on November 15th. Stay tuned for location and time details. Currently we are planning a panel of NP’s to discuss the implications of the ACA on NP practice. Please contact David Goede, our education chair for any suggestions on additional topics.

Other News:

A reminder that all are welcome to attend our NPAGR monthly board meetings. Each meeting is held at the Neurosurgical Center on S. Clinton Ave at 6pm. Meeting dates are as follows: Feb 24th, March 24th, April 28th, May 19th, June 23rd, Sept 22nd, Oct 10th and Dec 1st.

Here is a list of your 2014 NPAGR Board Members:

President: Heather Cook-Smith

President-Elect: David Goede

Treasurer: Laura Markwick

Secretary: Diane Salipante

Communications/Website: Cynthia McCloskey and Julie Albert

Education: David Goede, Kathy Davis and Kim Proto-Conway

Legislation: Marilyn Dollinger and Mel Callan

Nominations: Susan Smith

Marketing /Public Relations: Erin Howe

Membership: Jane Tuttle and Christine D’Agostino

Bylaws: Barb Schrage and Andrea Avidano

Past President: George Fox

Our Region One Representative is Dee Krebs. Dee is our voice at the NPA state meetings – please contact Dee with any concerns or issues for the state board of NPA. Dee can be reached at regional@npagr.org