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GVNA News & Views - Fall 2024

Posted about 2 months ago by Pamela White

In the newsletter:

  • Message from the President
  • CORNO 2024 Coming Soon!
  • Brief Report from the Annual Spring Banquet
  • Spring Banquet Celebrates Current and Future Nurses
  • ANA-NY Annual Conference and Opportunities through GVNA

Message from GVNA President Alison Simpson

Hello All!

Hope everyone has had a relaxing summer and is getting ready for fall to arrive soon. The Genesee Valley Nurses Association celebrated its annual banquet on May 30th. It was great to see so many members at the event. The board presented four awards to very deserving nurses. Our speaker,  Joy Hogan, shared a wonderful presentation about palliative care. Thanks again to all who attended.

The NY legislative session is done for 2024. After election season in the fall the new two-year legislative cycle will begin in 2025. ANA-NY will continue to make the following important issues a priority:

  • Expanding the scope pf practice for CRNAs
  • NP Modernization act to remove unnecessary practice restrictions
  • Nurse Licensure Compact Act
  • Income tax credit for preceptors who are doing 1-1 precepting

Service to a profession is important for several reasons. Service enriches the quality of a profession, and participating in service supports the mission of an organization. The GVNA board is still looking to fill the following positions: President-Elect, Programs Director, Legislative Chair, Awards Director, and Director-at-Large. GVNA meets the third Wednesday of each month at St. John Fisher. We do not meet during July and August so the next meeting is October 16, at 6pm. Please consider serving in one of these roles to enable GVNA to continue to offer events and educational opportunities for our members. Please feel free to reach out if you interested or with any questions.

Our first event of the fall will be October 9th at St. John Fisher University. CORNO (the coalition of regional nursing organization) and GVNA will be sponsoring an evening with Dr. Kenya Beard. Dr. Beard is a national leader in workforce diversity and health equity. She will be speaking that evening about health equity. Registration for this event is required and will be available on the GVNA website. Hope to see many of you there.

Best,

Alison Simpson
President, GVNA

CORNO 2024 - Health Equity

The Annual CORNO Educational Program will be held on Wed. October 9, 2024 beginning at 6:30 p.m. The very timely topic is Health Equity and our featured speaker will be Kenya Beard, RN, EdD, the Dean for the School of Nursing at Mercy University.

Dr. Beard is a national leader committed to strengthening workforce diversity and advancing health equity.She served as an Advisory Board Member for the New York Academy of Medicine's Health Equity Scholars and co-authored the National Academy of Medicines' (NAM) Perspectives Dismantling Systemic Racism and Advancing Health Equity throughout Research. She co-authored the 2022 Racism in Nursing foundational report and continues to serve on the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing.

You can read more about Dr. Beard's accomplishments and research interests at https://www.mercy.edu/directory/kenya-beard but we hope you'll have the opportunity to hear her in person. For more information about the CORNO program and registration, go to https://gvna.nursingnetwork.com/nursing-news/200625-reminder-to-register-for-the-fall-corno-event.

Brief Report - Annual Spring Banquet

As Alison mentioned, GVNA's Annual Spring Banquet was held on May 30 at Pane Vino. The banquet provides a wonderful opportunity for local nurses to network and catch up with colleagues. It also includes an educational program and this year, the topic was palliative care with guest speaker Joy Hogan, RN, MSN, PPCNP-BC. Ms. Hogan is currently an Assistant Professor at St. John Fisher University, specializing in pediatric end-of-life and palliative care. Joy's  presentation, both sad and moving, showed how nurses, through compassion and support, can positively impact the lives of children and their families during their most vulnerable moments. 

Spring Banquet Celebrates Current and Future Nurses

Also at the Spring Banquet, the GVNA Board of Directors presented four awards:

Nurse Administrator Award: Emily Katherine Valacin, DNP, RN, CCRN-K, NEA-BC, CNL, FCCM

  • Dr. Valcin is the Director Adult Critical Care Nursing at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester Medical Center. She received her BS in Nursing from Roberts Wesleyan College and her DNP from the University of Rochester. Kate is a widely respected nurse leader with numerous presentations, publications, and awards. She was a member of the panel of local nurse leaders at last year's CORNO event who spoke about projects in their workplaces to improve patient care and staff satisfaction.

Nurse Educator Award: Taylor Condidorio, RN, BSN

  • Ms. Condidorio is a member of the Vascular Access Team at Rochester General Hospital. She received her Associates degree from Alfred State College and her BS from Roberts Wesleyan. In her current role she provides education throughout the hospital including at orientation, teaching skills days, and on clinical units. Taylor works closely with other educators and clinical nurse specialist to assure best practices and is "eager to take every opportunity to educate staff when she sees a need.

In addition, two May 2024 graduates received the GVNA Nursing Student Leadership Award:

  • Darlene Navas from St. John Fisher University participated in the Fuld Scholar program, a peer-tutoring program for other nursing students. She was described by her students as a positive, supportive classmate and mentor. Darlene was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau National Honor Society in 2023
  • Tiana Jackson from SUNY Brockport served as the vice president of the SUNY Brockport student government and was a resource in building a relationship between the student nurse organization and the Brockport student government. 

ANA-NY Annual Conference and Opportunities through GVNA

Finally, as you can see from the report on our annual banquet, nursing offers many different ways to make a difference, not only in the lives of those we care for but in the profession as a whole. If you're looking for a way to become more involved in our profession, here are some ways to start:

  • Attend the ANA-NY 12th Annual Conference, to be held Monday October 21 through Wednesday at October 23 at the Sagamore Resort near Lake George, NY.

  • GVNA has several openings on its Board of Directors. If you are looking to become more involved in our profession, please contact Alison through the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page.