December 2009

Ohio State Council of the Emergency Nurses Association (OSCENA) Newsletter

December 2009

Letter from the Ohio ENA President

Hello, fellow Ohio ENA members!  As 2009 winds down, I would like to thank each of you for your continued membership in ENA; for your work in  advancing the profession of emergency nursing; and especially for all those times you personally give “just a little bit more” to your patients and  colleagues at this busy time of year.

A year is nearly gone by since I assumed the role of the Ohio ENA President, and I would like to update you on progress of the Ohio State Council of the ENA (OSCENA) in 2009.  Here are some highlights:

• We tripled attendance at State Council meetings over that in 2008.  All meetings except one were held via conference-call option so that members who were unable to drive to Columbus could participate.  All agendas and meeting packets were posted on-line on our website at least a week prior to each meeting.
• We revised/updated the OSCENA Bylaws.
• We established twenty new written policies/procedures.  These policies and procedures are intended to to bring clarity to Ohio ENA members about the State Council’s work and scope, and to provide our State Council with a consistent framework for operations.
• We revamped every section of the Ohio ENA website.  OSCENA meeting dates and minutes, the revised Bylaws, our new policies & procedures, and our Officers with their contact info are now all listed on the website.
• We re-established a quarterly newsletter.  We also established an Ohio ENA e-mail distribution list so that the newsletter and other information are sent electronically without delay to Ohio ENA members.
• As a state, we continue to be active in teaching TNCC and ENPC.  We currently have 19 TNCC Faculty, 7 ENPC Faculty, and 11 Designated Instructor Candidate Evaluators (DICE).  Six of the DICE were approved for the first time this year.
• We provided remuneration for the cost of the exam to Ohio ENA members achieving certification in CEN, CPEN, CFEN or CFRN this year.   We hope to provide this service and recognition to even more Ohio ENA members in 2010!
• We held a CPEN review course at a discounted rate for interested members.  The facilitator was a nationally known expert.
• We participated in “Nurses Day at the Statehouse” with other nursing colleagues from around Ohio, and we plan to do so again on February 24 in 2010.  We spoke with our legislators about issues affecting emergency nurses and our patients, including emergency department (ED) over-crowding, health care reform, and violence against ED nurses.
• We officially dissolved a chapter that had been long-non-functioning.  This helps us be compliant with IRS regulations and may allow its members to regroup into healthier chapter formations in the future.
• We established a new chapter in Findlay, Ohio!  Welcome again to our ENA colleagues of the Flag City Chapter!
• We seated all 22 Ohio delegates at the National ENA Annual Meeting held in Baltimore, Maryland in October.  We supported our delegates’ expenses in relation to the meeting up to $900 apiece.  At the Annual Meeting, we were a co-sponsor of a Bylaws amendment that reset the number of states’ delegates to subsequent Annual Meetings (Ohio’s remains at 22).  The Bylaws change passed.
• We elected new officers for 2010 via an easy, on-line voting process.  Beverly Clensey (Columbus) was elected as the President-Elect (President term is 2011-2012); Debbie Deedrick (Coshocton) and Ben Melynkovich (Lake Milton) were elected as Members-at-Large (term 2010-2011).
• We cleared up some nagging issues with the IRS in terms of OSCENA being a 501(c)(3) non-profit under the National ENA umbrella.
• We integrated bank accounts with all Ohio Chapters as required by National ENA.
• We ended the year with a balanced budget, and we established a budget for 2010.  The 2010 Budget is posted on the Ohio ENA website at www.ohioena.org. We divested some OSCENA funds into three new multi-year CDs.   Current account balances are $31,032 in checking; $27,098 in a Fidelity CD; and $87,246 in three multi-year CDs (total) at the Federal Ohio HealthCare Credit Union.

Whew!  We accomplished a lot and we all have a lot to be proud of this year.  I am grateful to each of you who continue your ENA affiliation; to those who have contacted me with your thoughts and ideas this year; for those who serve with me on OSCENA; to those who may not be with us now but who have “blazed the path” for us to “be;” and for all the ENA friends I have made along the way on my journey with you in 2009.  I am looking forward to all that we will accomplish together in 2010!  Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Nancie Bechtel
Ohio ENA President 2009-2010

In Memorandum

By E’Amanda Miller, RN, Christina May, RN and Liz Underwood, RN

Sarah Burnard Heator, 32, of Sylvania, Ohio was killed in the morning hours of December 26, 2009 while on her way to work in the Emergency Center at Bay Park Community Hospital in Oregon, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo.

Sarah was a 1995 graduate of Evergreen High School, Metamora, Ohio.  While working as a nursing assistant, Sarah attended The University of Toledo/Medical College of Ohio receiving her Bachelor’s of Nursing Degree in 2001.

Sarah began her nursing career at Bay Park Community hospital as a staff nurse in the emergency center.  In 2003, Sarah transferred to The Toledo Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center where she shared her excellent clinical skills, her love of nursing, and her vast nursing knowledge with the many nursing students and new graduates she precepted.  In 2007, Sarah returned to Bay Park in the role of Patient Care Supervisor/Administrative Supervisor, where she continued to share her love of nursing and patient care, while working in an administrative role.  While fulfilling her selfless commitment to her patients and staff, tragedy struck, taking Sarah suddenly from her family, friends, and co-workers.

Sarah was a dedicated, skilled, and true nursing professional.  Sarah’s love of nursing was apparent to all having the privilege of working with her.  As dedicated, skilled, and wonderful as Sarah was as a nurse, her true love was her 8 year-old daughter Emma, of whom she was very proud.  Sarah never missed an opportunity to share her life experiences and zest for life with Emma, always encouraging her to seek out new experiences, set goals, and achieve her dreams.  Sarah always spoke with great pride when referring to Emma, and there was never a shortage of beautiful pictures to go around.  One of Sarah’s last Facebook posts reads, “Thinks she has the best daughter ever! (I’m a lucky mommy.)”  She believed Emma deserved the best things life had to offer!

Sarah was an amazing, smart, funny, beautiful, giving, and goal-oriented person; everything that a person should strive to be.  The devastating loss and grief felt by family, friends, co-workers, and the community she served is insurmountable.  Those having the privilege of knowing Sarah were better people because of that experience, and cannot fathom continuing our journey without her.

A memorial fund is set up at The ProMedica Federal Credit Union under the name of Sarah Bernard Heator. For questions, contact Christina May at hopkinsdiva@aol.com.

Ohio TNCC/ENPC Updates

Need help in finding a TNCC and/or ENPC Faculty to conduct TNCC and/or ENPC Instructor  Courses in your region, or to check off new TNCC and/or ENPC Instructor Candidates?   A list of current Ohio TNCC and ENPC Faculty and “DICE” (Designated Instructor Candiate Evaluators) are now listed on the Ohio ENA website at www.Ohioena.org.

Berni Martin, RN, MSN, CEN (Hudson, Ohio) is the new Ohio ENA State Trauma/TNCC Committee Chairperson.  Thank you, Berni, for accepting this role in Ohio ENA!  Berni’s contact information—along with that of all Ohio ENA Officers and Board Liaisons—is listed on the Ohio ENA wesbite.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Gordon Gillespie, RN, PhD, CEN, CPEN, FAEN (Cincinnati Chapter) for recently being inducted as a Fellow into the Academy of Emergency Nursing.  Dr. Gillespie is pictured here third from the left, with wife Kris to his left and surrounded by friends. Terry Foster, far left, is a northern Kentucky resident, member of the Greater Cincinnati Ohio ENA Chapter, and a friend of Dr. Gillespie’s.