Related Links:
|
Related Links: |
| President's Message | Bright Futures Update | CCNE Press Release |
A Message from the President |
|
Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN AFPNP President's Message July, 2004 It has been such a wonderful experience serving as your president for the past 2 years. We have truly accomplished much. I have worked with a wonderful executive board and group of talented, visionary and committee faculty and, for that, I have been very privileged. I want to sincerely thank our AFPNP board and committee chairs & members for the outstanding work they have done this past year. I appreciate each of you and all that you have done to continue to move our organization ahead in wonderful ways. Our organization will be in great care under the leadership of our new president, Dr. Shirley Menard. I am so very pleased to announce that our proposal Improving Healthcare Quality through a New Curriculum for Pediatric Nurse Practitioners which we have been working on for the Commonwealth Fund over the last year has just been approved for funding at $258,000!! This grant will allow us to convene PNP faculty from a random selection of 20 Schools throughout the country to revise, implement, and evaluate a new national curriculum for PNP education that places a heavier emphasis on the current morbidities of childhood and adolescence (e.g., mental health/psychosocial problems, developmental disabilities) as well as on health promotion, screening and early interventions, using an evidence-based approach. I want to thank each of our board members (i.e., Shirley Menard, Elaine O'Leary, Arlene Sperhac, Cathie Burns, and Renee McLeod) as well as Angela Crowley and Michelle Beauschesne, who for the past year, have supported, encouraged, and helped me with this proposal. The proposal with specific details about the project has been disseminated to our members through our email list serve. T o our knowledge, this is the first time a project like this will be conducted at a national level in this manner, and we are so very excited that our organization will be spearheading it. Other AFPNP news:I am pleased to announce that Pat Jackson Allen is now our president-elect and Jean Martin is our secretary/treasure. Congratulations to you both! We are thrilled to have you on our executive board. In addition, Janet Banks will be our representative to the NAPNAP foundation and chair the preceptor task force. Lois Sadler will continue as chair of the research/EBP committee. We appreciate your willingness to serve our organization. Congratulations to Arlene Sperhac who won the NONPF outstanding educator award! Stay tuned for a call for nominations for a new AFPNP educator award that will be presented at this year's NAPNAP awards breakfast; please take the time to nominate a deserving colleague. We also are working hard at finalizing formal memorandums of understanding with NAPNAP and the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board. If you have not renewed your membership for this upcoming year, please do so immediately and send a check for $60 to Jean Martin (remember, we voted to increase our dues to $60 at our annual meeting). Also, please send any changes in contact information to Jean as well and recruit a new colleague to join our awesome organization. Membership applications can be downloaded at Please consider registering and recruiting your students for the KySS Across America walkathon, which will take place on October 24 in participating cities across the country (please see http://www.napnap.org/) for specific information on this event. If you are not able to participate in the walk, please consider sponsoring those of us that are walking or making a donation to the KySS Campaign for the walkathon. We really need your help in raising visibility, decreasing stigma on children's mental health issues and raising funds so that we can continue to implement projects to prevent these escalating morbidities. Remember, Eleanor Roosevelt said the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams so let's continue to dream big, believe, and create a better world for children, teens, and our students who will carry on our wonderful profession for years to come. Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, CPNP, NPP, FAAN |
BACK TO AFPNP HOMEPAGE |
BACK TO TOP OF PAGE |