North Dakota Nurses Association Annual Meeting 2024 - Recap
Posted 3 months ago in NDNA EVENT
Greetings Members,
I wanted to provide an update and the draft minutes for the North Dakota Nurses Association Annual Membership Meeting held last week in Bismarck. There will be a full article on both the meeting and the fall conference in the next quarterly newsletter, The North Dakota Nurse.
NDNA had a very productive and enjoyable annual meeting. The meeting covered a wide range of topics, including updates from the ND Board of Nursing (see report) and the ND Center for Nursing, award presentations, and the installation of officers for the 2025-2026 term.
We introduced some new main motions and continued some motions. The most notable are advancing maternal health and developing a statewide nursing strategic plan. There is a lot of work to be done, and some of these may pertain to policy and funding.
Newly elected and installed officers for 2025-2026 are:
President - Dr. Beth Sanford (will move from President-Elect to President)
President-Elect - Dr. Shila Blend
Director of Advocacy - Dr. Penny Briese
Director of Education and Practice - Ashley DeMakis
Director-at-Large - Sarita Wanner
NDNA presented three awards from the NDNA Awards and Recognition Program this year. Congratulations go out to:
- Becky Rickford, an MDS Nurse from Griggs County Care Center in Cooperstown, won the Honorary Nurse Recognition.
- Shelle Aberle, Marketing at Baptist Health & Rehab Bismarck, won the Non-Nursing/Friend of Nursing Recognition.
- Maria Berglund, McKenzie County Clinic Nurse, and a nurse since 1968 won the Nursing Hall of Fame Award.
The meeting also included a review of the organization's financial performance, emphasizing the need to diversify revenue streams and increase membership and conference registrations. Collaboration and support from the members were highlighted as crucial for the North Dakota Nurses Association's financial sustainability.
Membership also reflected on the defeat of the workplace violence bill in the last legislative session and the lack of anticipated support from legislators for a new bill in the upcoming session. We discussed the need for community-level support and the perspectives of stakeholders, including the state's attorney and local judicial systems, who expressed concerns about the necessity of a special bill for workplace violence. We also discussed the importance of gathering testimonials and support from healthcare workers and emphasized the need for a community advocacy approach to address workplace violence in various healthcare settings.
We discussed policy monitoring, the importance of building relationships with hospitals and universities, and the potential implementation of LPN programs in high schools to address nursing needs in rural communities. The participants also explored the idea of organizing fun events at future conferences to foster a sense of community and discussed strategies to overcome the obstacles faced by staff in attending nursing events.
You can read the entire draft minutes here. They will also be posted on the website and approved at the next annual meeting in September 2025.
We had an enjoyable and productive meeting. Thank you to all who were able to attend!
Sherri Miller, Executive Director
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Thank you for a wonderful conference!
Will be able to view any of the presenters power points? Such great presentations!
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