Volume 1, Issue 1 September, 2007

From the Editor

When you receive this newsletter I hope you will read with enthusiasm all of the wonderful events that are happening in our state related to Women’s Health. I am honored to be the editor of the newsletter and in time to have more newsworthy information for you to read. However, that is up to each member in our state. The more news, information, suggestions, pictures, or anything that can go into print, I will put in the newsletter. The goal of the newsletter is to capture events and issues to discuss among ourselves, and hopefully bring us closer together.

My name is Susan Lindner (Sue). I live in Chester, VA, and teach Women’s Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. By the way, if you are in Richmond, please come by to visit our new School of Nursing on Leigh Street; it is amazing!

Next month the Virginia Section Conference is being held in Fredericksburg, VA, so please take note of this in the newsletter. Also, I invite you all to a fund raising event for the Virginia Birth Centers on September 16 at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.

In closing, I want each of you to reflect on what it means to be a member of AWHONN. What can we do to serve our population at the local, state, and national level? I leave you with this question, and I am hopeful that you will respond, and then we will have more news to report and read! Please have all of your responses to me no later than December 1, 2007. The next newsletter should be coming your way January, 2008!

Please email me with any questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

Take care.

sll52@comcast.net 2

From the Section Chair’s Desk

Did you know, in Virginia, we currently have 772 active AWHONN members? And we want more! We’re one of the strongest sections in the country. But we can be stronger! We can do better! We have contact information for 160 lapsed members. We want them back!

In 2006, we recruited 132 new members, 10 of them were new student members.

And we want to recruit even more new members in 2007!

Our new initiative for the upcoming year is focused on membership and recruitment, targeting nursing students and new graduates as members. Recruiting new members is a win-win-win!

It’s good for the nurses we recruit (and their employers), it’s good for chapter and section, and it’s good for the recruiter too (see awhonn.org for information about recruiter bonuses—gift certificates, prizes, free convention registration and travel!).

Don’t underestimate the importance of membership. Membership makes us stronger.

It’s true—there is strength in numbers. This strength comes from networking, resources, and legislative power. I think the most important benefit of being an AWHONN member is meeting people. Every AWHONN event is filled with ―buzz!‖ You can see the learning and sharing happening at every meeting. It’s a great opportunity to keep up-to-date on current practice, to learn about innovative ideas and to make important connections with other AWHONN members, organizations, vendors, medical colleagues and associates. AWHONN provides great job connections, leadership opportunities, and state-of-the-art practice resources. Did you know JCAHO recommends AWHONN Standards and Guidelines?

To get the most out of AWHONN, you need to get involved and be active. Some of our chapters are doing amazing work! We have 8 great chapters throughout Virginia. The Richmond and Northern Virginia chapters are most active. They have 40-50 members at each of their chapter meetings, often recruiting 6-8 new members at each event. Their keys to success: food, prizes, sponsors, and good advertising!

Our members are also active in national AWHONN events—over 100 Virginia members attended the national conference in Orlando this year, 13 of our members attended the annual AWHONN leadership conference in Washington, and 2 of our Virginia members were selected to attend NIWI conference on Capitol Hill. We also have Virginia AWHONN representatives on the FIMR, VDH Breastfeeding, and MOD boards. 3

Please come to our next big event! The 2007 Virginia Section conference will be held Oct 25-26 in Fredericksburg. We’ve brought you some of the same speakers from the national conference. This year’s theme is, ―Celebrating Excellence in Leadership.‖ Barb Moran president-elect of AWHONN, and Virginia member, will be there. So will Virginia member, Leith Mullaly, past president of AWHONN. Our section is full of leaders and we want to celebrate that! Come join us! I hope to see you there.

See our Virginia Section Web site for conference details and online registration:

http://www.awhonnva.org/

Section News

Congratulations to Emily Drake on publishing her research in the latest edition of Journal of Nursing Scholarship; Predictors of Maternal Responsiveness. Please take time to read and review this research.

Chapter News

Peninsula Chapter

Sharon Easter the Peninsula Chapter Coordinator, is asking for help from the Peninsula AWHONN members. The chapter provided a wonderful program recently on HPV. In order to continue to provide educational meetings assistance is needed from the members. A thank you is extended to Joe Barlow, Ross Laboratories, and Riverside Regional Medical Center for their support of the Peninsula Chapter.

Northern Virginia

AWHONN Chapter was strongly represented at the National AWHONN Convention in Orlando this past June. Over 40 attendees were from our area.

Darcie Beckwith, from The Birthing Inn at Inova Loudoun Hospital Center, attended as the winner of the registration and airfare at the 2006 convention.

Carol Glismann attended on a scholarship from our Chapter. She was selected by a drawing of names from attendees at our dinner meetings in 2006 – 2007. This was successful for our chapter so we plan to repeat this award in the 2007-2008 program and add a scholarship to the 2008 State Conference as well.

Northern Virginia presented seven posters and one oral presentation. One of the posters, presented by Cynthia Dingus, Jung-Tzu Lin and Patricia Schmehl from Inova Fairfax Hospital for Women, was awarded the Best Research Poster. Their topic was Oxygen Desaturations in Infants Undergoing Car Seat Challenge Tests. 4

At our May Dinner Meeting we collected donations for the Alexandria City Homeless Shelter. Our donations were able to provide 11,000 vitamins for homeless persons. We plan to continue this program in the coming year.

Our chapter is working on an education calendar for 2007-2008. We plan four dinner meetings with offerings on medications/treatment for premature labor, postpartum depression, laparoscopic gynecologic care and family centered care – revisited.

Our chapter welcomes Vicki Korker to our Executive Committee!

Richmond

Dr. Judy Lewis spoke at the August 7, 2007 meeting on the topic: Genetics and Genomics: What Nurses Need to Know?

The next Richmond meeting is:

News from Headquarters

Mark your calendars and read below!

We are pleased to invite all 2008 elected and appointed national, section and chapter leaders to attend the annual Leadership Conference in 2008. We have created a very exciting program and the hotel location is sure to please. We ask that you please read the following information very carefully.

http://www.awhonn.org/awhonn/pre.login.do;jsessionid=492FD25CF7BC6C0FC7CCF76BE1B925C5

 Best detailed planning and budget forms

AWHONN Virginia Section

Presents

Join your fellow AWHONN nurses in historic Fredericksburg, VA for an exciting weekend of Learning, Leadership (and great shopping!).

Keynote Address: "Magnet Leadership," Teresa Anderson, MSN

Operations Director Center for Nursing Excellence Alegent Health

Mentoring: "Nursing Love it or Leave it, " Leith Merrow Mullay, RNC, MSN, IBCLC

Obstetrics & Newborn Clinical Educator Martha Jefferson Hospital

March of Dimes Module: "Abuse in Pregnancy-Module for Prevention and Intervention"

Barbara Moran, PhD, CNM, FACCE

Assistant Professor, The Catholic University of America, President Elect AWHONN 2008

L Lunch Sponsored by Medicorp

Mary Washington Hospital

"Near Term Infant-Late Preterm Infant," Sherri Simons, RNC, MSN

AWHONN Nomination Chair, Stafford, VA

"New Heights in Leadership," Donna Tyson, Inspirational Speaker

Breakout Sessions

A- "Innovations in Bereavement," Tammy Ruiz RN

B- "Discharge Brunch," Leith M. Mullay & Mary Ann Lucia RN

C- "Gestational Diabetes," Dr. Sanfrancisco Cruz, MD, FACE

High Risk OB: Antepartum, Intrapartum, Postpartum, by Carol Curran, RNC, MSN, OGNP

Clinical Specialists Consulting

For a complete schedule, registration, and hotel information, request a conference brochure.