ED'S NOTES, THE

Alabama Nurse, Sep-Nov 2005 by Decker, Joseph F II

Let me begin by thanking the Board of Directors and all of our members for the opportunity to serve as your Executive Director. This first year has truly flown by, and we have much to be proud of, as well as several concerns for the future.

Thanks to Ann Bales and all the District leaders, our Restructuring process from 11 Districts to 5 Districts is coming to a successful close. We believe that the end result will be a more streamlined and efficient model for ASNA to move forward. And as we go forward, we need to make 2006 the year of membership. We have witnessed a long, slow decline in membership in both ANA and ASNA. In 2005 our ASNA numbers declined again, but at a reduced rate. This is good news, but we must reverse the trend. Several initiatives are underway to help us accomplish this. Thanks to VP and Membership Chair Lori Lioce, we have added energy to the recruitment effort with a series of Town Meetings around the state, and plan to do more. Please call the office in Montgomery and invite us to attend any of your District functions. We are also increasing the number of visits to schools of nursing in Alabama to get more visibility and presence, and advertise the Association. We also plan to increase contacts with current members to improve our retention rates. In one of the most significant membership changes in years, ASNA negotiated a three-year contract beginning in January 2005 with ANA that allows State-only membership. Our nurses now have several choices for association membership: the standard joint ANA/ASNA membership; state-only membership in ASNA but not in ANA; or ANA membership alone. And in addition, we now offer an Affiliate membership to LPNs. We will begin to aggressively market these options in the coming year in hopes of positively impacting our membership numbers. But in the final analysis, we really need for all of our loyal ASNA members to actively advocate for our Association and work at recruiting new members to our ranks. Personal contact is always the most effective recruiting tool.

I can confidently report that your Association remains on solid financial footing, thanks in large part to the efforts of my predecessor, Helen Wilson, and the excellent staff here in Montgomery. We have continued to monitor and control expenses very well, and successfully restructured our investment portfolio with our broker at Merrill Lynch. We encourage all of you to give us your email address for our email list, and keep it current. This has clearly reduced our postage expenses, and is a very fast communication tool. We are on track to end the year with a balanced budget and avoid using any reserve funds for the third year in a row.

On the political and legislative front, we enjoyed a very successful Legislative Day in February, with good attendance and outstanding speakers. Our efforts in the Alabama legislature were mixed, but we are optimistic for next year. Our ASNA Workplace Violence Bill (HB 430, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Boyd (D) of Anniston; and SB 155, sponsored by Sen. Ted Little (D) of Auburn) was passed by the House by an 84-0 vote, but died in the Senate due to filibuster efforts over HB 75 (the non-profit funding disclosure bill), both the Education and General Fund Budget fights, and a late squabble by the Birmingham area delegation over funding for the Mobile Port Authority bond improvements. However, since our Workplace Violence bill did pass the Senate in 2004 by a 34-0 vote, we believe that if we can just get it to a vote in both houses in 2006, we can finally get this important legislation signed into law. On the plus side, HB 152 (the Methamphetamine control/psuedoephedrine sales regulation, which we strongly supported, did pass on the last day of the session.

The annual ANA House of Delegates and Convention in Washington, DC this June was very interesting, and more exciting than usual. ASNA was very well represented by our delegates: Janet Donoghue (President), JoAnn Broadus, Paula Gasser, Ruth Harrell, Arlene Morris, Charlene Roberson, Jill Stokley, and Helen Wilson. Of major interest to Alabama was the discussion and vote on the floor of our ASNA resolution on the ANA Presidential Endorsement process. Although defeated by 78%-22%, we did get the opportunity to voice our concerns to the entire body. On balance, the experience was a good one, and well received and supported by a number of other states. A more complete accounting of the convention can be found in this issue of The Alabama Nurse.

Finally, I'm pleased to report that the Alabama Nurses Foundation, our non-profit scholarship arm, has been reenergized by Helen Wilson, Janet Donoghue and John Beard, the ANF Board President and CEO of Alacare in Birmingham. We anticipate the award of at least three nursing scholarships in September at the next ANF Board meeting.

Thanks once again to all of you for your confidence and support. I look forward to continued successes and progress in 2006.

by Joseph F. Decker, II, MA