Connecticut Association of Public Health Nurses

Annual Meeting

May 6th, 2004

5:30 pm to 8:30 pm

Holiday Inn, North Haven, CT

Registration/Meet our Health Commissioner: 5:00 pm to 6:00pm

Dinner: 6:00 pm to 7:00pm

Attendance: Lynn Abrahamson, Margaret Balint, Eileen Boulay, Sandra Brennan, Eleanor Chester, Joanne Cannon, Carol Dietz, Monica Farina, Marlene Frazier, Virginia Gilbert, MaryAnn Glendon , Jennifer Johnson, Ruth Knollmueller, Andrea Lombard, Kathleen McDermitt, Barbara Quigley, Monica Rak, Debra Rosen, Jane Salerno, Judith Sartucci, Deborah Smith, Beth Strimpel, Jane Tait, Deb Travers, Maureen Williams, Deborah Horvath, Patricia Richards, Patricia Sullivan, Margaret Marlowe, Deborah Buxton-Morris, Phil Greiner, Kelly Ulrn, Nicholas Nicholson, Iolene Wallace, Diane Creed, Stephanie Paulmeno, Sharon Enot.

President’s Welcome and Farewell Speech:

Monica Farina, President, welcomed our group and spoke of the many successes of the past year. She stated, “We can easily benchmark this success in so many ways”:

Establishment of an operating structure to organize events, activities and communications with bylaws as part of that structure,
Establishment of a strategic plan and working committees to be developed in the coming year ahead
Participation in the State Dept of Public Health – Health Alert Network (HAN) to receive notices about timely health issues and threats,
Ongoing partnership the with CT Partnership for Workforce Development, resulting in a pilot program targeted solely for training local public health nurses in Bioterrorism Preparedness and Epidemiology. Available this summer, this will lead to the beginning of established and ongoing training mechanisms for public health nurses. No formal training has been offered to target specifically public health nurses in the last six years.
Established connection s across public health fields through outreach to academia in nursing and public health, to hospice, homecare, and environmental advocacy groups, with the Connecticut Nurses Association who has been our constant companion.
Establishment and ongoing development of our web page,
Participation in the first New England Public Health Nursing Conference, where all NE States will be represented
Participation in our conference today by the new State Commissioner of Public Health, J. Robert Galvin.

Nominating Process

The temporary nominating chair, Beth Strimpel, made a motion to explain the procedure. Each member was given a nominating ballot and the nominating committee will be collecting the ballots during the program. The committee submitted the following nominations for:

President: Phil Greiner

Secretary: Deborah Horvath

Nominations were opened from the floor. No further nominations for President or Secretary were made. Nominations for 2 Board members at large were: Beth Strimpel and Lynn Abrahamson. A motion to close the nominations was made by the President, Monica Farina.

Annual Meeting 2003 Minutes Approval: The minutes from our annual dinner May 20^th, 2003, were distributed and highlighted. The members unanimously approved the minutes.

Treasurer’s Report:

We have receipts totaling $4,505.94, which includes cash on hand, membership dues, and conference fees. Expenses total $2,580.58, which includes May ’03 annual dinner, web page development, administrative services, incorporation fees, strategic planning expenses, and the SARS 12/16/03 educational meeting. Balance as of April 30^th, 2004 is $1,925.36.

Keynote Speakers

Monica Farina then introduced our two keynote speakers, Lynn Abrahamson, RN, MPH, Director of Community Health for Bristol-Burlington Health District, and President, Connecticut Public Health Association, and Linda Strong, Ed.D, RN., Assistant Professor of Nursing Programs, Sacred Heart University. Lynn’s presentation was titled “Planned Partnership in Today’s Association: A Nurse’s Perspective”. She spoke of different methods for forging strong association partnerships- both internally and externally. The need for partnerships, and shared leadership, has never been greater as public health is confronted with challenges both knowable and unforeseen.

Linda Strong spoke on her beginning experience in participating in a disaster drill as a student nurse, and how she used that and all her other experiences to create the Bioterrorism Preparedness curriculum designed specifically for public health nurses. The course uses an all hazards/all events framework, including both natural disasters as well as man-made ones. The content is divided into modules working out to approximately 2 hours per week study time. The first and last sessions will be on site, with the last session including a table- top exercise. This course was developed in conjunction with the Connecticut Partnership for Workforce Development. It is anticipated this course will begin this summer.

Announcement of Elected Board Members

Ballot votes were taken and counted, confirming:

President: Phil Greiner

Secretary: Deborah Horvath

Board members at large: Lynn Abrahamson

Beth Strimpel

(Deborah Buxton-Morris will remain)

(Andrea Lombard will remain)

Monica congratulated the new officers and acknowledged each remaining officer, Board member at large, and committee chairperson.

All other officers will remain in their position for an additional year, and elections will take place for these positions in May 2005: Vice President, and Treasurer, as well as Board members at large.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Beth A. Strimpel, RN, MA

Secretary, CAPHN 5/6/04

Nominating Process

Annual Meeting 2003 Minutes Approval: The minutes from our annual dinner May 20th, 2003, were distributed and highlighted. The members unanimously approved the minutes.

Keynote Speakers

Annual Meeting 2003 Minutes Approval: The minutes from our annual dinner May 20^th, 2003, were distributed and highlighted. The members unanimously approved the minutes.