Metropolitan Washington Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Inc.

MWAOHN President's Report

Virginia Rauer

Your Association has been on firmer ground in years past as far as membership and participation: have a look at the membership report for this year. Membership is down nationwide in all voluntary associations for a variety of reasons.  Time constraints, financial problems and generational differences all play into the issue at hand. Those over 60 years are volunteering more, the 20 year olds have shown a modest rise in volunteering activity but the 30 year olds to 59 year olds are not interested or unwilling to volunteer. So where are the worker bees? They are the 30- 59 year old group who are busy with work, raising families, completing advance education and struggling to have some time for a balanced life.  

AAOHN has initiated a revamped recruitment campaign "RAC" otherwise known  as "Recruit a Colleague.  $ 0.56 per day is all it will cost them to join the AAOHN and your local MWAOHN.  56 cents a day and you can pay quarterly so it won't take a big bite out of your wallet in December.

There is a small group of committed officers who perform amazing feats and who are unwilling to give up yet!  As the year comes to an end, please join me in extending a heartfelt thank you to the following officers and board members:

            To Joe Ann Conrades, our Planning Committee Chair and Board Vice President,  whose diligent work got our dinner meetings back into the  Ford office building, where we enjoy catering from Potbelly's, Thank-you!

            To our web master, Claudia Beach, whose web site provides us with global reach and potential,  whose  monthly updates of current events in Occupational Health and notices of educational offerings keep us plugged in and informed, Thank-you!

            To another dual role person,  Barbara Hayden, who serves as Board Secretary and Chair of the Professional Affairs Committee, whose committee saw to it that we had 5 exceptional CEU programs this year, Thank-you! I  Her diligent efforts as Board Secretary are truly appreciated by me.

            To Karen Vesterby, Chair of the By-laws Committee, for shepherding  the necessary revisions to our By-laws that allow staggered elections of officers to afford better continuity, and for being the stalwart guardian of MWAOHN's institutional memory, Thank-you!

            To Mary Doyle, our Treasurer,  for keeping us in the black financially with a healthy year end balance of $$, Thank-you!

            To Phyllis Waslo & her Nominations Committee for smooth work on the slate of nominees this year, Thank-you!

            To Ludie Gibson, our outgoing Membership Committee Chair, who helped to bring in new members for the past 2 years, Thank-you!  Ludie is looking for someone to take over that committee, please step up to the role if you are interested in helping the organization. We will miss you, Ludie!

            All of the above people, and the members of their committees, have served faithfully in an un-sung capacity, doing the work of this chapter of AAOHN.   All of them have a full time job and family. They deserve your support and our sincere gratitude for their service.

            Thanks are also due to our members: Thank-you  for coming to the meetings, for bringing friends and encouraging them to join, for spreading the word about this group of professional occupational health nurses who work in the shadow of our nation's Capitol.

            Respectfully submitted,

           

            Virginia M.Rauer, RN, MSN, COHN-S

             President, 2008-2010

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MWAOHN Planning Committee  May 2009:  Report for the May 2009 Annual Meeting

 

The 2008-2009 season has been an exciting year for the planning committee.  We began the year at the Cohen Building, but due to the strict security clearance and very low attendance we researched other options.   Surveys revealed that folks prefer a location with both metro access and parking.   We worked with the Ford Office Building Management who agreed to permit MWAOHN to use their conference room for our dinner meetings.  This then was a perfect match:   Metro access from the 3^rd St entrance and free ground parking on the 2^nd St entrance.   For food, we decided to try PotBellys for salad and sandwiches.  This, too, has proven to be a popular decision with cost of dinner and CEUs only $10 for members and $15 for non-members.    The committee has received several positive remarks, with no complaints thus far.   If you'd like to be a member of the Planning Committee, you may contact me on 301.763.9605 or by email at conradesj@mwaohn.org

Respectfully submitted

Joe Ann Conrades

Chair, Planning Committee

MWAOHN Nominating Committee 2009 Annual Report

The nominating committee was able to recommend two candidates for the following positions: Vice President, Treasurer, Board of Directors, and Nominating Committee. It would be great if everyone would update their info to AAOHN. Frequently, work or home numbers and email addresses were incorrect or not given. Without the correct information, it is difficult to communicate with a member regarding opportunities to serve our local organization. Please speak with any of the officers about their duties if you are interested in a position. The ballots were sent by mail to members in a timely manner with directions regarding the sealed ballots and the date they should be received by the Chairman of Tellers.

Submitted by Phyllis Waslo, Chair, Nominating Committee

and Rebecca Jahandari, Committee Member, May 12, 2009

Teller's report on 2009 election

31 ballots were received. Four ballots were disqualified because they were no longer members. Some members only voted for one nominee, in places where they were supposed to vote for two nominees. Results of the tally, with winners noted next to their name and number of votes received:

Vice President  Charlotte Carneiro    19 votes (winner) 

                            Louise Blivin            7 votes (Thank-you for running, Louise)                                   

Treasurer          Mary Doyle              23 votes (winner)   

                           Robert Nester          3 votes (Thank-you for running, Robert)

Board of Directors (two) 

                           Phyllis Waslo              25 votes (winner)

                           Magdalena Marquesz  19 votes (winner)

Nomination Committee Nominees (two)

                           Karen Barry      20 votes (winner, chairman until 2011)

                           Esmee Swann   15 votes  (winner)   

                           Doris Angulo    13 votes (thank-you for running, Doris)

Respectfully Submitted:  Karen Vesterby, Chief Teller , May 8, 2009

Report of the MWAOHN Professional Affairs Committee

This year, in cooperation with the planning and membership committees, we hosted 5 "Dinner and Learn" meetings with an average attendance of 30 people. The topics were:

 

Sept 17, 2008            Deborah Smith-Krause, RN, LMT

                                           "Chair massage for Relaxation and Self Care"                       

Nov 12, 2008             Ann Cagigas, RN, MA, IBCLC

                                           "Mother Support: The Role of the Occupational Health  Nurse and the  

                                             Breastfeeding Mother"

Jan 14, 2009                 Joel Taubin MD

                                                "Prevention & Treatment of International Travel Diseases"

March 11, 2009           Dr. James Christian

                                              "Acting on Domestic Violence Clues in the Occupational

                                                 Health Unit Setting"

May 3, 2009               Dr. Barton N. Bishop, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS

                                    "Here come the Weekend Warriors: Appropriate Identification

                                       and treatment of Neuromusculoskeletal Injuries"

 

 Please let us know about topics you want to learn more about, any excellent speakers that you can recommend, and whether you would like to help with this committee's work. Here is our contact information:

Barbara Hayden                               Karen Hirakawa                               Susan Cheney                                  

barbara_s_hayden@nbc.gov                 hirakawaKR@state.gov                         scheney@psc.gov        

Cell:  202.641.1853                       Cell:    443.254.2107                                             

Submitted by Barbara Hayden, Chair of Professional Affairs Committee, May 13, 2009

Membership Committee: Submittted by Ludie Gibson, Outgoing Chair

 

Members on 8/22/2008: Active 53, Student 1, and Retired 6, Total 60

Members on 4/28/2009: Active 40, Student 1, and Retired 5, Total 46

Goals: To recruit new members, maintain current members, and be faithful to the organization.

            I really enjoyed being a part of the group. The Teleconference calls were informative with everyone feeling loved,  with their ideas respected,  and seeing what was entailed by the various board jobs. Also the Dinner Meeting were a great time for meeting the other members, for communication and fellowship. I am retiring from membership chair. I wish you well with a successor.