Districts

District 4 - Lafayette

2003 Minutes Archive

The American Nurses Association
Louisiana State Nursing Association
District IV Minutes
5-21-2003
5:45 PM

Location: Gentry's Restaurant
Present: Bernard, Joanie; Broussard, Mary O.; Broussard, Paula; Claibourne, Camille; Delahoussaye, Carolyn; Forman, Marlene; Gaynard, Debra; Haynes, Clara; Harrington, Deedra; Jamison, Jessie; LaBrosse, Patricia ; Mac Millan, Carlline ; McLaughlin, Lynn ; Miller, Patricia; Oberleitner, Melinda; Price, Theresa; Savant, Steven; Spell, Deborah; Thompson, Irene ; Wills, Evelyn.
Visitors: Tawna Pounders, Darla Webre, Barbara Stallings?
Presiding: Steven Savant

Call to order: 5:45 PM

Minutes of the last meeting: Reviewed as distributed. Moved to approve, Carlline MacMillan. Seconded, Patricia La Brosse, all in favor.

Treasurer's Report - Lynn McLaughlin

Read the report:
Checking Account: $2,417.83
Savings Account: $2,524.02
CD: $1,511.93
Acadiana Celebrates Nursing: $7,353.37
Expenses: Income: $6,318.00 All checks are not in as yet.
Expect $7,314.00 in income from the evening ???

Moved and seconded to accept the treasurer's report.

Old Business:

Acadiana Celebrates Nursing: Carlline MacMillan Reporting: We felt the CAN was a success, there were 238 in attendance although we had 285 last year, there were about 50 fewer people, they were happy with the City Club. There were a few comments of feedback, there was a bit of noise but the comments on the photography were positive. Notebooks are being made for each committee to assist volunteers in continuing with the lessons the committees have learned. Thanked all for their support and their fine work on ACN.
Action: Carlline MacMillan and Lynn McLaughlin were thanked by Steven Savant, President, for their efforts and the success of the event. Steven called for volunteers to organize ACN for next year.

New Business: Steven Savant

Acadiana Independent Nurses: Several District IV leaders attended the May 5th gathering of nurses at the City Club called together by a local physician. Reported by the leaders Ms Patricia LaBrosse, Steven Savant and others, there was a panel of speakers that consisted of physicians, an attorney and others, but nurses were not represented on the panel. 240-300 nurses were in attendance. Many emotional issues were raised by the nurses in attendance. A web site was started by NancyNurse called acadiananurses.com, but the consensus was that much of the information is misinformation. Several logos have been placed on the website without proper permission but that give the misconception that ANA approves of this activity.
Pat Miller stated that there was a great deal of energy at the meeting that needs channeling.
Mary O. Broussard related that the topics were timely including mandatory overtime, Nurse Patient Ratios, Staffing and shortages.
C Claibourne stated that this is an opportunity to educate nurses and support the Supply and Demand Commission. She noted that the Nursing specialty organizations are not really connecting with Dist IV.
Discussion included expense of the organization, attendance, specialty organizations and political involvement. The problems of Nursing must be dealt with differently than in the past, the situation is very different. Pat Miller attended a meeting of the "core group" of the attendees on May 20 and noted that the organizers were open to discussion

LSNA Representatives

Tawna Pounders and Darla Webre from LSNA attended and listened and made suggestions:
Tawna noted that there is a core group of nurses who did not seem to buy into the ideas of the organizers of the (above) meeting. She noted that ANA wants ot be a voice for al nurses. It is the primary focus and expectation that ANA will work for the betterment of nurses and nursing. LSNA had lobbyists here in LA and ANA has them in Washington, relationships with legislators such as Daniel Inouye (DHI), and others. Discussed CAN staffing issues and Nurse-Patient ratios and the legislation recently passed in California (1999) that will go into effect in 2004. Pounders stated that if there are group problems, it is best to get the stake holders together to work out the problems. Darla Weber reminded us that ANA has been supporting Nurse s for 100 years, and that ANA and LSNA are here to help and bring the local groups the benefit of a large national organization. Since some of the available services can be costly. Committees are set us and ready to function. The problem seems to be that nurses are not aware of the services LSNA has and do not discriminate well between LSNA and LSBN and we need to educate them. The student association is strong and we need to assist in transitioning them into LSNA,
Pounders reminded us about the Nurse Reinvestiment act and the monies available through them. And distributed the position paper to the membership. Discussion about linking the LSNA website to the Acadiananurse.com site. Pounders will provide a report on Acadiana's statistics for the web site. Many other ideas were discussed, to summarize:
1. Enliven the Dist IV website
2. Advertise our website in hospitals and through the media
3. Organize a forum with topics of LSNA, LSBN and workplace advocacy in Louisiana
Steven Savant will inform "Nancy Nurse" that the ANA logo is copywrited and cannot be used without permission.

Program - Drs. Anne Broussard and Jerry white UL Lafayette College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions

Designing and conducting an International Health Experience for Nursing Students.
Dr. Broussard and Dr. White presented their medical mission to Mexico which was held during Spring Break from UL Lafayette. They showed slides and described the mission, their experiences and the students activities as well as the abject poverty of the small town to which they have gone every year for the past three years.
Action: CE credit was given for this event.Moved to donate a new fetal heart monitor for the Medical Mission by Patricia La Brosse, seconded, all in favor.

Adjournment: Motion entertained to adjourn. Patricia La Brosse moved to adjourn. Pat Miller seconded. All In Favor. Adjournment 7:10 PM