American Association of Critical Care Nurses Local Chapter

Volume 1, Issue 2: January 10, 2006

President's Message

Linda Thomas, RN, MSN, CCRN

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I know that there were two families that had a much nicer holiday due to the generosity of the Carolina Dogwood Chapter. Our local chapter was able to give some financial assistance to two of our fellow healthcare workers who had suffered a loss due to Katrina. One family's mother works here at Cape Fear Valley Health Svstem as a CNAII and the other mother works as a nurse at the VA Hospital here in Fayetteville . Both famlies were very grateful for the kindness and thoughtfulness of our gift.

Now it is time to start planning on our trip to NTI in Anaheim California! My goal for the remaining time as your President is to raise enough money so eight of us can go this year. This is not an unreal goal. If the group works together we can not only meet this but exceed it. We will need to work hard wth putting on fund raisers, events, donations and whatever support we can muster up. Please begin thinking about this and bring your ideas with you to our first meeting on Friday, January 27.

Here is a picture of some of our members enjoying a night out at Miyabi Japanese Steak and Seafood House.


Photo taken by Elaine Gillis

Dogwood Chapter Officers

President: Linda Thomas Work 609-6413
Home 424-2903
President: Elect Michele Dudley Work 609-6610
Secretary: Jessica Gray Work 609-7020
Treasurer: Deb Ham Work 482-5190
Treasurer Elect: Marjorie Rivera Work 609-6893
Web Master: Betty Anderson Work 609-7818

Upcoming Educational Offerings

Friday, January 27, 2006 at 7:l5

Dr. Gregory Strauther will be talking on Adrenal Insufficiency in the Carolina Room at the Cape Fear Valley Health Systems Education Building.

Thursday, February 9th at 7:15

Dr. Mclwain will talk to the group on drug overdoses and what the nurses need to know in order to care for these types of patients. The meeting will be in the Cardinal/Hatteras Room at the Cape Fear Valley Health Systems Education Building.

Thursday March 9th 7:15

DVT Awareness Speaker to be announced.

Friday, April 14th at 7:15

Dr. Chima will be talking on MRSA and the latest information on how to handle patients with MSRA. The meeting will be in the Cardinal/Hatteras Room at the Cape Fear Valley Health Systems Education Building.

Recognition Breakfast for our New CCRNs and New Chapter Members

On October 27th from 6:30 am until 9:30 am, the Carolina Dogwood Chapter hosted a drop-in breakfast for our new CCRN members as well our new Chapter members in the WestWing Conference room on the 2nd floor. Several of our new members stopped by and had an opportunity to meet wth chapter officers and several had the opportunity to meet Carol Danielson, our Vice President of nursing here at Cape Fear Valley Health System. Carol stopped by to congratulate our members who had obtained their CCRN.

Since October of last year we have had 6 staff members who have gone and taken either their CCRN, CSC, or PCCN and passed. These members are:

CCRN:
Diane Clark RN CCRN
Anesia Deal RN CCRN
Wanda Fields RN CCRN

CSC:
Beth Langley RN MSN. CCRN CSC
Jill Engel RN MSN NP CCRN CSC

PCCN:
Sharon Gallagher RN ADN PCCN

We would like to celebrate wth them their great accomplishment of being one of the "BEST OF THE BEST." We are very proud of all of you.

Fund Raising Project

We are looking for ideas for our fund raising project. If you have ideas of what the Chapter can do as a project, please share your ideas with any of the Chapter Officers. We would like to raise enough money to fund our Community Project as well as help sponsor our chapter members who would like to go to NTI this year.

Community Project

We will be discussing our Community Project at the January meeting. As part of our mission, I would like to see the critical care nurses have the same impact in the community as they do on their patients and families in the intensive care unit. Please bring your thoughts on any project to that meeting.

Membership Drive

If you want to join or renew your membership in the AACN, you can receive a discount on the membership fee if you apply with four or more of your friends. If you don't know anybody, just bring your application to a meeting, and we will pool the applications.

Any registered nurse that is interested in aspects of critical care nursing and is in good standing with the licensing agency of his or her state or territory is eligible for active membership. Nurses employed in research, admnistration, teaching, medical-surgical, telemetry, progressive care units, or any healthcare agency are also eligible.

If you are a national member and are interested in joining our local chapter, there will applications for the local chapter at all of our meetings. If you would like more information about our chapter contact Linda Thomas at 609-6413 or any of the officers listed on the front page.

Thought for the Day



Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark:
One: Don't miss the boat. Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat. Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done. Six: Build your future on high ground. Seven: For safety's sake, travel in pairs. Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs. Nine: When you're stressed, float a while. Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there is always a rainbow waiting... Pass this along and make someone else smile, too.