ANA Delegates Elect Officers, Board Members and Other Leaders

Nurses Activism

Published Jul 10, 2002

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NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN

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ANA Delegates Elect Officers, Board Members and Other Leaders

http://www.ana.org/pressrel/2002/pr0708.htm

Philadelphia, PA -- Delegates of the American Nurses Association (ANA) elected Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, RN, CS, ANP, of Waltham, MA, to serve a two-year term as president of the nation's leading professional nursing organization representing the major health policy, practice, and work place issues of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States. A slate of 30 candidates vied for 18 leadership positions during ANA's 2002 elections. Blakeney and other nurse leaders were elected during the ANA House of Delegates meeting held in conjunction with the association's biennial Convention, June 29-July 2, in Philadelphia.

An expert in public health practice and policy and leadership development, Blakeney is the director of health services for the homeless at the Boston Public Health Commission. Previously, she was the principal public health nurse for homeless services and addiction services at the Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Hospitals in Boston, MA. Blakeney also held the position of primary care nurse practitioner at Amherst Medical Associates in Amherst, MA, and Boston City Hospital.

Blakeney has held numerous ANA positions including first vice president, chair of the Committee on Bylaws, member of both the Reference and Nominating Committees, and she served two terms as ANA second vice president. At the state level, she served as vice president and president and later as treasurer of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), when it was an affiliate of the ANA.

Previously sitting ANA Board Members elected to serve two-year terms as officers of the Board include Patricia S. Yoder-Wise, EdD, RN, CNAA, FAAN, of Lubbock, TX, a professor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, who was elected as first vice president; Mary L. Behrens, MSN, RN, FNP-C, of Casper, WY, a family nurse practitioner in collaborative practice, who was elected as second vice president; Katheren Koehn, RN, of St. Paul, MN, a staff nurse at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, who was elected as secretary; and Lola M. Fehr, MS, RN, CAE, FAAN, of Greeley, CO, president of Fehr Consulting Resources, who was elected treasurer.

The at-large board members elected include Linda Gobis, RN, FNP, JD, of Appleton, WI, senior vice president, Legal Services, Affinity Health System; Patricia Leo Holloman, BSN, RN, CNOR, of East Elmhurst, NY, a clinical nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital (re-elected); and Frank D. Moore, MSN, RN, CS, of Fountain, NC, a nurse therapist, Wake County Mental Health. Elected to the at-large board staff nurse positions were Rose Marie Martin, BSN, RN, OCN, of Galloway, OH, a staff nurse in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute; and Teresa Stone, BSN, RN, C, of Beaverton, OR, Oregon Nurses Association president and a staff nurse at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OSHU).

ANA appointed Margarete Zalon, PhD, RN, of Waymart, PA, president of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association and a professor at the University of Scranton, to fill the vacancy created by Mary Behrens' election to the office of second vice president. The board is in the process of filling a vacancy in a staff-nurse-designated seat created by Katheren Koehn's election as secretary.

Remaining on the ANA Board until 2004 are Jan Bussert, RN, of Vashon, WA, staff nurse at the Vashon Health Center; Christina L. Sieloff, RN, PhD, CNA, of Rochester, MI, an assistant professor at Oakland University School of Nursing; and Betty Smith-Campbell, RN, ARNP, PhD, of Andover, KS, an assistant professor at Wichita State University.

The five nurses elected to the Congress of Nursing Practice and Economics include Tracy A. Hollar-Ruegg, MS, RN, CNP, of Powell, OH, a nurse practitioner in hematology/oncology at Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital; Mary A. Maryland, PhD, RN, APN, of Oak Park, IL, administrative supervisor/advocate, Bethany Hospital; Maureen Ann Nalle, PhD, RN, of Knoxville, TN, assistant professor, the University of Tennessee College of Nursing; Susan Foley Pierce, PhD, RN, of Chapel Hill, NC, faculty member, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and Cathalene Teahan, MSN, RN, CNS, of Snellville, GA, a public health consultant.

Three nurses were elected to the Nominating Committee: Verna Christian-Garcia, BSN, RN, of Christiansted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, executive director, Virgin Islands State Nurses Association; Mary B. Killeen, PhD, RN, CNAA, of Howell, MI, associate professor, University of Michigan-Flint; and Sara McCumber, RN, CNP, CNS, of Superior, WI, adult nurse practitioner, SMDC-Geriatrics.

Elizabeth Dietz, EdD, RN, CS, of Sunnyvale, CA, president of ANA-California and a professor of nursing, University of California at San Jose, was elected by ANA's Constituent Assembly as chair and, therefore, will serve as its representative to the board of directors.

Thrilled when Margarete Zalon told me she was appointed after candidates names (not elected) were put into a hat and her name was picked! She has learned much as PSNA President and improved in her leadership abilities. Was a pleasure to have her at our Millenium Nurses March last year....reporters couldn't understand why all the Philly hospitals nursing leaders not there and wanted to speak with soomeone "in authority" they grilled her royally. Only her comments and mine made it to the air. She has helped to bring various nursing groups together and bring staff nurse issues to the forfront.

Karen