NOVA Chapter 226

Boston, MA

Kelly D. Skinner, DNP, APRN, NP-C, GNP-BC, CRRN, WCC, CFCN

Year of the Nurse

The World Health Organization (WHO) designated 2020 as the “International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife” to recognize the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. This extends the opportunity to honor nurses beyond the typical Nurses Week celebrations. This year, the NOVA Chapter 226 Board Members wanted to do something special, so we purchased NOVA Nurses Week 2020 t-shirts and created a card to thank our members for all they do for our Veterans.

2020 Nurses Week

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our Nurses Week activities this year were done while maintaining social distancing. We kicked off Nurses Week on May 6th with a Military Flyover, a Rolling Rally and a Skype call entitled Happy Nurses Week with Ceci McVey, the Associate Director, Nursing and Patient Care Services. Ceci and our Medical Center Director, Vincent Ng, provided introductory comments and then the 2020 Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Nursing award recipients were recognized. Congratulations to Adrianna Nava, RN (Expanded Role), Diana Santana (RN Role), Gretchen Pomerleau (LPN Role) and Stephanie Henion (HT Role)! The Holistic Committee offered several mindfulness activities such as distance reiki, tapping/Metta meditation, distance yoga, and visualization/energy exercises throughout the week. Tuition vouchers were given away, sessions were available for nurses to receive help with proficiencies and reconsiderations requests, and Nurses Night at Fenway and Healthy Leg Day calls took place. Nurses also sent numerous Thank a Nurse Cards to their colleagues. They even represented their college by wearing college gear and submitting the pictures. We just couldn’t let National Nurse Week go by without honoring our nurses, so we took advantage of the opportunity to celebrate with them virtually!

Happy International Nurses Day!

NOVA member, Genevieve Lemay, who works in the MICU at the VA Boston Healthcare System wishes you a Happy International Nurses Day! In the group photo below, Genevieve (2nd from the left) is with her classmates during their Oath Taking after they passed the Philippine Nursing Boards. There were 100 in her class. This photo is also in honor of their dear classmate (1st from the left) who they recently lost due to cancer.

                  Class of 1982 Nursing Graduates

         Cebu Velez General Hospital Velez College 

Welcome Back

The VA received approval and started rehiring retired health care professionals in order to increase staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eileen Pflanz, NOVA Emeritus Member and NOVA Chapter 226 Immediate Past President, who retired in December 2019 and Denise Dulude, NOVA Emeritus Member and Longtime NOVA Member, who retired in January 2020 answered the call to return to duty. NOVA Chapter 226 welcomes them back to the VA Boston Healthcare System and applauds them for their continued service to the Veterans through the coronavirus crisis.

           Eileen Pflanz                                    Denise Dulude