By Teresa Morris, NOVA Director, Advocacy & Government Relations

Greetings NOVA Members –

August Recess is almost here – I urge all of you to get out there and talk about VA issues important to you and the Veterans you serve. During August recess (which runs until after Labor Day), Members of Congress will be working in their District and State offices catching up on constituent needs and hosting Town Hall meetings as midterm elections approach.

Schedule a meeting with your members (either in-person or virtually) in their office or catch up with them at a Town Hall or other community event they plan to attend. NOVA’s webinar “Contacting Your Congressional Representatives” can help you set up and plan your meeting. You can find this and other webinars here: NOVA Webinars (vanurse.org). Other information on our Advocacy Toolkit provides step by step instructions as well.

Talk about what you do – even under these most challenging times – to provide the best treatment for your patient. Ask them to support pay increases and a review of all pay scales so VA can remain competitive with the private sector and fill staffing vacancies to continue delivering the best care to our nation’s Veterans.

Remind Congress that VA is where Veterans prefer their healthcare. Use NOVA’s 2022 Legislative Priority Goals as your talking points and as a leave behind at your meetings.

Stay tuned to NOVA’s website and social media and post pictures from your congressional meetings or events.

Now is the perfect time to become familiar with VA nursing issues and to educate your members about what is important to you and how you do your job as a healthcare provider taking care of Veterans.

Stay Tuned!

by Thelma Roach-Serry, BSN, RN, NE-BC

“Her Passion is Caring for Others…”

Linda Lewis, LPN, WTA has been a nurse for over 35 years.  She graduated from the Richmond Technical Center, Richmond, Virginia in 1985 as a licensed practical nurse excited and ready to care for others. She started her nursing career at Richmond Memorial Hospital  on a medical-surgical inpatient unit. After obtaining a solid foundation in nursing, she was hired as a charge nurse at Libbie Convalescent Center and Chippenham Manor.

Ms. Lewis identified an opportunity to provide home health care visiting patients in their homes throughout the Richmond Metropolitan area. Later she worked as an anesthesia aide at the Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital until she became a contract nurse working for Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation.

While working for a local agency, she was selected  to serve on a special team to initiate a preventative healthcare patient education program at the Richmond Veterans Affairs Medical Center (RVAMC).  While working in this capacity, she developed a desire to work with Veterans full time.  She applied and was selected for a position in the hemodialysis unit where she worked for approximately two years. Later she sought a position in primary care and later in specialty care.  For the past nine years, Linda has worked in surgical specialty clinics (SSC) where she developed a profound passion for providing care to surgical and vascular patients who require specialized wound care treatments.  Many providers started seeking her advice for the treatment of various wounds. Because of her interest and knowledge in wound care, Linda  was advised to pursue certification as a Wound Treatment Associate. Linda did just that and became one of the first certified Wound Treatment Associates (WTA) at RVAMC.  

When asked why she became a nurse, Linda replied, “I became a nurse because I loved watching my mother care for the older people in the  community.  Her caring actions inspired me to go to school to get my degree in nursing.  I will continue her legacy by caring for the people in my community which will have an everlasting positive impact.  I love taking care of people, the way I would want or like to be taken care of.” Linda is the chair of the SSC Professional Practice and Customer Service Committee and loves being a member of NOVA and the Riverside Baptist Church Nurses Corps.

Ms. Lewis is married to Curvan Lewis, a Vietnam Veteran.  She is the mother of 6 children, a grandmother and great grandmother.  Besides caring for others, her passions also include gardening and cooking a fine dinner, which she learned from her father who was a World War II Veteran.

One of her favorite quotes is “Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today.” by Amy Leigh Mercree, Author

Thanks Linda for your compassionate care of others.          

By Teresa Morris, NOVA Director, Advocacy & Government Relations

Greetings NOVA Members –

It is hard to believe that it is already July, and we are quickly moving towards the last weeks of the 117^th congressional session. It is a busy month as August recess approaches and the Midterm election looms. Deadlines for finalizing FY 2023 funding, legislative packages and important policy become urgent.

The VA Committees who have jurisdiction over Veterans policy continue to be focused on getting toxic exposure (PACT Act) and other critical legislation passed before the session ends. One item that looks to be stalled is the completion of the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission that was tasked with reviewing and making recommendations to Congress and the President on modernizing and realigning VA’s aging healthcare system.

As background, the AIR Commission was included as part of the MISSION Act and mandated a review of VA’s healthcare infrastructure through market assessments and evaluating its footprint and ability to care for Veterans across the country. The final report was released in March and organized by Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN), the plan included closing three major hospitals and dozens of clinics, but also recommended building about eighty new clinics across the country.

VA Recommendations to the AIR Commission Home

Congress and veteran advocates immediately reacted to recommendations and to the knowledge that much of the report and its assessments were made prior to the pandemic. The Commission and its work seemed doomed before it began and as often happens any news of VA hospital closures in congressional districts raised the ire of many including Senators who said “they would not approve the nine nominees up for confirmation to establish the AIR Commission." So, any decision to shift services for a constituency as crucial as veterans seems DOA for now.

VA and others have said that although lawmakers have left the agency with no blueprint to modernize its aging system, they plan to continue to fight for the funding and modernization that veterans deserve.

NOVA provided its opinion on provisions included in the MISSION Act in 2018 and was wary of the AIR process. There is a need to look at infrastructure use and aging facilities, but Congress has not provided adequate funding for VA construction and maintenance needs for decades. NOVA supports the Independent Budget recommendations for these accounts. The Independent Budget Veterans Agenda

Some see AIR as another way to increase the number of Veterans using community for care which was expanded as part of MISSION. Veterans surveyed by the VFW overwhelming prefer care at a VA. (VFW-Our-Care-2017--Executive-Summary.pdf (azureedge.net). NOVA stands by our views that Veterans prefer VA healthcare and that treatment at a VA facility is far better suited to their individual health care needs and service-connected disabilities.

I ask all of you to continue to watch NOVA’s website and social media for our August Recess Priorities. Congress will be home working the entire month of August with most campaigning for reelection. Now is the perfect time to become familiar with VA nursing issues and to educate your members about what is important to you and how you do your job as a healthcare provider taking care of Veterans.

I also encourage you to review NOVA’s Legislative Priority Goals on the website under the Advocacy dropdown and help us continue our work on behalf of all VA nurses. Links to the toolkit can be found here: NOVA Advocacy Toolkit (vanurse.org)

Stay Tuned!

By Thelma Roach-Serry, BSN, RN, NE-BC

Tawanna Smith MSN, RN, CRRN has worked as a Spinal Cord Injury and Disorder (SCI&D) nurse for over 17 years at the Central Virginia VA Health Care System (CVHCS) in Richmond, Virginia. Ms. Smith was a staff/bedside nurse on unit IU before transferring to Spinal Cord Injury Home Care in 2015. She has been a Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse (CRRN) since 2015. 

Smith is a proud Army Veteran who enjoys giving back to Veterans who have served this country. 

Ms. Smith is the mother of two wonderful children, T.J. and Tia, and a proud first time “Gigi” to baby Frankie. Smith’s children followed in their mother’s footsteps — T.J. is a Nurse Practitioner, Tia is a Traveling Registered Nurse. 

Ms. Smith obtained an Associate in Science Degree from John Tyler Community College in 2010, after being a Licensed Practical Nurse for over 7 years. She earned her BSN (2014) and graduated in May 2022 with a Master of Science in Nursing degree, both from Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Ms. Smith has enjoyed being an active member of NOVA through the years and is looking forward to new adventures that the organization offers. Ms. Smith was the recipient of the 2018 NOVA Profession Nurse Award for Clinical Excellence. She professes to be a lifelong learner and aspires to continue her nursing education/career.

Ms. Smith enjoyed taking a relaxing cruise and touring the tropical islands once or twice a year prior to COVID-19.  She hopes to start traveling again soon.  

By Cathy Wogamon-Harmon, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC, CWON, CFCN

The Lake City VA Wound Team presented a week-long daily presentation for the nursing staff during Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses (WOCN) week, April 17-23.  WOC Nurses are recognized during WOCN week for their work with wound, ostomy and continence patients across the country. The Team chose “it takes a village” for the theme of their presentations. Each day the nursing staff received a simple PowerPoint slide focusing on some aspect of wound care, such as pressure injury prevention, monitoring, skin care, teamwork, incontinence care and documentation. The staff responded very positively to the presentations and were appreciative for the recognition they received.