At the end of 1986, NOVA President Elaine Lloyd stated, “We must expect that Congress will listen when we, as VA nurses, see that the delivery of health care to our nation’s Veterans is at risk.” Congress did begin seriously listening in February of 1987 and continued to listen as NOVA presented testimony in February, April, and May. NOVA was invited by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Veterans Affairs to present testimony on the VA Medical Fiscal Year 1988 Budget. President E. Elaine Lloyd and Legislative Chair Noreen Sommer’s testimony was entered into the hearing record on February 4, 1987.  NOVA Board members voiced concerns regarding the shortage of nurses, the growing problems of recruitment and retention of nurses, and the increased workload for nurses while they were in Washington D.C. in March 1987. President E. Elaine Lloyd and President-Elect Claudette Morrissey met with Chief Medical Director John Gronvall, MD and Legislative Chair Noreen Sommer met with staff of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees to talk with them about issues important to NOVA.  

On March 11, 1987, several members of NOVA were in the Senate Gallery as Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) introduced legislation authorizing bonus pay for nurses.  It was exciting to hear Senator Murkowski recognize the contributions of nurses. He called registered nurses: “the matrix upon which our health-care system is built. For too long, registered nurses have been taken for granted. The quality of the health care delivered to our nation’s veterans relies upon the quality of the professional nursing care delivered.  We can appropriate all of the dollars we wish to expand our VA Health Care System, but in the final analysis, without professional nurses, we would have no alternative but to close the doors of VA hospital wards, clinics, and nursing homes.” 

NOVA’s views on the major issues confronting VA nurses were presented by President Lloyd when she testified April 22, 1987, before the U.S. Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Hospitals and Health Care on the Status of Recruitment and Retention of VA Health Care Personnel. She again testified on May 21, 1987 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs regarding the need for competitive salaries, tuition reimbursement, and realistic workloads. She reminded Congress of the 15 recommendations from the study mandated Congressionally by Public Law 96-330, Recruitment and Retention of Nurses in the Veterans Administration.

Nancy Claflin DNP MS RN NEA-BC CENP CNEcl CCRN CPHQ FNAHQ
Chair, NOVA Education Committee

NOVA’s Mentoring Program

Did you know that according to the 2024 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, 30.2% of new graduate nurses left their jobs within the first year of employment?  NOVA developed the Empower Mentoring Program to help you meet professional goals and pursue dreams for professional advancement within the VA.  The program is designed to guide a mutual relationship between an experienced VA nurse, the mentor, and the mentee.  Mentorship programs can support all nurses, including new graduate nurses and nurses new to the VA.  Evidence demonstrates that mentoring can reduce turnover, and support new graduates in their transition to practice.  Mentees reported expanding their networks, gaining confidence working with management level topics, and developing professionally as well as interpersonal effectiveness.  Mentors reported improving their coaching skills and benefitting from learning new ideas from their mentees.  Organizations with mentoring programs demonstrated an increase in employee retention, improved recruitment of diverse employees, and more cost-effective training.

Should you ask for a mentor?  Would you like help navigating the VA system, developing supportive and encouraging relationships, guidance in professional, personal, and interpersonal growth? Would you like to connect with seasoned NOVA members to benefit from their expertise and experience?

Should you become a mentor?  Have you worked in the VA for a year or more?  Do you know things now that you wished somebody told you when you first started in VA?  Do you want to help people navigate the sometimes confusing routes to promotion and career development in the VA?  Do you want to make a difference?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, go to the NOVA Website; click on Education, then select Mentorship Program. NOVA's Mentoring Program matches NOVA nurses across the country to help you learn about the VA and achieve your career goals. 

More Information:
Bell, S., Gorsuch, P., Beckett, C., McComas, A., Boss, K., and Rose, K. (2025). An Evidence-Based Initiative to Reduce New Graduate Nurse Turnover:  Implementation of a Mentorship Program. Worldviews on Evidence Based Nursing, 22:e70009 1 of 7
https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.70009

NOVA’s 30th Annual Legislative Roundtable was held Friday, March 21, 2025 at the DAV Washington Headquarters in Washington, DC.  Participants were welcomed by Kelley Saindon, DNP, RN, CHPN, Chair, NOVA Legislative Committee and NOVA President Cathy Giasson DNP, MHA, RN, NE-BC, CPHQ.  Kelley discussed NOVA’s legislative priority goals.  This was followed by presentations from representatives from Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs), national nursing organizations, and Congressional legislative staff members. 

The following topics were discussed:

• Requiring sufficient on-tine funding to allow ongoing hiring of healthcare staff to keep VHA functioning at a safe level for Veterans
• Ensuring that any legislation or funding of Community Care does not impede the superior care VHA offers to Veterans, and require comparable quality and training standards for CCN providers
• Educate new administration and Congress on longstanding budget and infrastructure issues continuing in VHA
• Evaluate, plan, and budget to ensure VA facilities are modernized to meet Veteran needs
• Review staffing levels and ire in all settings so VA can delivery timely access for all Veterans seeking care
• Ensure salary surveys are performed annually for all nursing workforce so VHA remains competitive in local markets
• Support and revise qualifications and pay levels for LPNs
• Ensure a diverse workforce is offered ongoing opportunities for career advancement and professional development by providing continuing education and tuition support for all nursing levels
• Provide and sustain ongoing funding for current RN and NP residencies and include necessary infrastructure to support development of future nursing workforce
• Support initiatives with funding and foundation to grow nurses from with
• Implement and support full practice authority for CRNAs
• Reductions in force will harm care and services to Veterans by altering how VA delivers comprehensive wraparound services; drastically decreasing quality of care; impacting suicide prevention; increasing wait times and distances to access care; reducing resources for timely community care coordination; failing to support laws ensuring care for millions of Veterans; leading to poor patient conditions and outcomes; resulting in burnout for existing staff covering workload for terminated colleagues and loss of Veteran trust in VA

Congressional legislative staff members attending from the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee included Hunter Thompson, Majority Professional Staff Member; Katie Fanning, Majority Professional Staff Member; Theresa Wrzesinski, Minority Professional Staff Member; and Abby Roubal, Minority Professional Staff Member.  Alexis MacDonald, Minority Professional Staff Member attended from the House Veterans Committee.  The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) was represented by Legislative Representative Lisa Swirsky, and Triwest Healthcare Alliance was represented by Adrian Attizado, Director Government Relations.  The National Association of Veterans Research and Education Foundation (NAVREF) was represented by Hawk Tran, Chief Operating Officer.

Representatives from Veterans Service Organizations included Jon Retzer, Deputy National Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans (DAV); Naomi Mathis, Assistant National Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans (DAV); Shamala Capizzi, Associate National Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans (DAV); Morgan Brown, National Legislative Director, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA); Meggan Thomas, Associate Director, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW); Jake Corsi, Legislative Associate, American Legion; Rodger Pinto, Associate, Policy and Advocacy, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA); Rene Campos, CDR, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Senior Director, Government Relations, Military Officers Association of America (MOAA);

Representatives from professional nursing organizations included Rachel Minahan, Director of Government Affairs, American Association of Colleges of Nursing; Jessica Talbert, Director Federal Advocacy, American Association of Nurse Practitioners; Gayle Gerdes, Vice President, Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association; Johnny Gayden, President-Elect, Association of VA Nurse Anesthetists; Alec Stone, Health Policy Liaison, Association of VA Hematology/Oncology;   Clare Chmiel, Legislative Director, Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society; Madeleine Rohrbach, Senior Policy Coordinator, American Academy of Nursing; Dave Mason, Senior Policy Consultant, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners/National League for Nursing; Matthew Thackston, Director of Federal Government Affairs, American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology; Gregory Craig, Senior Associate Director of Regulatory Affairs, American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology; and Simti Pandya, Director, Congressional and Grassroots Advocacy, American Nurses Association.  The National Student Nurses Association was represented by Kenya Williams, CEO, and Barbara Ward, Board of Trustees.   The Association of VA Social Workers was represented by Stan Remer,  Congressional and Legislative Liaison. The Association of VA Psychological Leaders was represented by Conwell Smith, Deputy Chief, Military Veteran Health Policy and Scott Barstow.

NOVA members included Board of Directors members President Catherine Giasson, DNP, MHA, RN, NE-BC, VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System; President-Elect Michelle Salazar-Rodriguez, RN, MSN, VA Black Hills HCS; Past President Taryn-Janae Wilcox-Olson, MHS, RN, VISN 20 Northwest Network; Secretary/Treasurer, and Legislative Chair Kelley Saindon, DNP, RN, CHPN, White River Junction VA Healthcare System; Membership Secretary Theresa Presley, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CNL, CCRN, VA Boston Healthcare System; Director Michella Savoy-Carter, MSN, RN-BC, CDECS, VA Maryland Healthcare System; Director Melinda Conville, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CNML, VA Boston HCS; Director Tiffany Keller-Hale, DNP, BBA, RN-BC, Dayton VA; Rockne Jacque MSN, RN, Northampton VAMC; John Templeton Jr., MSN, RN, VA Central Western Massachusetts HCS;  Executive Director Gina Pileggi; Jessica Goodone. Meeting Manager; and Director Advocacy and Government Relations Teresa Morris.  Also attending were Past Presidents and Nurse Emeritus: Nancy Claflin, DNP, MS, RN, NEA-BC, CENP, CNEcl CCRN, CPHQ, FNAHQ and Margaret Kruckemeyer, MSN, MA.

In honor of March as Women’s History Month, NOVA Nurse Emeritus Margaret Kruckemeyer noted that the National VA History Center is the planned museum and archival center for the historical collection and records pertaining to the Department of Veterans Affairs and its legacy agencies.  It is located at the Dayton VA Medical Center campus which is a designated National Historic Landmark.  As part of nursing’s rich history in caring for veterans, she identified that after the Civil war, Union nurses received no federal benefits were also initially excluded from Union Veterans’ organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic.  In response, women created their own organizations in the hopes of securing both appreciation and benefits for their work as nurses.  In 1881, Dorothea Dix founded the Ex-Nurses Association of the District of Columbia, later renamed the National Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War (NAAN).  In 1883, the Grand Army admitted both Dix’s group and the newly established Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC) as auxiliaries.  The two organizations led efforts to compensate former nurses for their service. They created in-house charitable programs, such as the WRC’s Relief Committee and lobbied Congress to pass legislation granting pensions to former nurses, even if these pensions were only awarded on a case-by-case basis.  By the mid-1880s, Congress had begun issuing pensions in the amount of $12 to $25 to individual ex-nurses who had been injured during the war or were without familial means of support. Emma Lloyd Miller, who was a volunteer in the US Sanitary Commission as well as VA’s first female employee served at the Dayton VAMC from 1867-1914 in many leadership positions from Matron of the Soldiers Home to Superintendent of the Depot.  Miller was a devoted caretaker of Civil War Veterans who served as the Matron, the first woman to hold such a position. After the loss of her husband in the Civil War, she worked closely with a civilian-run group, the U.S. Sanitary Commission, to help returning Veterans and their families. When the Central Branch home was opened, she was appointed as Matron. Known for her great care, she was a perfect fit for the position at the newly opened Dayton Home. In this capacity, she oversaw the daily necessities to keep the Home functioning, including securing food, taking stock of rations, restocking hospital supplies, overseeing distribution of goods, and cleaning.  Miller eventually was promoted to a position as a Board of Managers for the whole NHDVS (VA) system. Working with Delphine Baker, Emma Miller established and maintained the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers system. With their leadership, generations of Veterans were cared for and supported, ensuring they received the best care possible following their service to the Nation and establishing the basis for today’s system of Veteran hospitals.

NOVA nurses followed in the footsteps of these Civil War nurses in 1985 when HR 2663 “The Cadet Nurse Bill” was initiated by a NOVA nurse, Angela Bohannon and the Topeka NOVA Chapter.  Nineteen eighty-six was the year that a NOVA nurse successfully found a way through the legislative process. H.R. 2663, “The Cadet Nurse Bill,” was introduced by the Hon. Jim Slattery (D-KS). The bill amended Title 5 U.S. Code to credit time spent in the Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II as creditable for civil service retirement. The bill was introduced in early 1986 and was signed into law by President Reagan on November 10, 1986. NOVA celebrates Angela Bohannon RN and the Topeka VAMC NOVA Chapter whose efforts resulted in this legislation being enacted.  

The past few months have been a turbulent time for nurses in the VA system. This has been a time of change and uncertainty. Yet each of you goes to work every day with the mission in mind. You continue to deliver the best care possible to the veterans you care for!

On March 20, 2025, NOVA nurses from across the country were advocating for you and veterans in Washington, DC. Nurses joined together to participate in NOVA’s Hill Day and attended meetings with Senate and House Members and Staffers. NOVA’s 2025 legislative goals were shared and it was a time to deliver on NOVA’s mission of advocating legislatively for the VA nurses with the recent and upcoming changes that are impacting employees and the veterans in the VA system.

NOVA’s mission is to advocate for the VA nurse legislatively, and this year there were many first-time attendees, which demonstrates that NOVA nurses feel the need to advocate at this time. All NOVA nurses can continue to advocate by calling their local congressional offices.

During this month, we also celebrate NOVA’s Certified Nurses! Certified Nurses Day is celebrated annually on March 19th. Certification is a testament to your dedication to maintaining the highest standards of practice and staying abreast of advancements in your respective specialties. By obtaining and maintaining certification, you demonstrate not only your proficiency but also your passion for providing quality care to those in need.

Nurses’ Week is right around the corner! This year we will hold a “Member-Get-a-Member” promotion. New members can receive a discount if they join and pay in full the week of May 6-12, and members who recruit the most new members in the month of May are eligible for a nice reward! Visit our NOVA website at vanurse.org for information.