Miriam I. Rogers Holy, MSN, RN, ACM

Miriam Rogers is an inpatient Emergency Department Case Manager at the Baltimore VA Maryland Health Care System (VAMHCS). She has been at the VAMHCS since 2006. Miriam was recruited by a NOVA member to apply for an Emergency Department position where she worked for 10 years prior to accepting her current position. Her past nursing experience has been mainly in the Emergency Department including ambulatory care and home infusion therapy. 

Miriam is certified as an Accredited Case Manager (ACM-RN) through the American Case Managers Association (ACMA) and maintains a local chapter membership. She has maintained ACLS certification and is a member of the American Nurses Association (ANA), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), and Sigma Theta Tau International. Miriam completed the VISN 5 Leadership Development Institute (LDI) in 2009 and was recommended by her peers for the VA Gold Pin Awards.

Miriam participated in a NOVA essay contest during Nurses Week and won the Norman Morse Award. This award included a free one-year NOVA membership. Miriam recognized the value of NOVA and has remained an active member. She is a strong NOVA advocate, educating and encouraging fellow VA nurses to become members. Miriam has participated in NOVA’s annual meetings, volunteered  for the Marine Corps Marathon health tent, and a golf tournament fundraiser. She has been active in local Chapter 218 events, including setting-up a quarterly NOVA information table, cookbook sales, selling of a local NOVA chapter cookbook, maintaining an awareness and information news board. For the past two years, Miriam has been part of the annual meeting planning committee and has attended the yearly NOVA on the Hill Day in Washington, DC. She has held positions on the Chapter 218 Board as Treasurer, Vice President, President and the National Chapter Contact. She has also served as a mentor to new members and maintains a  showcase box in the VAMHCS hallway to inform VA nurses of current events and legislative activities. 

Miriam is originally from Long Beach, NY. She graduated with an Associate Degree in Nursing from Rockland Community College and has been a registered nurse since 1984. Miriam completed her Bachelor’s Degree in 1986 from SUNY College of Technology, Utica/Rome, NY.  She completed her master’s degree in nursing with an Emphasis in Public Health, in 2015 from Grand Canyon University.

Miriam is married to the NOVA member that recruited her to the VA, Michael J. Holy, MSN, RN, Nurse Emeritus. They live in a suburb of Baltimore with their 2 dachshunds - Murphy and Sasha. She has four grown children and one grandchild.

Sarah Paul, BSN, RN, RAC-CT

VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA

NOVA Chapter 226

As healthcare professionals, we have many responsibilities and roles, but one of the most important roles of any healthcare professional is to be an advocate. Now more than ever, advocating for our patients is vital. In these unprecedented times, full of uncertainties, fears, and new norms, healthcare professionals find themselves part of making history and paving new ways. To help reduce exposure, hospitals have put a No Visitor policy in place with few exceptions. While this policy helps protect patients, it also prevents the same patients from receiving support from family. It is now up to the nurses to truly give our patients a voice. During this ongoing global pandemic, it is crucial to come together with care, kindness and willingness to go above and beyond for every patient. It falls into the hands of educators more than ever to make each patient aware of their rights and ensure they all receive equal access to medical treatment. 

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as face masks, face shields, goggles, are meant to protect the patients and the staff,but those protections have also added extra barriers. How do we help patients see us beyond the gear? See our smiles under the masks? Feel our warmth under the gloves? We can start with  caring words from our hearts. Little actions like getting them apple juice instead of cranberry because we know that is what they prefer. The small things we do for our patients can have the biggest impact in this new world we currently reside. 

Our days are extra-long, exhausting, physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing and full of worry. We have become a surrogate family to each patient. We want to protect them, our families, and  each other. Our work and dedication can be a sacrifice, but we continue to  fiercely fight for our patients, keep them informed and provide support when needed. 

Patience is needed as we  navigate  new territory. Together, we can learn to show compassion, empathy and caring that transcends the new barriers we face daily. 

If  our patients face their darkest hours here with us, we shall be there to listen, share their last laughs, thoughts and tears. I pledge that our patients will not be isolated and alone. 

The following nurses joined the NOVA family in January 2021. Welcome! Please visit the member benefits page here to see all that NOVA has to offer.

LPN/LVN 

RN

APRN

Nurse Emeritus

Leslie Hodges-Jackson
Nora Krick
Janette Elliot
Laura Minor

*New members that have signed up via payroll deduction in the month of January, should expect a delay. Payroll deduction takes two to three pay periods for a member to appear in the database.

Call For New Members - WE WANT YOU!

Do you have ideas to improve the NOVA newsletter/blog and to increase member engagement on social media?

Calling all LPN, RN, APRN and Nurse Emeritus Members. We need your help!

If you answer "yes" to any of the following questions, you should join a NOVA committee.

• Do you enjoy being creative and brainstorming with others?

• Do you often think, “NOVA should’ve said or done THIS….?” 

• Do you get a thrill out of seeing your work in action and getting to actually measure the results? 

• Do you enjoy writing (blogging, especially) and participating in social media?

• Do you want to have a genuine impact on NOVA?

We invite you to join us!

WHAT WE DO!

Interested? Please join us for the next committee meeting!

This year NOVA will be trying something new. Each quarter we will be focusing on a different membership category to draw attention to all the benefits NOVA provides. This quarter NOVA would like to focus on our Nurse Emeritus members.  

Are you a current NOVA member who is willing to reach out to your colleagues to help promote the value of NOVA? 

Given the attention that this quarter is on the Nurse Emeritus members, we call all NOVA Nurses to encourage those who already have or are preparing to retire to join the Nurse Emeritus group. This certainly includes active or retired LPNs/LVNs, RNs or APRNs.

The individual who recruits the most Nurse Emeritus members by the end of March will win a NOVA embroidered fleece vest from LL Bean!

Recruit new members and you could earn prizes!

NOVA will hold weekly drawings to win NOVA branded prizes! Each time you recruit a member, you will be entered for a chance to win! For example: Refer 3 new members and get 3 chances to win!

Prizes:

• Grand Prize: The top recruiter who recruits the most Nurse Emeritus members at the end of the quarter will receive a NOVA embroidered fleece vest.
• Second Place Prize: The top recruiter at the end of the quarter who recruits the most non-Nurse Emeritus members will receive a NOVA Goodie Bag.
• Monthly Prize: The top recruiter for each month will receive a NOVA beverage tumbler.
• Weekly Prizes: Names of all recruiters will be entered for a chance to win NOVA pens, pins and masks. 

All recruiters for NEW memberships from January through March are eligible to win. Prizes will be announced on social media and will be listed in the NOVA News e-newsletter.

• Email names of the recruited new members to nova@vanurse.org for record keeping and verification.

• The email should include the following: recruiter's name, names of new members, recruiter's chapter and hardcopy application (if the new member didn't sign up online).

• Email names of the recruited new members daily by 4:00 pm.

If you have any difficulty, please contact NOVA Headquarters at nova@vanurse.org where a team member will be happy to help you!