Yvette Twum-Danso, MSN, RN, CCRN, PhDc

Columbia VA Health Care System, Columbia, South Carolina

NOVA Chapter 362

Maggie Keller, BSN, RN and Medical Director Dr. David Omura

Maggie Keller, BSN, RN, Assistant Nurse Manager, is the recipient of the 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Award. She is the Unsung Hero who demonstrated outstanding efforts in promoting diversity awareness and representation at the facility level and within our community partners. Ms. Keller provided partnerships between nurse managers and employees to resolve diversity workplace issues while promoting diversity workplace education and communication strategic methods through cultural competency and educational initiatives.

Heather Roth, MSN, RN and Medical Director Dr. David Omura

Heather Roth, MSN, RN, Veteran Health Education Coordinator, is the recipient of the 2020 Silver Diversity & Inclusion Award. Ms. Roth demonstrated outstanding efforts in promoting diversity awareness and representation at the facility level and within our community partners. Ms. Roth provided partnerships between employees and Veterans to resolve diversity workplace issues while promoting diversity workplace education and communication strategic methods through cultural competency and educational initiatives.

How Did YOU Celebrate this Year?

2020 has been a difficult year for everyone, including our own NOVA nurses who have been on the frontlines since March taking care of the Veterans. To celebrate the hard work of our members and nurses everywhere, this year was named Year of the Nurse.

NOVA’s Year of the Nurse

With COVID-19 in full swing, NOVA’s Nurses Week and Annual Meeting were different, hosted virtually but still focused on celebrating NOVA members’ resilience and unyielding commitment to patients. NOVA's social media lit up during both of these events with a nod to the Year of the Nurse. See the slideshow video here.

Your Year of the Nurse

Many NOVA nurses celebrated the Year of the Nurse in their own ways.

One NOVA nurse’s facility celebrated the Year of the Nurse during the pandemic by serving food and desserts to different nursing units and other disciplines. During Nurses Week, nurses received a laminated Nursing Prayer, and during hurricane season, NOVA nurses came together and worked diligently to send personal hygiene items, food, and clothing to areas affected by the hurricanes.

Another member reported that their facility ordered t-shirts that nurses could wear throughout the year, posted unit-based videos to their employee site, and had a Nurse Recognition Wall.

Other NOVA nurses celebrated the Year of the Nurse by giving out personalized bags filled with self-care items, a nursing awards ceremony to recognize education advancements and certifications, and more. 

The NOVA community came together to recognize, support, and celebrate their colleagues and friends in nursing. What a proud year for nurses!

What Year of the Nurse Means to You

Looking back on the year, NOVA wanted to know what the Year of the Nurse meant to you, the frontline defense for Veterans during the pandemic.

One nurse said that nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry; have been trusted year after year by the public to provide quality, safe care; and is glad that the Year of the Nurse is there to highlight the difficult work nurses do for the public.

Another member felt that the Year of the Nurse is a way for nurses to acknowledge their hard work and struggles. They continue to say that nurses are always the first to take on caring for others and that they sacrifice so much of themselves to others with no regrets. 

Another nurse wanted to highlight the nurses who are deep in the COVID-19 response, the ones who are picking up the slack, working short-staffed and in unpopular areas like nursing homes, mental health facilities, and even in primary care.

Continue Celebrating in 2021

How can we keep the momentum going as we start a new year still navigating a challenging healthcare climate?

One NOVA nurse thinks nurses’ voices should be heard in Congress about how nurses were involved with the COVID-19 pandemic response and says that nurses were one of the many heroes of the continuing pandemic.

Another member encouraged NOVA chapters to make a display to acknowledge all NOVA nurses in the country. 

In an effort to showcase the reality of NOVA nurses’ work, one member suggested sharing photos of nurses fighting the pandemic on VA websites, screensavers, and publications as well as a “Thank A Nurse” card-writing campaign to continue showing what our members do.

The Year of the Nurse may be over in 2020, but the solidarity, kindness, and camaraderie displayed throughout this year will carry us confidently, compassionately, into 2021 and beyond.

Recruit a new member or Renew your membership today

and be entered to win a NOVA Goodie Bag!

Two winners will be selected every week through the end of December.

One new member will be selected each week to win a NOVA pen!

Here are the contest winners from last week:

Renewing Member:  Deborah Russell (Lebanon VAMC) WINS NOVA GIFT BAG

Recruiter: Gloria Njoku (Washington DC VAMC) WINS NOVA GIFT BAG

New Member: Sandra Anigbo (Washington DC VAMC) WINS NOVA PEN

Join or Renew Now by Visiting the URL Below: 

https://www.vanurse.org/page/join

• 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 hard copy application (if the new member didn't sign up online).

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

***If you are retiring and would like to join as a Nurse Emeritus member, please contact us directly so we can help! nova@vanurse.org***

NOVA celebrated our LPN/LVN community during October 2020 and our Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) community in November, 2020. It has been a goal of NOVA to make sure that all of our nurses feel appreciated for all of their hard work, that our LPN/LVNs and APRNs are aware of available opportunities. To celebrate we decided to host a friendly competition to help recruit LVN/LPNs and APRNs.

The rules were to recruit LVN/LPNs during the entire month of October and APRNs during the entire month of November. The nurse who recruited the most LVN/LPNs and the nurse who recruited the most APRNs would be awarded a NOVA fleece from L.L.Bean. The competition was fun and close for the majority of the months; however, we did have a winner for October and one for November!

Carolyn Dunbar

Congratulations to Ms. Carolyn Dunbar for being our top recruiter of LPNs in the month of October! Ms. Dunbar has been a faithful member of NOVA since 2002. She is currently a RN at the Southeast Louisiana VA HCS in New Orleans, LA. Thank you so much Carolyn, for all your hard work and dedication to NOVA for so many years! We appreciate your willingness to help NOVA grow and become even more great! We look forward to seeing how you will continue to help NOVA grow even larger in the years to come!

Alma Holley

Congratulations to Ms. Alma Holley for being our top recruiter of APRNs for the month of November!

Alma Holley serves the Nurse Manager for the Women’s Health Clinic at the Washington DC Veteran Affairs Medical Center.  She became a certified CNL in 2010. This is a role Alma truly enjoys because the role requires her to incorporate all of her nursing knowledge into practice. The road to accomplish many of her assignments is not present in most situations, so she must build it with her education and nursing experience.  Alma believes as an experienced nurse it is her responsibility to give back to the new nurses.  Over the past five years, she has served as a CNL Ambassador, presented at the CNL Summit and volunteered as a mentor/advisor for several CNL students.  

With over 30 years of RN experience, Alma has held several positions in nursing.  She has worked as a Nurse Manager, Nurse Educator, Case Manager, Director of Health Services, Dialysis Nurse, CNL, Public Health Nurse, Neonatal Nurse and Pediatric Nurse.  Nursing is a dynamic profession and every day the nurse is challenged to keep up with the latest evidence based information.  In 2013, Alma co-authored: Changing Behavior among Nurses to Track Indwelling Urinary Catheters in Hospitalized Patients.

Alma serves as the local NOVA Membership Chair for NOVA Chapter #156 in Washington DC. She is also a member of the national NOVA Chapter Oversight and Membership Development Committees where she serves as a chapter contact. In her leisure time, Alma enjoys crafting, traveling and cooking.

Thank you Ms. Alma, for your passion and dedication to our nation's Veterans. We look forward to working with you to grow NOVA's membership! 

Teresa Morris, Director, Advocacy & Government Relations

Greetings NOVA Members –

Well, we made it to the end of the year – a year that fittingly was named the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” in honor of Florence Nightingale – All I can say is, I think she would be proud of all of you. Through all of the chaos and crisis, you have shown your strength and resilience during this once in a hundred-year pandemic that has encompassed everything about 2020.

NOVA nurses were on the frontlines – taking care of Veterans and those in their communities. We continued our advocacy on Capitol Hill to make sure healthcare workers had what they needed during COVID/coronavirus. We fought alongside our partners in the Nursing Community Coalition to ensure any stimulus/relief packages included the VA. We sent surveys to find out how you felt during the height of the virus and continue to follow PPE, staffing and treatment news as the nation sees surges in all parts of the country.

As we close out the 116th and move into a new Administration and Congress in January, we will continue the fight.

As December ended, Congress cleared another Continuing Resolution (CR) extending the current federal funding levels through December 18. Both Senate and House Appropriations leaders are working towards reaching an agreement on a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package before the end of the session. (As this was published, details of the funding package were still being worked out.)

I am watching as House and Senate VA Committees looked to prepare a few more bills for passage prior to heading home for the Holidays and the close out of the session.  I will have this and more on the new Congress in NOVA’s January newsletter.

NOVA’s thoughts on legislation this year can be found on our website at: https://www.vanurse.org/page/congressionalstatements

A list of the bills and all VA Committee legislative activity can be found on the HVAC and SVAC websites -

https://veterans.house.gov/

https://www.veterans.senate.gov/

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your advocacy and all of your hard work in discussing our legislative goals with Members of Congress and staff. A group effort definitely makes the difference.

As we move into 2021, please keep an eye out for our Legislative Priority Goals and critical issues. I will be hosting a Congress 101 Webinar, and sending out new names and faces for the 117th Congress as well as changes within the Administration at VA.

As always, I look forward to expanding our advocacy team and to those willing to educate and mobilize other members on the best way to advocate for the VA Nursing community.

Stay Tuned!