Posted By Administration,
Monday, November 20, 2023
Last month in Las Vegas, attendees at NOVA’s 43rd Annual Meeting were given the opportunity to share their stories and ask critical questions to experts and boy did they shine.
A panel of representatives from the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) to include the American Nurses Association (ANA), American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA), Association of VA Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) and the Hospice & Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) spoke about advocacy and the importance of sharing ideas and stories with your Members of Congress. They reminded the group that nurses are the most respected profession and policy makers want to hear what you have to say – your experiences matter.
NOVA is a member of the NCC and works with the 63-member coalition to advocate for the nursing profession in Washington D.C.
Another advocacy themed session included staff from both the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees and a member of the VSO-MSO community. Professional staff members from both sides of the aisle – minority & majority were on hand to discuss important legislation that will influence VA and how healthcare professionals provide care to Veterans. Joining the panel was Rene Campos from the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) who provided the Veterans perspective on policy moving through the 118th.
Issues like community care, staffing, salaries, infrastructure, and bills NOVA is supporting were frankly discussed. NOVA nurses and guests clearly had a lot to say about how VA is the premier provider of care for Veterans!
Advocacy was centerstage and at work throughout the meeting, and I ask all of you to join us in supporting VA and its mission.
Posted By Administration,
Monday, November 20, 2023
The past month has been quite remarkable on the Hill. The House of Representatives was without a speaker for over 3 weeks, which meant that nothing was taking place – no hearings, no legislation introduced, no funding bills debated or voted on. But, on October 25, a new speaker was elected – Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) - and now a rush to complete critical year-end items is underway.
Many of the items are vital to a working government to include FY 2024 funding for VA and other agencies as well as a slew of Veterans bills that could change how VA provides healthcare.
NOVA believes and strongly advocates that VA provides the highest level of coordinated care in a setting that understands Veterans medical needs.
We continue to work with VA House and Senate Committees on our legislative priorities to include passage of S. 10, VA Careers Act which will enhance VA’s efforts to bolster recruitment, retention, hiring and salaries for VHA staff.
There is good news from the Federal Government that for 2024, the across-the-board base pay increase will be 4.7 percent and locality pay increases will average 0.5 percent, resulting in an overall average increase of 5.2 percent for civilian Federal employees. This would go into effect in January 2024.
It was wonderful to see so many of you at the NOVA Annual Meeting in Las Vegas in October, the enthusiasm was infectious. Many of you helped advocate for your facilities and other nurses by delving into questions about policy with House and Senate VA Committee staff and our partners in the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC).
Relaying your experiences and struggles is critical. If you are ready for the next step – watch your email for a Call for New Members to join the Legislative Committee and save the date for our 2024 Hill Day – March 7, 2024.
Speaking up and advocating for what you need to take care of Veterans is key to VA and its sacred mission.
Posted By Administration,
Monday, November 20, 2023
The 43rd NOVA Annual Meeting opened with a pre-conference session by Linda Benton from Johnson & Johnson "Accelerating Nurse-Led Innovation to Transform Healthcare" and was followed by an opening reception in the Exhibit Hall.
NOVA's first day included the Desert Pines High School JROTC Color Guard, national anthem, and opening remarks by Catherine Giasson DNP MHA RN NE-BC CPHQ NOVA President-elect, and NOVA President TJ Wilcox-Olson MHS RN CPHQ. The opening presentation was Essentials for Success in Self-Assessment by Heather Arredondo DHA RN VHA-CM from the Office of Nursing Services. This was followed by Aromatherapy/Essential Oils: The History, the Design, the Application, and the Benefits with Tara Wright RN and Heidi Kaufman MSN RN.
The Nursing Community Coalition panel presented “Working Together as Advocates for the Nursing Profession” with moderator Teresa Morris BS, NOVA Director of Advocacy and Government Relations. Panel members included Matthew Thackson AANA, Clare Chmiel HPNA, Christian Campbell AVANA, and Samuel Hewitt ANA. Shereef Elnahal MD MBA, the Under Secretary for Health gave the keynote address, “Leading the Nation’s Health Care.” VISN 1 Director Ryan Lilly MPA presented Building a Better System. The first day finished with an ONS Town Hall with Karen Ott DNP RN and Tracey Weistreich PhD RN NEA-BC NPD-BC VHA-CM.
The second day began with a Hill Panel moderated by Teresa Morris including Hunter Thompson, minority staff member Senate Veterans Affairs Committee SVAC (R); Alexis MacDonald, minority staff member House Veterans Affairs Committee; Kendyl Willox, majority staff member House Veterans Affairs Committee; Abby Roubal, majority staff member Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and Renee Campos, Military Officers Association of America. Central Western Massachusetts Medical Center Director Duane Gill presented "Improving Organizational Culture Through Transformational Leadership.” His presentation was followed by the Innovation Award Winner Bradley Benick MA MSN RN VHA-CM LSSBB, “Improving Veterans’ Alcohol and Tobacco Cessation in an Inpatient Setting: A Lean Six Sigma Approach.’ Jessica Ash BSN RN presented "Staffing & Recruitment."
Kimberlee Bayless DNP FNP-BC APRB presented "Pain Management Acute to Chronic Pain." Mona Pearl Treyball PhD RN CNS CCRN-K FAAN presented "Taking Care of Our Veterans: Next Steps in Our Profession to Establish this Specialty Area of Practice." NOVA Nurse Emeritus member Margaret Kruckemeyer encouraged participants to bid on items for the Silent Auction, which benefits the Mary Raymer Scholarship Fund. NOVA Board Member Miriam Rogers Holy, and NOVA Nurse Emeritus Members Beverly Ross and Thelma Roach-Serry helped to display a blanket from the auction.
At the NOVA Awards Luncheon, the President's Award was presented to Vermara Williams MSN-ED RN PCCN for outstanding significant contributions to advance the mission of NOVA. The APRN Excellence Award was presented to Terry Guyton-Smith DNP APRN FNP-C for outstanding contributions to the nursing care of veterans through excellence in clinical practice. The LPN Excellence Award was presented to Rhodora Cassady LPN for outstanding contributions to the nursing care of veterans through excellence in clinical practice. The RN Excellence Award was presented to Marie Robinson-McLaughlin MNA MSN BSN RN for outstanding contributions to the nursing care of veterans through excellence in clinical practice. The Veterans Service Award was presented to the Association of Veterans Affairs Nurse Anesthetists for outstanding dedication to improving the healthcare of veterans. Accepting the award was Christian Campbell from AVANA.
The Distinguished Chapter Award was presented to Chapter 212 Southeast Louisiana VA HCS for outstanding chapter engagement and demonstrated passion for NOVA. The 2023 NOVA Innovation Award sponsored by Johnson & Johnson First Place was presented to Bradley Benick MA MSN RN VHA-CM LSSBB and colleagues Janelle Bowden, Shereen Leftridge, and Heather Ertle from VA Northeast Ohio HCS. The 2023 NOVA Innovation Award sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Second Place was presented to Judy Santelices BSN RN and colleague Irish Ann Florendo MSN BSN RN from the Washington DC VAMC. The 2023 Annual Meeting Scholarship recipients were Dinah Lewis MSN RN, Rachel Cozzone MSN RN AMB-BC, Christy Rios BSN RN, and Orla Saunders BSN RN. There were also exhibit hall prize winners. Immediate Past President Kelly Skinner DNP APRN NP-C GNP-BC CRRN WCC CFCN CPHQ who is leaving the Board was honored, and the gavel was passed from NOVA President TJ Wilcox-Olson MHS RN CPHQ to NOVA President-Elect Catherine Giasson DNP MHA RN NE-BC CPHQ.
The Poster Session featured NOVA nurses from across the country. Thanks to NOVA's Moderators for introducing speakers at the 43rd Annual Meeting in Las Vegas! NOVA's 43rd Annual Meeting featured great opportunities for networking and connecting with NOVA nurses from across the country. Another benefit of attending the NOVA Annual Meeting was the opportunity to hear from speakers from NOVA's sponsors. Helen Shih NP sponsored by Merck presented "Discussing Anticancer Therapy Along with Patient Monitoring and Management of Adverse Events. Other sessions were sponsored by Janssen Oncology, AstraZeneca, Western Governors University Recon-Supply, Genentech, and Sumitomo Pharma.
Posted By Susan B. Fowler, PhD, RN, CRRN, NE-BC, FCNS,
Monday, September 18, 2023
Hope Although there are a number of definitions of hope depicted in the literature, one of the most comprehensive, and perhaps applicable to the dynamic nature of health, is that of nurses Dufault and Martocchio (1985). They articulate hope as a multidimensional dynamic life force characterized by a confident yet certain expectation of achieving good which is realistically possible and personally significant. Hope is dynamic, not static, focused on expectations of good outcomes. In healthcare, those outcomes may be tied to disease or illness treatments.
Qualitative Research investigations using qualitative methods use words rather than numbers for data analysis. Themes are generated from patterns in the data (Gray & Grove, 2021). The purpose articulated in qualitative studies usually focuses on perception and experiences.
Review of the Literature Because hope is such a holistic concept, the author of this article sought to explore qualitative studies with a focus on hope targeting Veterans. Research articles were sought from the CINAHL database for the last ten years, May 2013 to May 2023 using the words Veterans, hope, and qualitative research. Ten articles were identified but four were deleted after a review yielded no mention of hope. Four qualitative studies included Veterans only, one study engaged both Veterans and providers in interviews, and a sixth study included only clinicians.
A secondary analysis of a phenomenological study was conducted by Levi et al. (2012) of ten Israeli reserve soldiers with PTSD and concluded a binary conceptualization of hope. Hope develops but can be stopped; hope is conscious but also unconscious; and hope strengthens and weakens an individual.
Ten partners of Australian Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were interviewed, face-to-face, using phenomenology methodology to explore their experiences of being an intimate partner (Waddell et al., 2020). Three themes were identified with one referring to hope. Partners played a consistent and critical role in supporting well-being and recovery, expressing hope that proper treatment would restore their previous relationship. Investigators compared findings to previous research and speculate that differences in findings may be attributed to age of the subjects and/or recent onset of PTSD symptoms. A critical source of hope is the belief in an individual’s capacity to recover.
PTSD was also the focus in another study exploring Veterans’ perceptions about the benefits and drawbacks of peer support for the condition after attending at least eight clinic sessions. Hundt et al. (2015) interviewed twenty-three Veterans using and grounded theory analysis of transcripts yielded five themes reflective of benefits, one of which focused on hope. The positive example of a peer instilled hope and helped them to change their belief that they might never recover from PTSD.
A concept analysis and literature review were conducted on nature-based therapy for Veterans with PTSD (Poulsen, 2017). Six databases with applicable search terms resulted in identification of quantitative studies as well as two major reviews that included 25 qualitative studies. Hope increased after engagement in nature-based therapy in quantitative and qualitive methodologies.
Veterans (N=38) with hepatitis C and providers (N=10) at three VA medical centers were interviewed about treatment and perceptions of care (Skolnik et al., 2019). Transcripts using a grounded theory approach for analysis resulted on five themes, one of which highlighted hope for improvement. Subjects were optimistic about treatment and improved health or longevity, which was a motivating factor to complete treatment.
Seventy-six clinicians caring for Veterans with advanced cancer at six Veteran Affairs (VA) were interviewed exploring factors that influence concurrent cancer care (Haverhals et al., 2019). Concurrent care included both VA and community hospice services. One theme that emerged through qualitative content analysis was the recognition that concurrent care preserves hope and relationships. Preserving hope eased transition to comfort interventions and assessment of benefits and burden of cancer treatments.
Conclusion and Implications The aim of the six investigations did not focus on hope, but rather, hope was identified in themes generated from analysis of interview transcripts. Hope is related to illness treatment and therapies. Engaging in treatment or therapies provides a sense of hope in Veterans, as identified by both Veterans and health care professionals. VA nurses are in a key position to explore, support, and enhance Veteran’s hope throughout the continuum of care and related interventions. There is a need to target hope in the purpose statement of future qualitative investigations with findings contributing to our understanding of this dynamic, multidimensional concept.
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References
Dufault , K., & Martocchio, B. C. (1985). Hope: Its spheres and dimensions. Nursing Clinics of North America, 20, 379-391. Gray, J. R., & Grove, S. K. (2021). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (9th ed.). Saunders Elsevier.
Haverhals, L. M., Manheim, C. E., Mor, V., Ersek, M., Kinosian, B., Lorenz, K. A., Faricy-Anderson, K. E., Gidwani-Marszowski, R. A., & Levy, C. (2019). The experience of providing hospice care concurrent with cancer treatment in the VA. Supportive Care in Cancer: Official Journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 27(4), 1263–1270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-018-4552-z
Hundt, N. E., Robinson, A., Arney, J., Stanley, M. A., & Cully, J. A. (2015). Veterans' perspectives on benefits and drawbacks of peer support for posttraumatic stress disorder. Military Medicine, 180(8), 851–856. https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-14-00536
Levi, O., Liechtentritt, R., & Savaya, R. (2013). Binary phenomenon of hope: perceptions of traumatized veterans. Journal of Health pPychology, 18(9), 1153–1165. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105312461661
Poulsen, D. V. (2017). Nature-based therapy as a treatment for veterans with PTSD: What do we know? Journal of Public Mental Health, 19(1), 16-20.
Skolnik, A. A., Noska, A., Yakovchenko, V., Tsai, J., Jones, N., Gifford, A. L., & McInnes, D. K. (2019). Experiences with interferon-free hepatitis C therapies: addressing barriers to adherence and optimizing treatment outcomes. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 91. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-3904-9
Waddell, E., Lawn, S., Roberts, L., Henderson, J., Venning, A., & Redpath, P. (2020). "Why do you stay?": The lived-experience of partners of Australian veterans and first responders with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Health & Social Care in the Community, 28(5), 1734–1742. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12998
DISCLAIMER The contents of this publication do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government
Posted By Nancy Claflin, DNP MS RN NEA-BC CENP CCRN-K CPHQ FNAHQ,
Monday, September 18, 2023
VA nurses do an amazing job in caring for veterans every day. This year, NOVA developed and introduced a three year program of webinars on Veteran healthcare topics, the “Caring for Veterans” webinar series to assist VA nurses in providing that care. These programs are designed to provide specific information about veterans and veterans’ healthcare and were developed specifically for new graduate nurses, nurses who are new to the VA, and nurses who care for veterans. These programs should be included in Nursing Orientation and Transition to Practice programs. The three year series includes twelve webinars presented each year. Each webinar provides 1.0 contact hour of Nursing Continuing Professional Development (NCPD) credit, and completion of each 12 month series and all three series provides a certificate. Outstanding programs have been presented so far this year. Kimberlee Bayless DNP FNP-BC presented a webinar on Acute Pain Management. Mercedes Moore CRNP presented a webinar on COVID-19. Rebecca Brown MSN MBA RN presented a webinar on Breast and Cervical Screening Updates. Gretchen Werle RN MSN and Scott J McAllister, Sr. LICSW presented a webinar on Addressing Homelessness and the HUD-VASH Program. Rosetta M Brown-Greaney MSN ANP presented a webinar on Eligibility for VA Care Compensation, and Pension. Leigh A. Paz LCSW presented Fundamentals of Military Culture. In September, Samantha McCandless MSN RN CEPC will be presenting Community Based Interventions for Suicide Prevention: Community Engagement and Partnership Programs, and Linda R. Droste MSN RN CWOCN CBIS will be presenting Wound Care. In November, Daniel Hawks RN will present Caregiver Support Program. In December, Maura Miller PhD APRN GNP-BC will present Hospice and Palliative Care for Veterans, and Karen Justi BSN RN NBC-HWC will present Whole Health. Viewing these programs will help you and other VA nurses provide the best care to veterans.
As a NOVA member, please register for the current webinars. You can also schedule a room in your facility to view a webinar. Communicate with Nursing Education and Education departments about the upcoming webinar, and send an email from your private email address to VA nurses with information about upcoming webinars. You can also post a flyer in break rooms and/or on educational bulletin boards, etc. with information about the webinar. During the webinar, have people sign an attendance sheet with name and email address, and send that to nova@vanurse.org after the webinar so people who attend can receive an evaluation and a certificate for nursing continuing professional development credits. Share information on NOVA’s webinars including the Caring for Veterans series with your colleagues. The webinars are available on demand on the NOVA website.
Posted By Teresa Morris,
Monday, September 18, 2023
Congress has returned from recess. Several critical items remain on the “to do” list to include FY 2024 funding for all agencies and Veterans bills that could change how VA provides healthcare.
If you have been paying attention, NOVA, alongside our partners in VA healthcare submitted testimony for the record before the Senate with respect to several community care bills that have the potential to accelerate the outsourcing of veterans’ care to the private sector and drain the VA of needed funding for internal programs and services.
We will continue to advocate against provisions in the bills that are harmful.
NOVA firmly believes that VA provides the highest level of coordinated care in a setting that understands Veterans medical needs. These bills would leave veterans subject to the sort of fragmented care common in the private sector.
NOVA will also be urging passage of S. 10, VA Careers Act which will enhance VA’s efforts to bolster recruitment, retention, hiring and salaries for VHA staff.
In continuing our advocacy efforts, I hope that many of you have registered for NOVA's Annual Meeting and are planning your trip to Las Vegas. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet and interact with VA leadership and House and Senate VA committee staff. Having your questions answered and being able to advocate for VA nursing is a critical part of the meeting. I urge all of you to register today.
Posted By Cheryl Cooper, MSN, PMHNP-BC, PMH-C ,
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Post-graduate Nurse Practitioner (NP) Residency Programs have become more prevalent and necessary throughout the United States. The emergence and continued growth of NP transition to practice residency programs have been greatly impacted by the escalating graduation rates for master’s and Doctorly-prepared Nurse Practitioners entering healthcare systems across the country. “…Over 70% of NPs in the United States are educated as primary care providers, including adult NPs (17.9%), family NPs (49.2%), and gerontological NPs (3%) ... (Painter, Sebach, and Maxwell, 2019).” The Veterans Health Administration (VHA)’s Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) has increased the overall number of health professions trainee programs for various disciplines to include NP Residency Programs within the United States. NP Residency Programs serve to emphasize the importance of preparing novice NPs for the interdisciplinary team role as prescriber/provider in a very complex and diverse healthcare system. “The VHA is the largest integrated healthcare system, serving the health care needs of over 9 million veterans and operating more than 1,700 sites including hospitals, clinics, community living centers or nursing homes, Domicilliaries and other facilities (Lysaght and Cadavid, 2022).” VHA NP Residency programs uniquely offer newly licensed and board-certified Family and Psychiatric Mental Health NPs a twelve-month structured clinical and professional training experience that bridges the transition from an academically prepared/post-graduate phase to the licensed independent, competent, and confident phase of NP clinical practice. “Several factors that positively affect the RN-to-NP transition are support/mentorship, autonomy, the opportunity for professional growth and development, flexibility with work–life balance, and a sense of purpose in their work. In contrast, lack of support, role ambiguity, lack of support or isolation, unrealistic workloads, and low compensation were barriers for NPs transitioning to practice. A successful transition appears to be the best predictor for patient outcomes (Mounayor and Cox, 2021).” VA NP residency programs continuously emphasize the importance of prioritizing safe, positive, evidenced-based practices and patient outcomes. Independent anonymous feedback obtained from residents across NP residency cohorts identify transitional gaps specifically in preparing the novice NP for “real-life” integration into their new role within respective healthcare settings. In an article written by Painter, Sebach, and Maxwell (2019) “…At the completion of the initial 12-month residency program, the program director completed a formal evaluation inclusive of feedback from the preceptors, residents, and other key participants. There was high satisfaction from the residents, as well as the faculty and other stakeholders (Painter, Sebach, and Maxwell, 2019).” NP residents from various cohorts agree that although academic programs prepare them with core curriculum-based knowledge and clinical practicum requirements for their new role, application of knowledge as well as other important role elements necessary for providing high-quality healthcare to veterans greatly influenced their decisions to apply to a NP Residency Program. VA NP residency programs uniquely differ in comparison to community facility programs in that residents acquire and hone their clinical skills and knowledge through veteran-centric competencies, professional collegiality with NP’s working within VA, innovative teaching methods, interdisciplinary trainings as well as supervised clinical experiences. In addition to clinical and professional NP preparation within VA, NP residency programs also have unique intraorganizational accessibility to resources such as whole health and provider wellness. Incorporating resources that educate, increase awareness, and mitigate the risks of NP burnout during the initial years of professional practice assist greatly with the retention and resiliency of NP’s. “…Reduction in NP turnover as well as cost savings of orientation and recruitment are significant benefits... These multiple successes predict increased establishment of residencies as viable post graduate pathways for NPs (McGuinness, Shirey, Cleveland, Richardson, et. al 2020).” In summary, applicants accepted into post-graduate VA NP residency programs are truly provided an invaluable, structured, and supportive, in-depth, post-graduate training that uniquely prepares the novice NP for long-term success as an integral member of the VHA healthcare system.
References Lysaght, M. & Cadavid, M. Preparing the Novice Nurse to Care for Veterans Through a Nurse Residency Program. Nurse Leader, 16, 257-260. McGuiness, T., Shirey, M., Cleveland, C., Richardson, J., Campbell, R., & Harper, D. (2020). An Innovative Approach for Graduate Education for Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners. Journal of Professional Nursing, 36, 526-530. Mounayar, J., Cox, M. (2021). Nurse Practitioner Post-Graduate Residency Program: Best Practice. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 17, 453-457. Painter, J., Sebach, A., Maxwell, L. (2019). Nurse Practitioner Transition to Practice: Development of a Residency Program. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 15, 688-691.
Posted By Jacquelyn Claude, MSPH, BSN, RN ,
Thursday, July 20, 2023
In December 2022, NOVA Hampton Chapter 418 initiated the third annual holiday food drive for homeless veterans program at Hampton VAMC. The donation drive included not only food donations but also warm clothes for veterans who were struggling to cope with the cold winter days. This year's donation drive was the most successful, thanks to the efforts of the NOVA Hampton Chapter 418 members and staff. The organization received donations of non-perishable food items and warm clothing from members, staff, and Tau Chapter Incorporated of Chi Eta Phi Sorority Incorporated.
On May 23, 2023, during the week of Community Partnership in honor of Nurses Month, four members of NOVA Hampton Chapter 418 delivered the donations to the Hampton VAMC, HUD-VASH Department. The members included Phyllis Richardson, Director of Hospitality; Renieta Brown, Treasurer; Christopher Hancock, Director of Membership, and Jacquelyn Claude, the President of NOVA Hampton Chapter 418. A big thank you to all who have demonstrated their dedication and effort in making this event a success.
The support and donations received from NOVA Hampton Chapter 418 made a big difference in the lives of homeless veterans supported by the Hampton VAMC, HUD-VASH Department. The response from the staff member of the homeless veteran department was heartwarming, with “stating that the donations would help the homeless veterans make it through the long winter months. The NOVA Hampton Chapter 418 donation drive demonstrated how nurses and healthcare professionals can come together to contribute to their local community and make a real difference.
NOVA Hampton Chapter 418 is not just an organization but a community of healthcare professionals who care about their fellow veterans. Their engagement in community service initiatives, such as the holiday food drive for homeless veterans in Hampton VAMC, symbolizes their commitment to serve their country beyond their duties as nurses. Their outstanding contribution is a testament to the values of NOVA Hampton Chapter 418, which actively promotes and supports professional nursing and advocacy for healthcare.
The success of the 3rd annual holiday food drive for homeless veterans in Hampton VAMC is a testimony to the impact of community partnership and nursing advocacy. NOVA Hampton Chapter 418's donation drive was more than just a collection of food and clothing. It was an opportunity for nurses to give back to their local community and demonstrate their commitment to the mission and values of nursing. We would once again like to extend our gratitude to NOVA Hampton Chapter 418 members and staff who dedicated time, energy, and resources to make this event successful. It is through their efforts that the homeless veterans of Hampton VAMC, HUD-VASH Department have a better chance to make it through the winter months with dignity and respect.
Posted By Administration,
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
As we approach August recess, I urge all of you to look at legislation moving through both the House and Senate VA Committees.
NOVA, alongside our partners in VA healthcare submitted testimony for the record before the Senate VA Committee on July 12.
We note in our statement for the record, that several bills have the potential to accelerate the outsourcing of veterans’ care to the private sector under the community care program and drain the VA of needed funding for internal programs and services. This would harm Veterans choice, reduce staff, and in turn close medical centers, clinics, and facilities across the country.
We will be advocating against these bills and asking Members of Congress to vote against anything that looks to privatize VA.
To read the multi-organizational testimony – For a list of bills of interest and other advocacy information, visit NOVA Advocacy Toolkit
We continue to support legislation that will enhance VA’s efforts to bolster recruitment, retention, hiring and salaries for VHA staff. NOVA testified in May on those very issues before the House VA Subcommittees on Health and Oversight & Investigations and we remain committed to supporting legislation like S. 10, VA Careers Act, and H.R.543, VA CPE Modernization Act which improves processes in hiring a quality workforce.
As always, stay tuned to NOVA’s website and social media for updates on our plans to encourage advocacy during August Recess and how you can help by contacting your Members of Congress about the importance of providing quality healthcare to our Veterans.
Posted By Administration,
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Dianne C. Nelson of Tucson, Arizona, peacefully gained her Angel Wings on June 11, 2023. Her husband Bill Nelson was by her side. Dianne was a gentle heart in our midst who had chosen service to others as her conscious purpose in life. The beneficiaries of her goodwill were countless and range from the inner circle of her close family to the local healthcare community, to the local business community and beyond to the national Nurses Organization of the Veteran Affairs (NOVA). Dianne worked tirelessly and graciously, often behind the scenes, to support the aspirations and development of others without care for repayment or hint of recognition. When called upon, she accepted leadership positions and graced those organizations with her clear vision and organizational skills.
Dianne received her nursing degree from the University of Arizona in 1973, at which time she joined the nursing staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tucson. Dianne served our nation’s veterans in outpatient surgery, home health care and many other nursing capacities for 34 years before retiring in 2007. During her tenure at the VA, she reached out to the Tucson nursing community and in 1994 co-founded the Tucson Nurse Week Foundation which originated and promotes the “Showcase of Tucson Nurses Conference,” “Healthy Fair,” and the “Fabulous 50 Gala,” The Showcase of Tucson Nurses is a sharing educational conference where, each year, over 200 southern Arizona nurses exchange innovative health care ideas during a continuing education conference and included an awards banquet to recognize outstanding nurses who had gone above and beyond their normal daily job responsibilities in demonstrating their concern for humanity and had made significant contribution(s) to the local nursing community. In 1997, Dianne was herself honored as one of the Fabulous 50.
Dianne walked in harmony with those around her. Her empathy for those in need, her desire to serve, and the depth of her character changed the various associations to which she has belonged. In 1992, Dianne was elected to serve as President of the Tucson chapter of NOVA; in 1995, she was elected to the national NOVA Board of Directors; in 1996, she was given the Secretaries Award for Excellence in Nursing; in 1998 she became National Membership Secretary of NOVA; in 2000, she served on the Nurse Qualifications Board, setting advancement standards for VA nurses nationwide; and in 2004, Dianne was elected National President of NOVA. As president, Dianne’s team took a new approach to educating members of Congress regarding VA issues by holding legislative briefings for members of the House and Senate Veterans Committees’ staff. She also made significant advancements and enhanced recognition for NOVA nationwide for their care of Veterans, our heroes.
In 1998, GLHN nominated Dianne C. Nelson for U of A’s “The Women’s Plaza of Honor” which publicly and permanently celebrates women who have made significant contributions to the history of Arizona or have enriched the lives of others. All who had the honor of knowing Dianne will miss her kind heart, her gentle way in helping you understand what the next step was, her soft voice explaining how to cook something, her ability to put anyone at ease just by her calm presence, and her never-ending generosity that she shared with so many people over the years.
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