October is always an exciting time for NOVA. It’s a time for celebration and renewal. It is also time for members to vote for the incoming NOVA Board of Directors! Please take a moment to vote and make your selection for the incoming Directors. It is up to you who will lead the organization for the next year!

As the year is coming to an end, we have faced many challenges but our biggest continues to be membership. NOVA was established 45 years ago and we once again find ourselves struggling with legislation and executive orders that impact not only the veterans we serve but also the stability of our organization. This is an organization built for VA nurses by VA nurses! Without your help and recruitment of members the organization may not see another 45 years. Let’s work together to ensure that other VA nurses have the opportunity to belong to an organization founded just for nurses in the VA!

Grow our Mission!

You’re the heart of NOVA!

Recruit 5 new members and receive 50% off your NOVA annual membership!
 Recruit 10 new members and receive ONE FREE YEAR of NOVA membership

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

Take a moment to talk to your fellow VA nurses about the benefits of being a NOVA member. Share your experiences with others like NOVA Hill Day. It is our opportunity to go the Washington DC and share our experience and knowledge as VA nurses to improve veteran care and to develop ourselves professionally and legislatively. It is our chance to make a difference!

It is time to celebrate being a member of NOVA. The annual conference is right around the corner on October 21-23,2025. It is not too late to register and enjoy networking with other VA nurses and NOVA members. Come and learn about veteran care!

Hope to see you in Nashville!

Best,

Cathy Giasson

NOVA Webinars

Nancy Claflin DNP MS RN NEA-BC CENP CNEcl CCRN CPHQ FNAHQ

Chair, NOVA Education Committee

NOVA provides live webinars every month and the webinars are available on the NOVA website after the presentation.  NOVA is in the third year of its three-year Caring for Veterans Program.  The webinars in this program provide information on veteran healthcare topics to help VA nurses care for Veterans.  They are especially helpful for new nursing graduates and nurses new to the VA.  These webinars make excellent additions to nursing orientation and transition to practice programs. 

In the next few months NOVA is presenting webinar topics specifically designed for VA nurses.  If you can’t see it live, watch it on the NOVA website.  Webinars are scheduled at 12:30pm ET.  On September 16, Beth Waters BSN RN CCRN PHN presented “Pathway to Healthy Work Environment:  HRO Journey Benefits All.”  On September 24, Samantha McCandless MSN RN CEPC presented “Suicide Prevention Strategies.”  On October 7, Rachel Sprunger BA MSW LCSW will present “Anxiety.”  On November 4, Carol Ebert MA BSN RN CHES CWP will present “Managing Holiday Stress.”  On November 18, Michella Savoy-Carter MSN RN-BC CDCES will present “Primary Care Virtual Diabetes Clinic.” 

As a NOVA member, you can register for a webinar, and then schedule a room in your facility to show the webinar.  You can send an email from your private email address to VA nurses with information about the webinar.   You can also post flyers on bulletin boards to let people know about the webinar.  Have people sign an attendance sheet, and send it to nova@vanurse.org after the webinar so people who attend can receive an evaluation and a continuing education certificate as NOVA is also an accredited provider of nursing continuing development credits (NCPD).  

Remember that you can always access webinars on the NOVA website https://www.vanurse.org/page/memberonlywebinars.  Webinars currently available include:  A Look into VA Community Care; Acute Pain Management;  Adjustment Disorders; Addressing Homelessness and the HUD-VASH Program; Aromatherapy in Nursing; Breast and Cervical Screening Updates; Caregiver Support Program; Caring for Veterans with Rehabilitative Needs; Eligibility for VA Care, Compensation, and Pension; Empowering Seamless Transitions:  Enhancing Care Coordination Through the VA Consult Toolbox; Evaluating Your Self-Assessment for Promotion to Nurse II with Educational Waiver,  Evaluating Your Self-Assessment for Promotion to Nurse III Gulf War Illness; Guarding the Frontline:  A Powerful Approach to Preventing Workplace Violence; Hospice and Palliative Care; Military Sexual Trauma/Intimate Partner Violence; Nurse Safety Proactive Personal Protection; Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation; Phototherapy; Providing Equitable Healthcare for LGBTQ+ Veterans; SAAs, SAPs, and Cash Awards; Safe Patient Handling; Substance Use Disorders; Suicide Prevention Strategies; Understanding Depression:  Recognizing, Treating, and Supporting; VA Community Care Quality Improvement Program Train the Trainer:  Veteran Specific Population; Veterans Justice Outreach; Visually Impaired and Blind Veterans and Blind Rehabilitation Services; Waking  Up to New Science on Why You Can’t Sleep and What You Can Do About it; What is PTSD and How Do You Address it with Veterans?; Whole Health; and Wound Care.

NOVA Mentoring Program

Nancy Claflin DNP MS RN NEA-BC CENP CNEcl CCRN CPHQ FNAHQ

Chair, NOVA Education Committee

NOVA’s Mentoring Program

Did you know that NOVA has a Mentoring Program?  NOVA developed the Empower Mentoring Program to help NOVA nurses meet professional goals and pursue dreams for professional advancement within the VA.  The practice of mentoring in nursing has existed as long as the profession itself. Florence Nightingale is often credited as the founder of modern nursing and has been referred to as the mentor of matrons.  With mentoring in nursing, there is an understanding that there are benefits for both mentor and mentee, and that the availability of mentoring is vital.  According to Palermo (2024), mentoring in nursing has the potential to impact nurse retention and decrease turnover.  Nurse turnover increases the impact of the current nationwide nursing shortage and directly impacts patient outcomes negatively.  NOVA’s Mentoring Program is designed to guide a mutual relationship between an experienced VA nurse who is the mentor and the mentee.  Mentorship programs can support all nurses, including new graduate nurses and nurses new to the VA.  Research based evidence demonstrates that mentoring can reduce turnover and support new graduates in their transition to practice.  Mentees reported benefits including expanding their networks, gaining confidence working with management level topics, and developing professional as well as interpersonal effectiveness.  Mentors reported benefits including 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. NOVA's Mentoring Program matches NOVA nurses across the country to help you learn about the VA and achieve your career goals. Learn more: https://www.vanurse.org

Palermo, K. (2024). Mentoring New Graduate Nurses to Decrease Turnover : A Pilot Project 
Journal of Christian Nursing, Vol41(1),pE10–E15.
DOI:10.1097/CNJ.0000000000001134

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

NOVA’s Mentoring Program

NOVA developed the Empower Mentoring Program to help NOVA nurses meet professional goals and pursue dreams for professional advancement within the VA.  According to the 2024 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, 30.2% of new graduate nurses leave their jobs within the first year of employment.  NOVA’s Mentoring Program is designed to guide a mutual relationship between an experienced VA nurse, who is the mentor, and the mentee.  Mentorship programs can support all nurses, including new graduate nurses and nurses new to the VA.  Research based evidence demonstrates that mentoring can reduce turnover and support new graduates in their transition to practice.  Mentees reported benefits including expanding their networks, gaining confidence working with management level topics, and developing professional as well as interpersonal effectiveness.  Mentors reported benefits including 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

Heard on the Hill

Teresa Morris

July /August 2025

Advocacy and membership are essential to a strong voice on Capitol Hill. Your voice will be critical as we head into August recess.

Troubling legislation has been marked up by the House and Senate VA Committees.

H.R. 740/S. 275, the “Veterans’ Assuring Critical Care Expansions to Support Servicemembers (ACCESS) Act of 2025 includes provisions that if enacted, could seriously undermine future veterans' access to VA healthcare and services.

NOVA is advocating against several harmful provisions in the bill that would:

1. Allow a veteran’s “preference” for the first time, to automatically afford eligibility for community care. This would erode the VHA’s organizing foundation, which may eventually lead to changes in its staffing levels, in-house programs, and facility operations.
2. Permit veterans to access private sector healthcare without VHA referral, pre-authorization, or oversight that will also alter the integrated care model of the VHA, shifting its primary function from a provider of healthcare to a payer for private sector services.
3. While the intention is to vastly expand veterans’ preference and choice, these changes reduce healthcare options for the majority of veterans when specialized VHA programs and facilities are scaled back or closed.

Removing the VHA as the authorizer of care may eventually decrease available choices for veterans. As funds shift to the private sector, some veterans—particularly those with service-connected conditions who depend primarily on the VHA—could face fewer opportunities to select VHA services if essential units and programs are discontinued.

The bill cost would also drain internal VHA accounts – risking privatization of many VA services.

As we move into August recess, I encourage all of you to schedule meetings with your Members of Congress regarding what is happening at your VA facility and to speak about these issues and any other legislation that will harm internal VA care and services.

More than ever, your voice is critical during this time. Nurses remain one of the most respected professions across the country and your opinions are valued!

For information on the ACCESS Act / statement for the record and article published by the Veterans Healthcare Policy, learn more here: Veterans-ACCESS-Act-VHPI-analysis-2.15.25.pdf

I cannot stress the importance of your advocacy and influence. As nurses what you say matters and educating your lawmakers – both House & Senate – as to what you need to provide timely access to high quality healthcare is critical.

Keep advocating for yourselves, Veterans, and the VA System!