Executive Committee Meeting

February 5, 2016

Valley CSB

 

Attendance:  Jen Phelps, Co-President;  Crystal Hicks, Co-President;  Sharon Daniels, Vice-President; LuAnn Saner, Secretary; Sonya Mohr, Treasurer; Michele Morgan, Social Media Specialist; Irma Mahone, CNE Coordinator.

Regional representatives:

Region I Rep:  Nina Beaman

Region II Rep:  Randy Acosta

Revion IV Rep:  Lisa Babilon

Absent:  Region III and V Reps

WELCOMING STATEMENTS

Jen made the call to order at 10:15 AM.

SECRETARY’S REPORT

LuAnn distributed copies of the minutes from the August 7, 2015 Executive Committee Meeting.  Following review, Sharon made a motion to accept, seconded by Lisa.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Sonya presented the Treasurer’s report.  Following review, Nina made a motion to accept, seconded by Lisa.

OLD BUSINESS

·       Jen reported that VACPN’s profit from the Fall Conference was #3,034.69.

·       Jen also reported that Horizon Behavioral Health was impressed with our speakers.

·       The use of talking points to guide regional group breakout discussions was discussed.  The  group consensus was that these were helpful in focusing the discussions.  Jen relayed that she had reviewed the feedback from each region regarding these.  Irma noted that these are an essential part of the CNE process and that these can be used to determine topics to cover at future conferences.  One which was discussed was Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training / Officer Involved Shootings.  Nina mentioned that a violence prevention initiative pertaining to this is a current priority with the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN).  The group agreed that this would be a timely topic for the upcoming fall conference.

·       Expanding use of social media by VACPN members and the public was discussed.  VACPN has both a fan page and a closed group (for members) on Facebook.  It was suggested that at the spring conference we could help those who are unfamiliar with Facebook get set up during a break.  Irma proposed having an educational activity related to technology and having everyone bring their laptops / tablets / and/or mobile devices.  Nina suggested having an “appy” hour at Shrine Mont during which cool apps related to mental health could be shared as part of a fun exercise.  Jen encouraged those present to post things from the VACPN web page on their personal FB news feeds to reach a larger audience.  She also discussed how community services boards could make use of Facebook pages to educate audiences on the services they provide, citing Valley CSB and Rappahannock CSB as examples that are already doing so. 

 

·       The fall VACSB conference is scheduled for October 7 – 9.  Sharon is planning to attend.  She reported not needing a hotel room.  Jen advised that VACPN will pay Sharon’s expenses for attending.

·       Sharon attended the legislative conference that was held on January 19, 2016.  She reported that VACSB members have the opportunity to meet with their legislators after the conference, but that many are opting out, citing that they would do so at a later time.  She is going to offer a suggestion that VA CSB provide talking points pertaining to the large number of bills before the General Assembly, so that members can take advantage of the on-the-spot opportunity to engage and advocate.

·       Sharon also reported that Virginia Secretary of Health, William A. Hazel, spoke.  He talked about a culture change needing to occur within the General Assembly before spending to fund mental health measures becomes a greater priority.  Piedmont and Catawba state psychiatric hospitals are slated to close.  He advised that CSBs in the meantime focus on their strengths, offering that there have been no ‘failed TDOs’ since 2014 (i.e. a hospital bed was found for every temporarily detailed individual who needed one.)

·       Sharon passed around the VACSB brochure, noting that it contains an advertisement for the VACPN spring conference.

·       Sharon reported attending the Mental Health Council Meeting during the conference.  She reviewed several of the topics that were discussed, one of which was Medicaid coverage of substance abuse treatments.  She noted that VACSB supports Medicaid expansion and that Virginia Medicaid providers (Magellan, etc.) are always present at VACSB conferences.  She observed that there were legislators who were both proponents and opponents of expansion in attendance.  She did not see any other nurses and noted that this was unfortunate, as our profession will not likely be represented at the spring VACSB conference, as she is unable to attend due to a conflict with the spring VACPN conference.

·       Jen reported that the VA BON is supporting criminal background checks for nurses, that National Compact Licensure Agreements continue to be a hot topic, and that they are looking at how to better educate nurses on legislative issues.

·       Lisa had sent out emails to executive committee members regarding bills of interest before the General Assembly and invited comments, questions, and/or concerns.  She reported that their lobbyist, Becky, is very much an advocate on mental health matters.  There was brief discussion on HB 338:  Affordable Care Act; use of resources to enforce.  Lisa shared that the bill is essentially proposing that Virginia would not abide by the Affordable Care Act.  Irma pointed out that that this Act is unpopular with physicians because it takes away a lot of power that they once had.

·       Irma requested that those who had not done so complete the Post-Conference Evaluation on “Ethics in Nursing” from the fall conference.  It is online and should take no more than ten minutes to complete.  This is not only so that attendees may be awarded their remaining CNEs, but so that the doctoral student evaluating these in her research might obtain the eight additional persons needed for her work.

·       Nina proposed the possibility of having CNEs awarded for attending VACPN regional meetings.  She proposed utilization of zoom room technology to increase participation.

·       Irma proposed making use of the valuable resources we have within VACPN to provide education to one another.  She proposed several ways this might be approached:

1.     Offering breakout groups during spring conference for members to provide education on a given topic with which they have subject matter expertise.

2.     Having members lead discussion groups with their peers who are in similar types of community mental health nursing roles.

3.     Having interested members prepare poster boards for display and/or presentation.

Nina shared that when she had attempted to solicit volunteers from her region to do this at her regional meeting, she had gotten a sense that people found it to be somewhat intimidating, amounting to taking on additional work that would be challenging to accommodate into their schedules.  Jen commented that it is important for nurses to develop self-images as mental health professionals with valuable information and perspectives to share with their peers and communities.  Irma questioned how VACPN might encourage nurses to acknowledge and accept their own expertise and proposed a next step of adding a survey of members about what they do to the responsibilities of the Regional Reps.  Randy cautioned that ‘marketing of oneself’ is a skill we have to develop within our membership and that it might be advisable to start smaller, perhaps with informal poster board presentations.  She also suggested that members who might shy away from self-promotion might better be brought out by asking during the conference regional breakout meetings if they’ve done a talk and/or presented a paper.

·       Irma proposed consideration of VACPN offering CNEs for obtaining board certification.  There was discussion that perhaps Lisa, who is board certified, might offer training to members on how to go about obtaining it.  Lisa briefly touched upon the matter of certification renewal, mentioning that the requirement is to satisfy two of five different areas.  Irma raised the question of how VACPN might promote / encourage members to do this.  She suggested looking into the possibility that CSBs would provide educational leave so that nurses could study for board exams, as some do for clinicians studying for LPC exams, the incentive for the CSBs being to promote the professionalism of their nurses.  Irma also mentioned that the ANCC will send brochures upon request on the topic of why nurses should become board-certified, and that the fee to take the board exams is $395.00.

·       Jen proposed that having CSBs shift their online presence from their websites to Facebook might better showcase their activities and provide a more effective means of educating their respective communities on mental health awareness.  She shared that her CSB utilizes Twitter and that anything posted to their website is also tweeted.  Jen believes that there may be grant money available for CSBs to do this.

·       There was much discussion about continuing to present awards from VACPN to CSBs in recognition of their use of social media to promote mental health awareness.  Jen acknowledged that the CSBs that VACPN recognized at the fall conference – Rappahannock CSB and Valley CSB – both have great Facebook pages that they utilize well to promote their services.  She noted that New River Valley CSB also does a really good job.  Irma raised the question of how we might promote this within the membership.  One possibility she offered was that VACPN could announce the criteria and then invite members to nominate a CSB.  Another was for VACPN to hold a competition and invite members to write in about the great things going on with their respective CSBs.  Crystal pointed out that “we lose people from spring to fall” and that the best time to ask members if they would like to nominate their CSB for a best practices award would be during the spring conference.  Jen agreed, adding that the membership does not tend to respond well to email.  Irma also expressed that it might be best to announce and promote the awards at one conference, and give them out at the other.

·       There was additional discussion on the number of awards that would be presented and if they would be for specific achievements.  Jen suggested having three, with one being for the newest CSB starting social media, and another being for recognition of continuous outreach.  (A specific third category was not actually discussed.)  Irma also brought up for consideration that VACPN might wish to offer one award to a nurse who made a significant contribution.  In addition, Lisa raised that it is important to members of the millennial generation to receive recognition, and inquired as to how VACPN might consider offering that.  Jen suggested several ideas, including pins, and possibly t-shirts, visors, and/or chairs that a pharmaceutical company might be willing to sponsor.

NEW BUSINESS

·       The title will be “Wellness and Recovery:  How Nurses Help.”  Jen briefly discussed offering to again waive the vendor fee for CSBs that would like to have a table to promote job vacancies within their agencies.  Michele and Crystal agreed to come up with icebreakers to help people get acquainted with one another during the welcome reception.

·       Potential talking points for the regional breakout sessions were considered:

o   Social Media.

o   Member interest in pursuing continuing education.

o   CNE review courses for certification.

o   Regional problems/issues.

o   Topics of interest members would like to see covered at future conferences.

·       Lavoy Bray and Linda Shuping Smith have both confirmed to be speakers.

·       Elections for the following offices will be held:  vice president, treasurer, and CNE coordinator.  Jen proposed sending out an email in March to let members know.

 

·       A contract has been signed with the Craddock Terry hotel in Lynchburg to again hold the 2016 fall conference at that location.  Irma noted that it is in the VACPN by-laws to spread the location of the fall conference around so that it might be more accessible to members throughout the state.  (A majority of the membership attending the 2015 fall conference had expressed interest in returning to Craddock Terry for 2016 as well.)

·       Prospective speakers/topics were discussed, including:

o   Lisa, on the subject of board certification.

o   Dr. John Hane of NIH, with whom Joanne Berkus could make arrangements.

o   Nina, on mental illness and legal issues.

o   The topic of careers in nurse administration.  (Nina noted that psych nurses make great nurse managers.)

o   Trula Mitton, who serves on the Virginia Board of Nursing (VBON.)  Kirk knows her, and Nina mentioned that she is a very good speaker.

·       It was suggested that whether or not to continue having the spring 2017 conference at the same location be included on the list of regional breakout meeting talking points.

·       The next meeting of the executive committee will be held on Friday, August 5, 2016, at Valley CSB.

Meeting adjourned at 2:00 PM by Jen, seconded by Irma.

 

Respectfully Submitted, LuAnn Saner, Secretary.