2017 FNA Book of Reports

2017 Florida Nurses Association
Organizational Structure
The transition of the FNA structure is complete and the Regions are
each evolving in their own way. There have been events in each of the
Regions. The Special Interest Groups have evolved and several have
ended while others are flourishing. Frequent conference calls and
webinars have been held under the coordination of Director of Programs
and Member Engagement, Vicki Sumagpang. A committee of the Board
of Directors recently developed a guideline for Region Directors to help
new Region Directors transition into their roles. The same idea has
been advanced for the Special Interest Groups (SIGS). The active SIGs
are the Health Policy, Ethics, Health Literacy, and the Nursing Research
SIG. The Clinical Nurse Specialist SIG has become quite active and was
recently accepted into the Florida Coalition of Advanced Practice Nurses.
The Board continues to evaluate the viability of the SIG’s and review the
activity of these groups over time. Nurse entrepreneur, Faith Community
Nurse, Environmental, Faculty, Health Risk, and the Simulation SIG’s
have dissolved due to inactivity, or the group determined there was
other groups that already met that particular need.
Conferences and Continuing Education Programs
FNA is committed to providing quality educational opportunities for the nurses of Florida. FNA programs are
designed for and often by the members of the association to meet the needs of a variety of practitioners. In
addition, the programs provide an opportunity for networking with colleagues as well as professional growth by
attending or participating in the programs as a presenter. These programs are offered to members at a discounted
rate and non-members are encouraged to also attend. Decisions regarding continuation vs. deletion are periodically
made regarding new and existing programs. We offered over 300 contact hours between 2015 to the current time.
FNA Advocacy Days alternates between March and January depending on
the legislative session. Coordinated by the FNA Lobbyist and FNA Staff, this
program provides didactic information on grassroots lobbying and first-hand
experience interacting with state and local officials. Nurses are encouraged
to communicate with their legislators throughout the year. For the last few
years, FNA lobbyists made appointments for members to see legislators
in their offices in Tallahassee. Members were provided FNA toolkits to
provide to each legislator with whom they met. In 2016, 125 nurses and
nursing students attended Advocacy Days. Due to the success of the shuttle
transportation in prior years, we continued the bus service for providing
transportation to and from the events and off site hotel attendees. FNA
members once again wore white lab coats and packets were prepared for our grassroots lobbyists to share
with tier legislators. We also made the legislative visits optional, this decreasing no-shows and only engaging
those participants who wanted to directly engage with legislators. The large majority of attendees opted to
make the legislative visits. Bob Levy and Jose Diaz of Robert Levy and Associates have been an integral part
of the planning and execution of this outstanding program for our members. They made appointments with
legislators, secured the 22 Floor of the Capitol for our Luncheon as well as the historic old Capitol building for
presentation from legislators and other policy makers.. We are already excited about our 2018 plans for this
event. Next year, FNA Advocacy Days will be held January 17th and 18th at the Florida State Conference Center
in Tallahassee.
This year we bid goodbye to Alisa Lapolt of Gotopsail Public Affairs and Jose Diaz of Robert Levy and
Associates. We appreciate all that they have done for nurses over the years.
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