Category Archives: News – Fredericksburg

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Fredericksburg Region meeting minutes 11/11/19

Discussion was held on our philanthropy projects for the year.  We are participating in the program called “Athletes Don’t”, which educates students on the dangers of vaping.  Health professionals volunteer to go into the schools to present the information.  Let Linda Hazelgren if you are interested in presenting.

We are also collecting new socks and underwear for Micah ministries for the cold weather shelter.  Bring donations to any of our local meetings and Tiffany Simons will deliver them together.

Kelly Rollins shared information about the Neighborhood Navigator app that can help providers find services for patients.  Everything from supplies, to food, to medical services are listed on the app.

A discussion on TAVRs was given by NP Sarah Vitaletti.  In attendance were Dr Chandra, Dr Chanda, PA Daniel Hamilton, and Dr Na.  A simulation was shown of the procedure and guidelines for patient selection were discussed.  The frailty assessment criteria measured by the preop NP was discussed.

Next meeting 12/9/19 will be at Hematology/Oncology office.  Dr Menachery will present on colon CA.

Submitted JPSF 11/14/19 5pm

3/11/19 Fredericksburg region board meeting

The frequency and offerings of the monthly meetings was discussed.  Consideration of having large venue meetings with CEs a few times a year vs dinner meetings monthly was discussed.  Since we have meetings already set for April, May and June, it was decided that we would plan a larger venue meeting in July with CEs, a speaker or two and see how that goes.  Cardiology Associates of Fredericksburg was considered as our first choice since the doctors offered to host a meeting for us in the past.  Tiffany will talk with her co-worker about contacting CAF to host the meeting, then we will decide about catering, and speakers.  After that event, we will regroup in August to get ready for our September legislative event at the Moss Clinic.  Mailings to reach all NPs in the Fredericksburg area, and the barriers to increased members or participants was discussed.

 

During the July event and the Legislative event, we plan to have postcards from the VCNP with bulletpoints regarding: what does the VCNP do for you?  How do I get involved?

Plan a celebration of autonomous practice NPs.

 

Board Members for 3/2019- 3/2020:

President:  Linda Hazelgren

President-elect:   Vacant

Program chair:  Lisa Keel (with assistance from new member Natalia Giscomb-Simons)

Public Relations:  Timmye Ross

Conference Chair:  Hishani Perera

Membership:  Nicole Brooks

Treasurer:  Tiffany Simons

Secretary:  Piper Schlesser-Foresman

Legislative Chair:  Cathy Duncan

 

Submitted 3/12/19  JPSF

Fredericksburg region meeting minutes 10/8/18 and 11/12/18

Hishani agreed to take on the Conference Committee position.

Karen reported that if you have not renewed your membership, please do so ASAP.  Membership numbers are down all across the state, possibly due to the new cycle with increased fees that was not explained well via media.

Remember to contribute to the PAC.

NP week is 11/12-11/19/18.

Cherie distributed blue ribbons to wear for NP awareness.

The state bylaws are changing regarding elections.  VCNP want uniform elections across the state.

Linda has been elected president, she will serve one year,  then the president will serve a 2 year term after that.

State conference nominations are due.

The Fredericksburg region needs to develop a timeline for the conference in March.  Any significant happenings in the region should be put on the timeline.  Piper agreed to start the time line, since she has been the secretary since inception.

Karen questioned if everyone received the email survey, and asked everyone to be sure to complete it.

Our regional membership is #58

We have purchased a list of the NPs in VA from the state for communication purposes.

Easter Associates is looking into an automatic renewal application.

A special interest group of NPs for independent practice is forming.  This would be helpful even if you never plan to work completely independently.

in December, the joint boards of nursing and medicine will meet in Richmond to discuss HB 793 and the attestation form.  There will be a $100 fee for attestation.  9,000 hours will be required for attestation.

In the future, NPs will not need a separate license for prescriptive authority, this is being eliminated.

Tiffany reports the treasury has received thank you notes from Empower House and Micah Ministries for the contributions made to them for our philanthropy this year.

The next meeting will be 12/10/18 place TBD, on injectable migraine med.

Submitted 11/14/18 JPSF

 

Fredericksburg Region VCNP meeting minutes 9/10/18

Membership is now an 18 month membership.  Several members have not renewed.

The board will be sending out a letter with their accomplishments to make NPs aware of all they have done advocating for us.  This will be accompanied by a letter reminding NPs to renew their membership or sign up if they have never been a member.

We had 2 philanthropy projects this quarter.  The Night of 1000 Pies was a yummy success with a VCNP banner displayed prominently at the party.  Members also got to speak with and thank Speaker Howell for his help with Bill 793.  Our “scholarship” for a food service worker has yet to be acknowledged by Micah Ministries.  Tiffany will follow up and make sure the check was cashed and made it to the right place.

Government Relations- Bill 793 was passed with the 9,000 hours of experience stipulation.

All NPS will need to do an attestation that they have practiced and have over 9,000 hours of experience which will then need to be signed by their collaborating physician.  This will go in their file and not need to be done again if they don’t change specialties.

Hopefully the VCNP will put an Attestation template on their website, to facilitate the uniform language of this document for all NPs.

An attorney has been hired for the VCNP.  Winifred Carson-

Linda Hazelgren is the incoming president and will start 3/2019.

Conference Committee position is vacant.

2 DNP scholarships were awarded, but no one in our group got one.  Hishani shared that the scholarship required the student to have already completed 18 credits toward their degree before they could be eligible.  Delisa will look into this requirement to verify.  Hopefully Hishani can apply next semester.

Submitted 9/12/18 JPSF

Fredericksburg region VCNP meeting minutes 5/14/18

The state board meeting convened 6/2/18.

At present, we have a vacancy for the president elect position.

The state board of health professions is discussing how to implement the new legislative information.

We now have 58 members, 19 have not yet renewed.

Conference chair? no report/absent.

Next program is at Brock’s regarding CPAP 6/11/18.

Timmye Ross received a Founder’s award at the VCNP conference in March.

 

Submitted 8/19/18 JPSF

Fredericksburg VCNP meeting minutes 8/13/18

Karen reminded everyone to pay their dues, which are now on a once a year rotation.

Bill 793 was signed, including the wording of 5,000 clinical hours with physician collaboration before being independent of that collaboration.

Please send money to the VCNP PAC to support our lobbyist and all the work they do on our behalf.

Philanthropy was discussed.  We have been invited again to a night of a thousand pies to support Empowerhouse.  Since the last meeting was so many months ago, no decision was made whether to donate a “scholarship” for a homeless person to go through training in food service with the Corner Café in Fredericksburg, or to support Empowerhouse.

A decision was made unanimously that we would donate to both:

$250 “Whoopie Pie” level to A Night of a Thousand Pies to support Empowerhouse, and $600 to Micah Ministries to sponsor one individual through the program to become certified in food service.  The motion was made by Timmye Ross, seconded by Michele Porthouse and agreed upon by all members present at the meeting.

Brenda has monthly meetings scheduled through January.

Linda Hazelgren has volunteered to be our president elect.

 

Submitted 8/19/18 JPSF

Fredericksburg region VCNP meeting minutes 3/12/18

The bill went to the governor. The MSV sent another amendment.  Please contact the governor and voice your commitment to pass the bill with NO amendment.

Tiffany will drop off socks to the Riverbend school counselors to get them to the Massapponax High School “market” for homeless students.

Our next philanthropy project was discussed.

Piper brought forth Micah Ecumenical Ministries, the combined ministry and mission of 9 downtown churches, who have started the Micah Community Café.  This is a fast casual restaurant in downtown Fredericksburg.  Guests are greeted at the door with a menu and have a few choices of food items that will change week to week.  The client places and order and has a chance to make a donation, but this is not required.  This café operates on a pay-what-you-can structure and is open to anyone.  The idea is that community business people will be eating in the same café as the homeless person who slept on the street last night.  Guests receive a number, and food is brought to them by the volunteers.  Food prep is handled by our current and formerly homeless who are learning to work in a restaurant.  After completing a 5 week program, the participants have basic food-service skills, are Servesafe certified, have a reference and get assistance finding a permanent job.  With the café, all members of the community share a common space, helping to equip people with barriers to employment gain valuable experience for mainstream jobs.

$600 will sponsor an individual through the café training program.  We can designate our gift as a “Café Scholarship” and make a check out to Micah Ecumenical Ministries from the Fredericksburg VCNP.  It can be mailed to PO box 3277, Fredericksburg VA 22401.  Anyone can volunteer at Micah by calling 540-470-4116.

This was voted on and accepted by all members present as our philanthropy project for the second half of 2018.

Veltassa was presented by a nephrologist from Northern VA at Brock’s Riverside Restaurant.

Submitted 3/16/18 JPSF

 

Fredericksburg Region meeting minutes 2/12/18

HB793 bill passed the committee, subcommittee and house.  Discussion was regarding physician attestation in the area of your licensure, your plan for referrals, It is a complex plan that includes 10,000 hours for full practice, you must prove malpractice insurance.  Discussion about licensure vs certification.

Most feel it is a “good step” toward full scope of practice, working toward a less restrictive bill to get through the senate which should be completed in about 3 weeks.

VCNP hired Wendy Carlson, attorney from Maryland to represent us.

The VNA is supportive.

The Department of Health Professions has some say in this as well.

CareforVA.com is a website that spells out the bill and contact information for NPs to contact their legislators.  It includes information on what an NP does and is paid for and sponsored by the VCNP.

March 8-11 VCNP conference in Reston.  We will need to put together a basket for the raffle.  usually about $150.

__Our present philanthropy project is providing socks for the homeless shelter.

We’ll discuss Treasure House, Micah café scholarship, Mental Health America, Safe Harbor, Senior Visitors, all as possible future philanthropy projects.

One time per year membership is in effect.

We presently have 74 members.

Next meeting is 3/12/18 at Brocks.

Submitted 2/16/18 JPSF

 

 

GoTo meeting minutes 10/16/17 Fredericksburg Region VCNP

Since we did not have a pharmaceutical sponsored dinner, we had a GoTo meeting for the board members instead.

We discussed September annual renewals.

We have 66 members presently which is less than previous, the board wonders how many NPs did not realize they were due to renew, or decided not to and now have fallen off the membership notification list.  We have a 68% read rate of our minutes.

Brenda asked if we are flexible regarding our day or location of meetings since she sometimes has reps who sponsor different events which we could be invited to and have our meeting there.  Since there has been discussion for years about whether the set night is conflicting and preventing some NPs from attending, this was thought to be a good idea.  We will see if it reaches NPs who have not yet attended a Monday meeting.

 

There are 4 tickets to Bobby Orrock’s reception at Lake Anna Winery sponsored by the VCNP so we can support the bill for full NP practice authority that is in front of the house this season.  On 10/26/17, Michelle, Tiffany, Piper and Linda attended.

CareforVA.com discussed full practice authority.  There is a find your legislator tool and a fact sheet there too.  They will be adding testimonials to this site so providers can understand how full practice authority affects NPs even if they are not directly impacted.

 

Treasurer’s  report.  We donated $100 to the Moss Free Clinic in a gesture of thanks for letting us host our legislative meeting there.  We got a nice letter of thanks back.  We also received a nice letter from Empowerhouse, for the donation the VCNP Fredericksburg Region gave during the “Night of 1000 Pies” event.

 

Be thinking of our new philanthropy project.  Choices mentioned include:  Fairy Godmother event, Safe Harbor, Mental Health America and Senior Visitors.  We will bring up at our next in person meeting.

 

There seems to be a discrepancy between the VCNP state list of members and the member list that comes up when using Constant Contact.  Cherie will look into this.

 

We will meet to discuss and fill out paperwork for Nominations and Awards on 11/13/17 at Orofino’s on Caroline St at 6:30pm, feel free to join us and nominate!

Submitted 10/27/17 JPSF

Fredericksburg region VCNP board meeting 7/12/17

Membership and recruiting was discussed.  We have some new members but still know the majority of NPs in this region are not involved.  At the state level, there is grassroots movement for membership and involvement for full practice authority.

The legislative meeting will be held 9/11/17.  Cathy will ask Moss Free Clinic if we can use their space again this year.  We will make a donation as a gesture of thanks.  We will provide finger foods: shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers, veggie tray and humus will be supplied, drinks will be tea and water.  The legislators don’t drink alcohol at these events, so we will not buy that this year.

We will invite the mayor, Mary Katherine Greenlaw, some of our physician supporters and send out an email to the NPs at the hospital to invite them.  We will send evites to legislators, delegates and senator.  Paper invites will follow to those who don’t respond, followed by a phone call to confirm they got the invite and whether or not they can make it.

We need to emphasize the impact of NPs on physician practices, the benefits and cost saving to them as well as patient satisfaction.  The lawyer representing the VCNP has voiced this to the Med society of VA well so far.  MDs will also be getting vignettes from NPs affected by their lack of independent practice.   Our talking points are on the VCNP website.

The VCNP annual conference will be in Reston this year, and space is limited, so the offerings will also be limited.

Danielle had to step down as president elect.  Timmye is willing to take over conference committee next year, but the position will be posted to see if anyone else is interested.  Linda is willing to be  president elect, but that position will also be posted.

Membership is considering consolidating membership cycles to once a year.  They are considering a 1 time 18 month off-cycle fee to get everyone on the same cycle to decrease cost and confusion.

Financial- Tiffany gave our local treasury report.  The VCNP contract with Easter was renewed.

The Night of 1000 Pies fundraiser for Empowerhouse is Saturday 8/26/17 7-10 pm at Dr O’Grady’s home.  Tiffany, Cherie, Linda and Cathy are interested in attending.  An email to membership will go out to see if anyone else is interested.

Fredericksburg will host a local CE conference again in 2019.  The MWHC venue was nice, Friday might not be a good day to have it.  We discussed having participants “pay” with a donation to the charity at the time of registration so they are invested in coming.

Linda circulated the list of possible speakers to see if anyone felt strongly about any of them so she can report back to the state conference committee.

 

Submitted 7/13/17 JPSF