As our nation, state and communities struggle with COVID and racial tensions, we have been committed to supporting our members with information and supporting our black and brown members, patients, colleagues, family and friends. Recently, we shared the following statement, which can also be found on our website:
VCNP is committed to supporting our brown/black and African American colleagues, patients and communities and to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion within our organization and profession. As an association of healthcare professionals, it is our responsibility to use our platform for justice.
We do not make this statement lightly and we are committed to keeping the promise to evaluate our practices and provide resources.
Our education committee is working on arranging an Implicit Bias training for our members that we are hopeful will occur in the next month or two. In addition, they are ensuring this dialogue continues and is represented in our annual conference next March.
As we continue this discussion, please do not hesitate to reach out with ideas or feedback. I would love to hear from you!
At the beginning of June your board hosted our annual leadership retreat and board meeting to discuss our strategic plan for the upcoming year. We will have this plan to share soon and we are excited about the opportunities we have identified! Our meeting certainly looked much different as we had a virtual meeting, instead of our typical 8 – 10-hour meeting, but
we covered a lot of ground in those 4 hours. I was blown away by the commitment, passion and energy our board members have for our association and our NP members. I am certainly the lucky one to learn from them and work with them!
This week we will finalize our Board budget and while our association is fiscally very stable, we have taken measures to ensure we cut costs where we can to ensure wise stewardship of our finances during this time.
To better support our growing regional membership, we will be working with the regions to sync their elections with the state. This will allow us to better support our new leadership with their onboarding process and ensure they are engaged early on with important committee work.
What else have we been up to?
VCNP regions have been busy! Thank you to the regions who have stayed connected virtually. Several VCNP regions have hosted regional meetings and others have held educational events. We are excited that membership participated in VCNP’s “Happy Chat” series. Thank you for all who participated and connected with other members during any of these virtual events.
We continue to send out the weekly COVID Surveys and I would like to thank all of you who continue to fill out these surveys. These surveys will now be sent bi-weekly. This clinician survey is done in partnership with the Larry A. Green Center, and the Primary Care Collaborative, to better understand the response and capacity of US primary care practices to COVID-19.
You may ask how this helps us and here is what they have to say:
“As for the survey – the work has been powerful. We know of several letters to Congress by leading primary care organizations that use our data to effectively advocate for primary care. There have been over 70 mentions of our data by the news media over the last 8 weeks, with several of those about states and health systems that are considering changes to primary care-based policy. Each email includes the data from the previous week. After this week, we will switch to a biweekly. We want to be sure the survey never becomes a burden for practices. We are also watching the increased infections rates related to increased mobility. Should we find that every two weeks is not frequent enough, we will be ready to respond again. “
Your VCNP Board of Directors participate on weekly calls with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). We have been invited to attend these calls as the VDH shares updates important to providers, which we review and share in our weekly resource emails.
Speaking of our weekly resource emails – Thank you for opening! VCNP has a healthy open rate and we want to make sure the information we share is relevant and helpful. Please let us know what you like and what you want more of!
The VCNP has had its first ever Twitter Chat!
The VCNP had the opportunity to participate on a twitter chat Co-hosted by the Green Center (@GreenCenterOrg) and a bunch of our friends (@AANP_NEWS, @AcademyHealth, @CHCFNews, @CommonwealthFnd, @GreenCenterOrg, @MathematicaNow, @MilbankFund, @PCPCC, @Penn_NCIBH, @PrimaryCareDev, @WellbeingTrust, and @x4_health Primary Care Transformation in the Era of COVID-19. It occurred on June 18th, 3-4pm EST and was a great opportunity to hear fellow primary care leaders talk with each other about the implications of the pandemic and the way it is shaping our primary care system.
We have exciting news! You can now follow us on Instagram! Join us at @vcnpmember
VCNP also started a YouTube channel, which we hope to use to share recordings of events and how-to videos of resources for our membership. Stay tuned for more information on upcoming opportunities.
Finally, our committee meetings are in full swing:
Government Relations: We are gearing up for the 2021 General Assembly session. In addition, the committee is reviewing the member survey results from last year and considering how they may have changed since COVID. Did you know that we have nearly 1,000 Autonomous practice license (APL) applications! That is amazing and exciting. THANK YOU to each and everyone who have either applied or encouraged a colleague to apply. Each license counts and we know from recent member comments that as COVID has impacted practices, the autonomous licensure has allowed many to continue their practice. Our goal is to have 2020 NPs with an APL in 2020, so please continue to encourage your colleagues to apply. We want to demonstrate that this license is important to currently practicing NPs, our future NPs and citizens across our state as it helps ensure access to care now and in the future.
Membership: Be on the lookout for your renewal email. We are asking a new question – would you like to be included in text message alert updates? And please note that your application will include an option to automatically donate to the PAC monthly. We ask that you consider doing so as this is the way we are able to fund our important legislative work.
Public Relations: Over the last few months they hosted “Casual Conversations with Colleagues” during which members shared their experiences – both professional and personal – during COVID. Participants discussed best practices, coping mechanisms, and simply talked about themselves. It was a great opportunity to connect and chat!
Education: The call for presentations has been sent out and if you would like to present, please submit your request now. I am impressed by the ideas and plans being generated for our conference next year! The committee will begin reviewing submissions through August and start selecting speakers in September. The 2021 annual conference will be held in Williamsburg in March.
Nominations & Awards: The committee has sent out an application request for their annual scholarships! The submission time ends mid-August, so DNP and PhD students please apply now! The nominations for VCNP awards will start in the fall. Please be on the lookout for that opportunity.
I would like to thank our amazing board members for all they are doing to support our association. Their dedication during these unprecedented times has been incredible. And members, I am so grateful to you, as well. Your commitment to patient care is evident in your thoughtful questions and request for additional resources to help navigate difficult times. Please do not hesitate to reach out and let me know how I can better support you and our association. I love innovative ideas and appreciate feedback!
Rebekah “Becky” Compton, DNP, RN, FNP-BC
President, VCNP Board of Directors
president@vcnp.net