I am your new ANA-NY president- no kidding! I hope you understand that joke and enjoy my last rendition of the No Kidding! column that I’ve had the joy of contributing to this newsletter (now news magazine!) since March of 2021. I want to start off by thanking the membership for electing me to this position and know that it is a true honor to serve the wonderful nurses in this group. I look forward to this challenge and hearing from what our members need to be successful professional nurses. A warm welcome to our new and returning board and committee members who were announced at the governing assembly at our annual meeting and conference in October. Thank you to those who served this organization on a committee or the board last year, including the previous president Everybody’s Work Marilyn Dollinger who has already provided mentorship as I take on this new role. In case you missed our conference, here is a summary of my remarks that focused on my goals for the new year:

I am a systems-thinker, so my first stop in thinking of what I’d like to accomplish for the new year was visiting ANA and ANA-NY’s strategic plans. I wasn’t surprised that we were on track to meet many of the initiatives, but as I see it, I need to help us continue on that trajectory. Starting with the mothership, I noted that ANA’s strategic plan (see figure 1) has three goals.

1. Elevate the profession of nursing globally.
   We as a group, are working towards these goals through the opportunities in disseminating the work of our members via the open access news magazine and Journal of ANA-NY. We’ll keep that up and continue to get our good work out into the nursing world.
2. Evolve the practice of nursing to improve health, health care, and health equity.
   The topics at past conferences and plans for future events include anti-racism and wellness, which are more than flavors of the month and need to be part of everything we do. I have done a screening of the documentary Everybody’s Work, which includes NY nurses speaking in the film. If you haven’t had the opportunity to watch it, stay tuned because we’ll be showing it as an organization. It was impactful and a comment I received at my screening from more than one viewer was that all nurses should watch it, so I hope you all do.
3. Ensure the professional success of nurses.
   The opportunities for growth and development that our members have is outstanding. Some opportunities include being part of a special interest group, being on the speakers bureau, receiving free professional career coaching, and having the ability to serve as a representative at the ANA Membership Assembly and American Nurses Advocacy Institute. Kudos to all members who take advantage of these benefits, which are helping us contribute to ANA’s strategic goals. I did notice that this strategic plan expires during my tenure as your president and if there is an opportunity to represent ANA-NY at the table to design the next strategic plan, I’ll do my best to get that seat.

Then, I focused on ANA-NY’s strategic plan (see figure 2) for 2024-2027. Again, we are doing a great job meeting our goals, but I think we have a few opportunities to continue our good work and solidify achievement of what we set out to do. For example, one objective of our strategic plan says to increase use of technology to engage and inform younger members (see figure 2). Could we tap into membership within nursing education programs? Could we promote ANA-NY being built into program curriculum? This is something I’ve done in my RN-BS in Nursing program with my already licensed students. A required membership to ANA-NY in my leadership class eliminated the cost of a textbook for the students and gained us more ANA-NY members. I’ve also nominated an RN-BS in nursing student for a leadership award, but do all schools know about this opportunity and the benefits the student and their cohort receive? I’ll also be networking with other state chapters to see how they engage younger members while paying attention to our national bylaws.

Next, to find opportunities to lead professional issues through advocacy, white papers, and collaborations (see figure 2), I think we can work with other healthcare disciplines on shared advocacy. I met with Beth Chiariello, the president of the New York Society of Occupational Therapists and Brandi Ewing, the president of New York State Society for Respiratory Care already. Both are open to collaboration. More to come on that as our relationship grows. Finally, to promote our speakers bureau to showcase our own members as expert speakers (see figure 2), could we host virtual engagements aimed at academic institutions in NY to further introduce the next generation of nurses to come out of school knowing about ANA-NY? Or could we look at serving as guest speakers in graduate nurse residency programs or nurses week celebrations? Overall, we are looking great as a team and I’m excited to be here with all of you to continue the good work on behalf of and alongside you. Thank you for the honor and privilege of being your next president.