We had a presentation by Cynthia Smith, DNP from Renal Consultants on Veltassa.

Our board members elected in March to a 2 year term are:

President: Cherie Wright

President elect:  Danielle Chellapoo

Secretary: Piper Schlesser-Foresman

Treasurer: Tiffany Simons

Past president: Michelle Porthouse

Gov Relations:  Cathy Duncan

Membership:  Karen Hlywa

Public Relations:  Lisa Keel

Nominations: Delisa Showers

State Conference : Linda Hazelgren

Programs: Brenda Crum

Local Conference Committee:  Cherie Wright and Timmye Ross

Our local conference is set for 5/5/17 at the Fick Center 7:30am arrival with conference 8am until around 1:30pm.

The CEs for the conference are 3.5, with 1.75 for pharmacology to equal 5.25 total!

Linda will compare food choices from Wegmans vs Panera vs Eileen’s.

Empowerhouse will be our charity (philanthropy project this spring)

Piper will bring the banner and tablecloths for all the tables

Update on legislative news:  We are still working on independent authority.

Discussion was held again about the pros and cons of certificate of attendance for meetings vs CE vs dinner

Next meeting May 8 on Xarelto.

Submitted 5/11/17 JPSF

12/12/16

We have 4 speakers lined up for our May local conference.  Dr. John Mclaughlan- Mindfulness; N.P. Elizabeth Wheatley-Mood disorders, treating bipolar disorder in primary care; Dr. William Anderson- Safe prescribing of Opiods for the PCP; Dr Fortunato- Why you need a colorectal surgeon.

Other possibilities to provide a lengthier conference were- Dr Franchi or Chiang of ID and/or Michele Earnest- Alternative medicine.

Our site has been granted:  The Fick Center, Auditoriums 1,2 and 3 are ours 5/5/17 from 8 am (onsite registration to start at 7:30am) to wrap up by 3pm.  Attendance approximated at 70, round tables of 7, AV equipment requested.

The VCNP state conference enrollment is open now.

Discussion of a holiday gathering either 2/11 or 2/15/17.  Michele will look into the Clubhouse at Idlewild for availability again this year.

Submitted 12/20/16 JPSF

10/10/16 meeting in Central Park.

Update from the Board of Directors meeting:  We are pursuing another bill for full practice authority again.  We are working at taking away the requirement for collaborating MD language.  Several regions are doing legislative meetings this fall.  The Fredericksburg region decided against this since we met with our legislators at our meeting last fall and such an enthusiastic turnout.  Contact the legislators you know personally to discuss what an NP is and does, and how this independent practice bill will benefit all Virginians.

Our lobbyist is Richard Grossman.

Treasurers report given.  We receive $25 annually for each member.  We now have 78 members.

We discussed and decided on a $500 donation to Mary’s Shelter along with the gift cards and supplies that were donated and collected tonight.  One more email reminder will go out for those who still want to contribute and then Karen and Michelle will deliver them to the shelter in late October or early November.

Cards were signed for Jessica, and flowers will be sent to her home now that she is finished with the final stage of her surgery.

The next meeting is 11/14/16.

We discussed the local conference at the Fick Center on 5/5/17.  The hospitality house will be giving Piper the final yes or no on use of the facility late October or early November.  A full day conference was discussed.  Suggestions for speakers and topics were suggested:

Dr William Anderson on pain management.  Michelle will talk to Dr Anderson.

Dr John Mclaughlin on mindfulness.  VIVA NPs will talk to Dr Mclaughlin

A social worker on professional boundaries.  Trish will talk to the social worker.

Infectious Disease MD on a topic.  Michelle will talk to Dr Chiang or Dr Franchi.

Dr Fortunato on colon cancer.  Tiffany will talk to Dr Fortunato.

Ideas, speakers and topics will need to be finalized by email before the next meeting 11/14/16, so outlines, goals and objectives can be sent in to the board for the CEs.

Submitted 10/12/16 JPSF

Treasurer gave report.

Timmye, who represented our region on the last State Conference Committee, is looking for a volunteer to replace her and participate in planning the next state conference.

There is ongoing discussion regarding participating in or contributing to a philanthropic cause:

May is mental health month.  There is a walk this Saturday that we could participate in, but with only a few days notice, we could not have a table sponsored.

There is a lifestyle expo at the mall coming up.

There is the Out of the Darkness walk for suicide prevention coming up.

Mary’s shelter for unwed teenage mothers was again mentioned.

The YMCA is organizing bags for kids going in to foster care, we could help or contribute to that.

Robin will organize a small group to propose a few ideas and survey the group to decide on one project this year.

Hishani offered to research purchasing a banner with Fredericksburg VCNP and the logo on it.

There was discussion about getting handouts from the VCNP regarding the NP role.  These could be distributed at the even we are attending/sponsoring.

Pharmaceutical dinner was at La Petite Auberge and sponsored by Diglegis.

submitted 5/16/16 JPSF

• The February NP holiday gathering in Idlewild was fun and relaxing.  It was good to see everyone who attended!
• The VCNP conference will be at Williamsburg next year.
• Our regional local Spring Conference for 2017 was discussed:  Friday vs Saturday vs Sunday for accessibility and good turnout was discussed.  Timmye, Lisa, Cherie and Michelle will get together to discuss logistics.
• We discussed several ideas for philanthropy for our local VCNP group to help a non-profit organization and have a focused interest for our donation.  Robin offered to coordinate an email effort to get feedback for ideas and organize them to present them to the group.
• Although we had discussed changing minutes to every other month, we now have sponsors for each month through July, so we will be meeting monthly.
• The dinner was at Bravo in Central Park and the speaker was Barbara Mercado, MD on women’s health issues and genetic testing she provides in her office.