NEAOHN Presidents Message - March 2019

A message from NEAOHN President Gail Carchietta:

NEOAHN has found itself at an exciting crossroad since the AAOHN vote passed on February 4, 2019.   This has presented “optional membership” in National, Regional, State, and Local chapters. 

• AAOHN will no longer “bundle the fees on their website.” AAOHN will collect dues for those who select State/Regional Membership when they are renewing their national membership.  

•  Members can now join State/Regional and Local chapters without having to join National. States will collect all dues for non AAOHN members via their state nursing network website.

Our NEAOHN Board of Directors and interested members met for a strategic planning meeting to review the new changes that were anticipated; rewrite our bylaws; and plan our strategy for ensuring that NEOAHN in its 104th year will remain viable for years to come. 

We are excited that our members who want to remain active in regional, state without joining AAOHN are now able to do so at a reduced rate.  Our retirees will be able to continue to offer us their experience and guidance in a more meaningful way by holding offices, and, at a rate that honors their years of service to our organization and industry. 

We have already worked with each state to ensure there is a website through nursing network that will make it easier to pay dues, if you are not joining AAOHN.  Local Pennsylvania and New York chapter options will still be available. 

Those members who do join National will see a reduced rate for state/regional and local chapters to help with the high cost of national dues and will have to select your State from the dropdown menu.

NEOAHN will work closely with the states to ensure we are sharing the resources that will enable us to continue to thrive.  Although it has always been a great conference at a great price, our NEAOHN Annual Conference will also undergo some changes that may include the time of year it is held.  We will ensure that the work involved will be shared so as not to fall on a few members of one chapter.  We will continue to move the conference around the region to make it more attractive to members.

This new structure also allows us to expand our membership to our allied professionals thereby enriching our membership and making them part of our family.

Please look out for emails from www.nursingnetwork.com and be sure you follow your state and regional chapters.  You can also follow other states in NEAOHN.

NEOAHN remains the oldest and only regional AAOHN chapter that remains active and viable.  Looking at our preserved history, on behalf of our members, a thank you is sent out to Anne Lafontaine for so carefully preserving our history through conference booklets, photos and so many other treasures;  to Carol Parks for creating a working document that preserves important chapter information in our long history; and to Nancy Clover, for ensuring our history is forever preserved at the Nursing archives at Boston University.  

Stay tuned, there is so much more to come! 

Gail A Carchietta RN, MSE, COHN-S, FAAOHN - President NEAOHN