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President's Message

I welcome you to a new year with new leadership for the Houston Area Nurse Practitioner organization!

I hope you will consider active membership in HANP as a professional organization that promotes collaboration, networking, education and political involvement for the advancement of our profession. As your new President, I am excited to be a part of changes coming for HANP and advanced practice nursing. I am blessed with a wonderful group of volunteer board members and committee chairman that are working to guide and promote change within our organization. I am excited to bring a new format to our meetings and to our website. I hope to promote a renewed enthusiasm for HANP and our profession amongst the members.

However, this organization cannot continue to thrive without the support of our members, medical colleagues and professional sponsors. We continue to strive for quality education and venues for our meetings to give you the best atmosphere for collaborating, networking and learning each month. In return, I would like to ask each of our members to remember professional courtesy for our sponsors and speakers. Please remember to always thank our invited speakers have sacrificed their valuable patient care time and our sponsors for the expense of sponsoring our meetings.

I challenge YOU ALL to become involved with the future of your profession! We KNOW Advance Practice Nurses continue making an impact on the health care of our patients and communities. However, our scope of practice continues to be challenged by the American Medical Association that desires to place unreasonable constraints on our practice. We face an unprecedented power struggle with our medical colleagues who just need to be educated on what APN's can provide to the community and that we are not taking patients away from them.

Every member of HANP has the expertise, knowledge, motivation and desire to provide quality health care that deserves recognition. WE must be visible, knowledgeable and responsible regarding pending and current senate bills. OUR voices should be echoed all over the State of Texas. YOU MUST involve yourself in this organization and other advanced practice organizations at the state and national levels because your participation directly impacts our community and our profession.

 

NOW YOU ARE CALLED TO ACTION!

  • Join "The Power of One" initiative for fun evenings of playing games and discuss what it means to support our profession!

  • Volunteer to join us in the Art Car Parade in May 2010 that will expose 200,000 Houston residents to our advanced practice nurses!

  • Be a proactive role model and sign up as a preceptor for APN students so we can grow our profession

  • Donate your time and leadership to the HANP Board of Directors and run for Treasurer or President Elect this year

  • Become a member of TNP or CNAP - the organizations that are working hard to keep Advanced Practice Nursing healthy and viable as a profession

Above all, PLEASE choose to do SOMETHING to be proactive instead of passively waiting for others to keep your practice alive.

Let me know what I can do for you since I challenge you today. I am here. I am ready. I am listening. I look forward to meeting each of you.

Lisa Ginapp, MSN, RN, ACNP-BC,WCC

2009 - 2010 President, Houston Area Nurse Practitioners