President's letter to MaAOHN members

March 31, 2023

Dear MaAOHN Members:

I wanted to reach out to each of you to welcome our many new members and welcome back our veteran members in 2023.  We can be so proud of our members and our board of directors for the amazing work they do in promoting workers’ health and safe occupational environments where they work.  The pandemic has challenged us all both professionally and in our personal lives.  As awful as COVID-19 has been and is, this global virus had companies and institutions searching for solutions to their many questions and fears.  No one was better suited to step up and shine than occupational health professionals.  It was our time to shine.  Executives and employees on the manufacturing line may not have be aware of the occupational health nurse role before the pandemic.  But they do now!   We trained for this:  Infection control, illness management, short term disability case management, providing education, emergency response, personal protective equipment use, documentation and managing and sharing metrics.  Hats off to all of us who used knowledge, courage, and worked many extra hours over the last three years! 

Over the next two years, we will strive to communicate to the public, educational institutions, and the media who we are and what we do.  The Board has just voted on our 2023 Goals for our organization, one of which includes providing speakers at Massachusetts nursing schools, publishing articles in local newspapers, and even contacting television stations to promote our unique branch of nursing. 

Another goal is to give opportunities to our members.  In 2023, we have already offered “give back” and “4U” opportunities for our MaAOHN membership efforts:

• Free membership to those who signed up for MaAOHN and/or NEOHN for a limited time offer until May 12, 2023 (Florence Nightingale’s birthday)! We have already grown our membership from 59 to over 200 since January of this year!
• Reimbursement of the $20 registration fee for the first 30 requesting members for the 1/10/23 virtual CEU program to: How Occ Med Providers & Case Managers Can Keep Workers Comp Cases from Going Sideways presented by our own Gail Carchietta.
• A raffle for two members to receive free registrations to the 3/27 -28/2023 conference: The 2023 Work Related Injuries Workshop. Congratulations to our members who won, Courtney Cogswell and Wyatt Biel! This was a $550 value for each registration. 
• We have purchased more MaAOHN lapel pins, complementary, for each of our members who do not have one already. To get your member lapel pin contact Mary Taschner at m.taschner@comcast.net and provide your name, address, and best phone number.
• Our regional directors in concert with our education committee will establish opportunities to network and receive education credits at locations around the state for our members’ convenience

Thank you to Nancy Clover who had and implemented the first three ideas above!  Thank you to Mary Taschner for handling the lapel pin distribution to those who request one.

Upcoming educational opportunities:

1. 4/4/23 The Platinum Patient Experience and Museum tour: $20 at the Tewksbury Public Health Museum. Receive one CEU. 

1. NEAOHN Program late summer in the plans in Southbridge, MA
2. MaAOHN Annual Meeting and Educational Program being planned for mid Oct. in Central, MA. NOTE:  We have decided to hold our annual meeting separate from the NECOEM Conference this year to allow for a dedicated focus on our event, and to free the Friday lunch at NECOEM for valuable networking and social time. 
3. NECOEM Conference 11/31 & 12/1 in Newton, MA

Keep a watch on announcements and upcoming events at our website:  maaohn.org

Check us out on Facebook in the search:  MaAOHN

Contact me with any questions, thoughts, and ideas for our organization at Donna.Ferreira@PremiseHealth.com 

All the best to each of you,

Donna Ferreira MS, ANP, COHN-S/CM, FAAOHN

President

Massachusetts Association of Occupational Health Nurses