NOTE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
RUTH SEDGWICK

     This has been quite an exciting time for our chapter! In June we had the pleasure of sharing a meeting with the Lakes Region and Seacoast Chapters. This meeting marked the first time we have had the current President of National AORN , Bill Duffy, and the current Secretary Chalotte Guglielmi visit our chapters. The setting was informal and very relaxed as we were able to speak with them.directly.
     One of the most exciting things to come out of this was the formation of a steering committee to spearhead the formation of a New Hampshire Perioperative Regional Council. The following nurses have volunteered to work on this committee:
Eva Daniels, Deb Hastings, Ruth Sedgwick, Lorraine Heslop, Julie Schneckenburger, Nancy Luba, Pam Dudek, Suzie Holland, Ellen Jones, Carol Straw and Denise Brisson.
     This group is very serious in their goal! They have already met in July at Deb Hastings home, selected officers and written a mission statement. At the September Perioperative Leaders Conference at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, they will meet again and anyone is welcome to come. More information will be forthcoming about this wonderful chance to network with peers from all over Northern New England. The steering committee has chosen the following name ...The Northern New England Perioperative Council. We have many talented and dedicated nurses in our Chapters. I know I for one was very impressed with the passion and group effort that it took to have everyone get together to give birth to this new endeavor. All of you who share this vision deserve a pat on the back! Great job!
     I have received a letter from AORN Headquarters which states that our Chapter 3001 may have 4 delegates and 4 alternates to attend the New Orleans Congress in April. Please consider volunteering for a delegate position. AORN is also asking interested Congress attendees if they would like to be a session attendant. Both of these opportunities add a lot to your experience when you go to Congress. It's one way to network with people from other chapters while in New Orleans!
      Please take time to think about attending this wonderful Congress in New Orleans in April!
     Don't forget to mark your calendar for SATURDAY OCTOBER 2ND Our first "AORN CRAZY CAR RALLY"

Thank you, Ruth Sedgwick R.N.CNOR

            UPCOMING EVENTS FOR THE YEAR

                   FUN CAR RALLY
   Saturday, October 2, 2004, Chapter 3001 is hosting our first Fun Car Rally. What is a “Fun Car Rally” you may well ask? It is a fundraiser for our chapter. For $10 a car, you will get to relax and have fun as you meander slowly thru the New Hampshire countryside, over covered bridges and down country lanes covered in autumn leaves.   Occasionally, you will have to complete a task, such as running into an old country store for some object that I have asked the storekeepers to give you. Each car will receive a different set of directions and you will be released to go at intervals. You have to read your own directions, because, if you follow the car in front of you, they will turn one way and your directions will say something else. (I'll know which way you should be going). Everyone will be issued emergency directions, which will be sealed.
   At the end of the rally, we will all meet up for a pot-luck supper before you head home. There will be several small prizes given out after I tally up your points. The points are earned by completing tasks, filling in words from a sign or solving simple word puzzles, and by turning in your sealed emergency directions.
   The rally will start on the left side of Jessie’s restaurant in Lebanon N.H. Be there by 9:30 a.m. for a 10:00 departure! $10.00 per car no limit on passengers (one driver and one navigator needed)
There will be a prize for the funniest hat or clothing
Driving time will be about two hours with potluck supper to follow. We
all work very hard. As a treat, I came up with this "Fun Raiser" for
our chapter. Volunteers will be needed. You don't have to be a member
of AORN to attend (Why heck,we'll even let surgeons come along for
the ride.)

Please contact me if you can bring a dish.
Ruth Sedgwick 603-989-9859

              CHAPTER 3001 BUSINESS MEETINGS
                                 &
                EDUCATIONAL OFFERING DATES

_   FALL    -TBA
_ WINTER-TBA
_ SUMMER-TBA
_ SPRING   May 2005, at Concord Hospital - Central Sterile Supply &
                                        Operating Room, Working as a Team.

NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND PERIOPERATIVE LEADERS CONFERENCE

September 17, 18, 19, 2004: Save these dates for this wonderful conference being held again at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medial Center. Contact Carol Majewski for more information at 603-653-3100.

NATIONAL CONFERENCES

Joint Commission’s Wrong Site Surgery Conference
August 23, 2004 Rosemont, IL

AORN Public Policy Conference And Advocacy Day
September 20-21, 2004 Washington, DC

Multispecialty:
Clinical (Inpatient and Ambulatory) Conference & RNFA Forum
October 16-17, 2004                   Las Vegas, NV

Multispecialty: Trauma Conference
October 30-31, 2004                   Dallas, TX

Hands Across Borders:
The Americas Unite to Celebrate Perioperative Nursing
November 12 -14, 2004             Panama City, Panama

Ninth Conference on Infectious Diseases
December 6-8, 2004                   Roswell, Georgia

2005 AORN Congress
April 3-7, 2005                           New Orleans, Louisiana

LINDA THOMPSON’S REPORT
FROM LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE JULY 2004

I attended this wonderful conference held in Denver, Co., which included a tour of National AORN headquarters Friday evening. With views of the Colorado Rockies as a backdrop, our national headquarters is a beautiful building. It was a privilege to visit headquarters which all of the employees of AORN National will tell you is “our” building, that is, the members of AORN. I enjoyed all of it, but especially the library and the showcase of items that have been given to AORN. Included in the showcase is a journal written and signed by nurses in the London Operating Theater following the Sept 11^th disaster. How touching to know that our colleagues across the sea were sharing our sadness and providing us emotional support.

The conference opened with the same talk offered by AORN president Bill Duffy. “Learning from Hollywood how to be Leaders” that he tested out on us at the June meeting. This funny, and yet appropriate presentation, was well received and offered many different insights into leadership. His movie clip of cat herders, while hilarious, offered an important message of “bringing them into town without loosing a one”. In a profession where we tend to “eat our own” Mr. Duffy wanted to encourage us to not leave our colleagues behind. Another important message from his talk was from the movie Shawshank Redemption. The message was a quote from the movie to “get busy living or get busy dying”. At a time when AORN membership numbers are dropping, our organization is looking at how we can get busy living rather than dying. Membership in AORN has decreased from 49,000 several years ago to 40,000 currently. As an organization we need to determine how to meet the needs of perioperative nurses of the future. We need to “get busy living” by being the best we can be in serving our patients and being their advocates.

Another clip from Duffy’s presentation came from the movie Ghostbusters where Dan Ackroid is asked if he is a god and he says no and gets zapped by the ghostly fiend. Duffy encourages us to answer “YES” when asked if we’re “god’s” by our patients. Not that we are “gods” but that we serve an important role of being patient advocates. While the surgeon takes credit for cutting out the bad stuff, anesthesia takes credit for keeping the patient asleep or comfortable, we are the patient’s eyes, ears, and voice. When we’re asked what we do, we meekly answer that we help all these people. While that is true, we need to assert our contribution of being the “Patient’s Advocate”. Our role is paramount to the safety of the procedure. Define what you do and take pride and credit for that role.

President Duffy exemplified that role when he launched the “Correct Site Surgery Tool Kit”, prior to the National mandate. The tool kit received enormous media attention on Fox and CBS. When asked how much AORN would receive from this tool kit, Duffy reported that the kit was mailed out to tens of thousands of nurses, hospitals, ASC’s at no cost. The media was dumbfounded that in this world of capitalism no money was requested for the kit, nor was there an angle. Perioperative nurses were seen as angels for offering this tool kit with the sole purpose of enhancing patient safety.

AORN has its finger on the pulse of the nation, on what it needs and where the legislature is taking medicine. We all know the importance of what we do and it’s comforting to know that our membership dues help support our interests with the lobbyists AORN provides. Another presenter was a political consultant who was very impressed with how organized nurses are. He explained how nurses can be more involved politically. Our strength, from the political viewpoint, is how organized we are. Not only as a profession but individually in how we practice. He feels we have more power than many other groups for this very reason. How can you use your organizational skills to the benefit of AORN? By encouraging just one nurse to join AORN. Not 4 or 5… just one. Who will be the nurse that you will host as a new member this coming year? Set your sights on them and just keep inviting them to meetings and telling them the benefits of our wonderful organization.

He also spoke about the computer age and how with it at our fingertips we can reach out to more nurses by e-mailing our newsletter to non-members, posting to web sites, and changing the way we conduct business. One idea was to create a personal phone tree with each person calling just 2 or 3 others to encourage attendance at meetings. Many of our colleagues also discussed being creative with educational offerings. One chapter chartered a tour bus to a casino and had the educational offering on board the bus. That sounds like a fun idea! Sort of like Ruth’s Car Rally this fall.
As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed the leadership conference and would encourage others to attend. Contact one of the officers for more information on how to attend yourself.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda D. Thompson RN BSN CNOR

NOTE FROM OUR PRESIDENT RUTH SEDGWICK

CHAPTER 3001 BUSINESS MEETINGS & EDUCATIONAL OFFERING DATES

NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND PERIOPERATIVE LEADERS CONFERENCE

NATIONAL CONFERENCES

LINDA THOMPSON’S REPORT FROM LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE JULY 2004

NOTE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
RUTH SEDGWICK

CHAPTER 3001 BUSINESS MEETINGS
&
EDUCATIONAL OFFERING DATES

LINDA THOMPSON’S REPORT
FROM LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE JULY 2004