ADVOCACY
ENA Hosts Its First Emergency Nursing Advocacy Intensive By Kendra Y. Mims, ENA Connection More than 90 ENA state council leaders representing more than 30 states attended ENA’s first Emergency Nursing Advocacy Intensive in Chicago on Jan. 10-12. Sponsored by Vidacare, this unique event provided attendees with an exciting opportunity to learn more about advocating for the emergency nursing profession to make a difference for their patients and colleagues. The three-day event kicked off with a welcoming reception at ENA national headquarters, where attendees were able to reconnect and network with their peers. 2013 ENA President JoAnn Lazarus, MSN, RN, CEN, opened the second day with a presentation on ENA’s priorities and its 2013-2014 Public Policy. She explained that the ENA Board of Directors determined that the new ENA Public Policy would be more nurse-focused. ‘‘This is an organization about you and advocating for all of you,’’ Lazarus said. ‘‘We know that safe practice advocates for safe care. By taking care of all of you, you’ll be able to take care of your patients.’’ Lazarus discussed the meaning of her newly coined term ‘‘advocatism’’ and the importance of image, from appearance to communication. ‘‘To me, advocatism is what we do for our patients and for the profession of nursing. Advocatism is really at the heart and soul of what we do as emergency nurses,’’ she said. ‘‘As ENA, we are held in high esteem because of the image we have with the public and because of the perception of what we do for others. Advocacy is not just about influencing public policy. From a nursing image perspective, it’s our responsibility that the public sees us in the best light.’’ Attendees learned about the importance of networking from keynote speaker Laura Schwartz during her ‘‘Eat, Drink and Empower’’ presentation. As the former White House director of events for the Clinton administration, Schwartz shared effective techniques for networking, communication and mentoring. ‘‘No matter where we are . . . we have opportunity everywhere we look to be ourselves and empower others through our own background and stories, as well as to
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JoAnn Lazarus, MSN, RN, CEN, the 2013 ENA president, shares her concept of ‘‘advocatism’’ during remarks on the second day of the Emergency Nursing Advocacy Intensive. advocate for ENA in all places, both on and off the clock, with those professionally in your field and those who are curious about it,’’ Schwartz said. Schwartz urged the audience members to attend conferences and networking sessions to connect with and build bridges for others. She said networking is the best way to effectively communicate the message of ENA. ‘‘ENA really provides an incredible bridge for you,’’ she said. ‘‘ENA has the tools, resources, research and incredible staff within ENA for you to go to and get that information to help build that bridge for your hospital, a colleague or in your community. They are there for you, so use that bridge when you lobby for that safer work environment. . . . You are so used to advocating for your patients all day every day, but you also have to advocate for yourselves. As you advocate for yourselves, you advocate for every one of your patients at the same time.’’ ‘‘The power of ENA and you the member is amazing,’’ Schwartz continued. ‘‘When you’ve got a critical patient that you’re administering to, when you’re in the meeting with the CFO talking about purchasing safer equipment, or when you’re out in the community to meet with legislators, you’re not in that room with the patient or on Capitol Hill alone. You are in there with the other 39,999 members of ENA.
March 2013