THE CVAA
Newsletter of the Canadian Vascular Access Association
Fall 2021
New Member Spotlights Get to know some of the 150+ new CVAA members who have joined this year so far!
Kim Fynn What is your current role/institution? I am currently working in Arnprior, Ontario (about 30 minutes west of Ottawa) with a small and mighty OR team and their medical day care. Previously, my start was in Louisiana, then a move to Dallas to work at Baylor University Medical Center. I was mentored and encouraged by a Toronto Charge Nurse at Baylor, Henry Mann, to leave the medicine unit and join the hematology, oncology unit and was cross trained to work in the bone marrow transplant unit. During my time, our department was the resource at night for Port-a-cath accessing, troubleshooting and educating our fellow nurses in various units regarding all central lines. PICCs were not used later, when the product improved. I then took a position at Mayo Clinic Arizona to work in the Hem/Onc/stem cell, organ transplant unit, later ambulatory infusion, which has been the majority of my career, outpatient stem cell transplant, infusions of all kinds for all specialities seen at
the campus. I was trained as a PICC nurse for eight to ten years, and also became a member of the INS with my CRNI certification and also kept current with AVA, as it was combined with INS. Due to the high volume of IVIG administered at our facility, I was also a member of the Immunoglobulin Nursing Society. Why did you join CVAA? I joined CVAA due to your partnership with AVA and INS. There are a lot of learning opportunities, and the conferences are fantastic! I wanted to keep current on new topics, policies, and education. What features of membership are you looking forward to utilizing? I do find it difficult in smaller community hospitals to be heard regarding vascular access, so I wanted to join to be among like-minded nurses and find articles supporting what I have been trained to do—the improvement on the healthcare experience for the patient and the reduction in costs for healthcare. Are you considering writing the CVAA(c) certification exam? Currently I am preparing for the OR certification and I plan to obtain my CVAA certification following completion of the OR program. Why are you passionate about vascular access/ infusion therapy? I am passionate about vascular access/infusion therapy as indicated by the number of years I had served in Arizona. I was part of a team that continued on page 3…