Abstract
In July, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) held its 44th Annual Conference in Reno Tahoe, Nevada. It was an exceptional conference with many booths and sponsors, in attendance who provided valuable information to help us in our profession. We are grateful for their support of our organization and our conference. We were all inspired by new ideas, rethinking how we do things, ready to tackle issues in health care, and hearing creative and innovative ways to lead our organization. At our conference, we discussed important topics for our members including clinical practice issues, leadership, politics, clinical practice, research, and creativity. We connected leaders, young and old, who inspired us while focusing on change and how it will affect Latinos in the country.
We had a group of amazing keynote and plenary speakers, pre-conference workshops, and break-out speakers who are paving the way in Latino health care. I was excited to see all the people who attended, not only our members, but also students, exhibitors, and sponsors. This was partly due to our very successful membership drive we had in May in which all our chapters participated and added to the success of not only our membership drive but also the conference. What a great thing to celebrate!
Our organization is stronger than it has ever been. Our membership has surpassed 2000 members, larger than we have seen. We have new business partners in our CoBA (Council of Business Advisors) that helps lead and guide us to meet our strategic plan. We have a growing number of sponsors. We have a sound financial basis. And more than anything, we have you, our members who support NAHN and make an impact on health care in our Latino communities!
Our new members of the Board of Directors include a new secretary, treasurer, and three members-at-large. They will be a great addition to continue our purpose and vision of the organization. They have big ideas to help lead our organization, and I am excited to have them on the board. They are our future visionaries that will have a seminal contribution of NAHN’s successful trajectory.
I am reminded from my favorite book, The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, “Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life.” He goes on to say that we are made to have meaning in our lives through our purpose and through hope. I think, as nurses, we all know that we have “meaning” in life and in this meaning we have a purpose. With a purpose, we have hope. For me, I feel like my purpose is to serve this organization for 2 years as your president, and I have hope that we will continue to grow and do great things for our country and world.
I cannot believe a year has already passed since I became president. I have learned so much in this first year and remain humbled to serve you. Thank you for trusting me to lead this great organization. I hope our next year will be even better than this one!
God bless,