Welcome to the New York State PeriAnesthesia Nurses Association website.

Thank you for the honor of representing almost 800 of you as NYSPANA President 2008-2009.  I’d like to start out by sharing my “story” with you.  My roots go back to four grandparents who emigrated from Italy to America for a better life around 1916.  My parents met at a high school in Rochester and were married in 1952.  My father is a shoe repairman who worked long hard hours to send us to Catholic schools and college.  I am the oldest of three and the first to graduate from college.  Twenty-two people attended my nursing school graduation.  It was a very big deal!

I began working at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Strong Memorial Hospital Burn unit the day after graduation.  I could not wait to make $5.01 an hour with four weeks’ vacation.  I stayed there for 11 years until I transferred to the Ambulatory Surgery Center.  I have worked there for 22 years as a staff nurse and now as staff nurse/nurse educator in the Strong Surgery Center.  I received my BSN in 1991 and CAPA in 2001.

I have a passion for bedside nursing!  I love a good challenge and feel such satisfaction helping patients and their families’ pre-op, then post-op.  I feel we earn our respect from our colleagues and patients with our knowledge and compassion.

Former NYSPANA presidents have had visions.  I feel my vision is similar to Maryanne Carollo’s.  I want to revive some districts in NYS and assist them in getting more active with meetings and educational offerings.  Another goal is to see us grow as a component with research.  So much of what we do is evidenced-based.  We need to share what “works” with everyone.  Florence Nightingale was a pioneer for research.  During the Crimean War, she noted positive environmental conditions affected patient outcomes.  So simple, yet still used today.

We are the third largest component in the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses (ASPAN).  We have close to 800 members! We are the only association in the state that focuses on the needs of the nursing professional practicing in the specialty of perianesthesia nursing.

As president my goal is to have the availability for educational opportunities for everyone in NYSPANA.  We are divided into districts where meetings, half and all day seminars are scheduled from September through June 2009 to meet your needs. We will update our calendar in October at our BOD meeting. If you have any educational events that you would like added, please send to our web coordinator, Sue Russell.

Please contact any of us on the board or your local district president for more information. Get involved and meet wonderful people who do what you do. You won't be disappointed.

We owe it to ourselves and our patients to be the best we can be.  Join me on this journey!

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Highlights of NYSPANA Activities during Presidential Term Sept. 2007 to August 2008
By Susan Russell, RN, BSN, CAPA

It has been a very busy year at NYSPANA.  In September, two members attended the Component Development Workshop in Albuquerque.  The knowledge gained at each of these workshops foster member and component improvement.  Networking with other component leaders as well as national officers is invaluable to our officers.

The state conference was held in White Plains hosted by District #8.  It was very well attended and evaluations very positive.
Seminars were held in NYC, Syracuse, Westchester, Albany, and Binghamton and were also well attended. Rochester and Long Island hosted annual conferences with local speakers.

Our website went live in December.

NYSPANA Membership has held steady and we have many more CPANS and CAPAS.

Buffalo (district 15) lost their officers but new ones have stepped in to re-build and are working hard to meet the needs of members and foster growth.  The state conference, held in Buffalo was supported by the BOD this year to maintain the rotation.
Our policies and procedures are revised and available electronically upon request.

We submitted a Gold Leaf application and although we didn’t receive the award we scored very well and plan on submitting again in 2009.

An Advanced Degree scholarship was added to financially assist our members returning to school and a Research/EBP scholarship is available to promote component research.

Our state conference sponsored community service project making a donation from basket raffle sales to “Support Connection" assisting women with breast and ovarian cancer. Individual districts also support local agencies. 

NY State had 6 poster presentations (5 for Clinical Practice and 1 Research) accepted and presented at 2007 National Conference and 1 presented at October state conference.

It has been my pleasure to serve NYSPANA and I look forward to working with Cindy as we continue to keep moving forward.

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Highlights of NYSPANA Activities during Presidential Term April 2005 to August 2007
By Wanda Rodriguez, RN, MA, CCRN, CPAN

• We provided 60 educational programs throughout the state of which 18 were ASPAN Seminars.
• We provided 30 scholarships to members throughout the state to assist in attending our National Conference, State Conference, ASPAN Seminars, and CPAN or CAPA certifications.
• We changed our election process and terms in order to better service our members. The Vice-President office became the Vice-President/President Elect for 1 year only. This provided the commitment to serve as President for 1 year and Past- President for 1 year for a total of 3 years with full voting rights.
• We officially got our named changed from New York State Post Anesthesia Nurses Association to New York State Perianesthesia Nurses Association.
• We changed our policy and procedure manual from paper format to electronic format.
• We reconfigured our 8 active districts in order to capture all non- active areas where peri anesthesia nursing is practiced. We also, kept all the same district numbers so as to avoid confusion among our present members.

District 1: Nassau/Suffolk
District 6: New York City (all Boroughs)
District 8: Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Duchess, Ulster, Sullivan, Orange
District 9: Stuben, Schuyler, Chemung, Tompkins, Tioga, Cortland,     Broome, Otsego, Delaware, Chenango
District 10: Albany, Schenectady, Rennsalaer, Greene, Columbia,  Warren, Saratoga, Washington, Fulton, Montgomery, Schoharie, Essex, Hamilton, Franklin, Clinton
District 13: Cayuga, Onondaga, Madison, Oswego, Oneida, Jefferson,   Herkimer, St. Lawrence, Lewis
District 14: Monroe, Wayne, Seneca, Yates, Ontario, Livingston
District 15: Niagara, Orleans, Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Chautaugua, Cattaraugus, Alleganey
           We look forward to a challenging and productive year as we continue the journey of striving toward excellence in perianesthesia nursing throughout the New York State.

LATEST NEWS

ASPAN’s 28th National Conference Gaylord national Resort and Convention Center, Washington, DC area. www.aspan.org

NYSPANA is currently seeking a research coordinator to facilitate a component research project.  Please contact Cindy Lucieer at CVL54@hotmail.com if you are interested.

All policies and procedures can be obtained from any board member.