- Steering Committee Minutes 2/12/10

Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

Steering Committee Minutes

Date: February 12, 2010

Present: Robyn Gilden, Denise Choiniere, Tom Engle, Mary Jane Williams, Chris Bartholomew, Norma Martinez-Rogers, Rebecca Clouse, Patti Gates Smith, Barbara Sattler, Kathy Curtis, Brenda Afzal, Beth Lamanna, Wade Hill

Workgroup Updates

1. 1. Research: Barb Sattler, Pat Butterfield, Linda McCauley, and Robyn Gilden met by conference call with Pat Grady, PhD, NINR Director and Deputy Director is Mary E. Kerr, PhD, RN, FAAN and with Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S.,
      Director of NIEHS & NTP and Paul Young (title?) of NIEHS.  They discussed:
      i.      Mechanisms of NIH funding – including a suggestion for a consortia model for schools of nursing
      ii.      Summer EH Institute modeled after the genetics institute – further discussion needed.
      iii.      Peer review mechanism for nursing research.  Toxicologist reviewing nursing proposals is not peer review.  Action: ANHE to develop a list of possible reviewers.
      iv.      NIEHS has an advisory council.  Action: ANHE to suggest nurse researchers to sit on this council.

Discussion: The group felt the meeting went well.  There was support expressed for the Alliance. Both agencies were invited to send representatives to the June conference.   They will talk again in two months.  Barb Sattler will write up her notes and disseminate.

2.  Education: The Education WG has planned an e-learning (e-text) retreat in Baltimore for members of the WG who have expressed interest in working on this initiative.  The meeting will take place on March 12^th from 9-5 pm.  The WG is also continuing to work on the developing a white paper/article based on the results of the survey they did several months ago.

3.  Practice: The practice workgroup is considering holding a retreat before the June conference; it would be a working retreat to develop materials (best practices) and to regroup around one issue.  Chris B has created a new blog for school nurses and reports that she has already had one comment on her blog.

4.  Policy/Advocacy: The WG has begun planning a Nurse Advocate in Washington event for the third day of the June conference.  There will be a morning training session and then a group of 35 will be bused to DC to meet with legislators.  They suggested advocating for one broad issue, chemical policy reform.   There is also a new opportunity to engage on a safe cosmetics bill, the WG will discuss the opportunity and bring it back to the steering committee next month.

501c3 Update: The pro bono attorney reported that he has still one more item to deal with before he files our articles of incorporation.  He apologized for the delay and hopes to have the papers filed next week.

Conference Update: The call for abstracts is up on the University website. The full website was supposed to launch last Friday, however the East coast storm closed the University and the work stopped.  Registration will go live the week of the 15^th. All WG and SC members are asked to help disseminate the information.   A sponsor/exhibitor prospectus will also be on the website next week.  Both a Board and Steering Committee meeting is being planned for June 6^th in Baltimore, prior to the start of the Conference on Monday.  All Board and Steering committee members asked to confirm their plans with  Brenda Afzal.

Mini-grant update:  The RFP is still undergoing review by the University.  They promised a review report on Friday, however the storm his and closed the University for a week.

Structure and Function Update: A message and a reminder was sent to all Steering Committee members thanking them for their service and asking if they would like to continue.  We have heard back from 12 so far, all of which said they were delighted to continue.  A message was sent on 2/12/10 to WG co-chairs asking if they would like to continue.  If any of the co-chairs decide not to continue, a process will need to be developed for their replacement.

Next Meeting: March 12, 2010, 2-3 PM Eastern

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