End of Year Update (2021)

Greetings Members and Supporters! 

With this last day December and 2021, we’d like to bring this year to a close with a review and a revival!

Boston HPNA was pleased to sponsor several CEU events in this now second pandemic year:

March 31, 2021   Taking Care of Ourselves: Preventing Professional Burnout

Mary Crowe, LICSW, ACHP-SW, C.D.S. CDP                

May 13th, 2021   Improving the care of SNF residents with virtual access to palliative care

Emily Palmer, NP and Kelly Baxter, NP

June 16, 2021     Moving from Words to Action: How an Advance Care Planning initiative led a Home Health Agency to redesign a Palliative Care Program and brought palliative care nurses from novice closer to expert 
                                            Therese Rochon, APRN

Sept 22, 2021 Compassionate Care Through a Cultural Lens: Hospice Care in Russian, Asian, and Latino Communities 

Good Shepherd Community Care 

Plans underway for 2022 CE programs include Yoga For Self Care and LGBTQ Considerations in Hospice and Palliative Care. If you have a topic of interest to hospice and palliative nurses and would like to learn more about presenting a CE program to our Chapter members and supporters, please let us know via email. 

In addition, the team valiantly met several times to establish a Monday evening ‘Open Mic Night" in order to foster some connection and space for our members to meet/vent/collaborate. As the year progressed, though, the time/space continuum contracted and after a summer ‘break’ – Open Mic never got the groove back. We are happy to attempt that again as we go into 2022. If you are interested in resuming this activity, let us know. 

BHPNA has gained 10% in membership this year, and we have a recession-proof cache of cash, mainly due to no in-person meetings for nearly two years due to the pandemic. No funds have been required to supply food or drink for our virtual meetings. We did initiate honorarium payments to our speakers in 2021 and your chapter memberships support these efforts. The Board is in discussion about offering scholarships and grants to support certification, efforts to attract more members, and educational events. We would like to hear from you about how to direct some dollars toward reigniting interest in certification and gathering new members.

Our Chapter President,  Nicole DePace, will be serving her final year in 2022 and will work closely with President-Elect Mary Lee in the New Year to ensure 2022 is a successful year for the Chapter and a smooth transition for the board. 

You can find us on Facebook ,  Instagram @bostonhpna, and Twitter @BHPNA. Visit our Nursing Network page for more information about the chapter and membership. Our email is bostonhpna@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from any and all. Please renew your local Boston membership and consider sponsoring a colleague. 

Best wishes for this holiday season, and let’s all rest and refresh for the new year ahead.  We can do this!

Sincerely, 

The Board of the Boston Area Chapter of the HPNA

Nicole DePace - President

Mary Lee - President-Elect

Monica Sabia - Treasurer 

Lindsey McDermott - Secretary 

Xiaonan (Nancy) Zheng - Chair Membership Committee 

Antonette Carabuena - Chair Communication and Programming