President's Message

Dear Honored Members:

This year we attained another milestone by achieving designation as an organiza-tional affiliate of ANA-NY. Currently one state-level specialty nursing and only sev-en local (NY) nurses associations are or-ganizational affiliates with ANA-NY. The Professional Nurses Association of Dutchess/Putnam, Inc. is now one of the seven!

This year, for the first time in my long career, I had the opportunity to attend the ANA meeting in Florida. The American Nurses Association represents the nation's 3.4 million registered nurses. There were over 3000 nurses present at the meeting.

The president of the ANA, Pam Cipriano, PhD, RN delivered the keynote address and we were encouraged to share her message with our colleagues.

Registered nurses are on the frontlines delivering quality health care 24/7 across the country. The public depend on and trust nurses. According to the latest annual Gal-lup survey, the public has rated nursing as the most honest and ethical profession in America, for 14 years straight!

This year, the American Nurses Association (ANA) has made it a priority to raise awareness about the need for safe work environments for nurses through the "Culture of Safety Campaign:" A culture of safety is defined as, "core values and be-haviors resulting from a collective and sustained commitment by organizational lead-ership, managers, and health care workers to emphasize safety over competing goals."

When you cultivate a healthy work environment for nurses, you also improve the quality of overall health care for patients.

We are all partners in healing. We're a team, advancing our profession through car-ing, education, leadership, scholarly activities and research.

The coming year will open up several educational opportunities through our bi-monthly dinner/education events. Keep your eyes open for the notices that will be emailed or snail mailed to you shortly about each dinner meeting (September, No-vember, January and March). Keep in mind when we're learning, we retain a sense of possibility.

I am honored to serve this organization, collaborate with you and serve our patients and communities.

Nursing is not my job, it is who I am.

Maryann Sharpe-Cassese, RN, MS