This past year saw many positive developments in our work to build a provincial nursing association in British Columbia. The Association of Registered Nurses of BC (ARNBC) celebrated its third anniversary in 2013 and held its second annual meeting. Through a partnership with the College of Registered Nurses of BC, ARNBC has a secure future as we enter 2014. Last month we moved into a new office space on Creekside Drive in Vancouver’s False Creek area where we are so pleased to have a permanent home.

View from New ARNBC Office

ARNBC’s achievements included establishing an innovative Network Leads Program that began as a pilot initiative in the first half of the year and grew into an ongoing program with nurses and nursing students throughout BC taking on roles as ambassadors for the Association. Network Leads are demonstrating success in reaching out to their own unique networks in their communities, workplaces and schools of nursing. They share their experiences and alert the ARNBC staff and Board to emerging issues or needs for support.  Monthly meetings provide a mechanism for staying connected and updated. The Network Leads Page is a good starting point for anyone who is interested in finding a Network or in volunteering as a Network Lead.

Our social media presence grew steadily during the past year as more people used these platforms for engagement with their colleagues. It is fascinating to observe the interest generated by blog posts, as noted in this year-end article.

ARNBC is proud to be a member of the Canadian Nurses Association—2013 brought opportunities to voice perspectives from BC during the annual meeting in Ottawa in June and throughout the year with our president’s participation in the CNA Board of Directors.

Looking back on the year with its challenges and highlights, I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to work closely with remarkable nurses in British Columbia and with leaders in local and national nursing organizations.

Posted by Nora Whyte, Interim Executive Director, ARNBC

Visit ARNBC Website for More News

The past few months have been exciting ones for ARNBC: the new nursing association in British Columbia is gaining momentum with increased growth and other positive indicators of interest from nurses around the province.

ARNBC’s Consultations Project, part of an ongoing engagement process with nurses, is well underway and is yielding a rich array of ideas and practical suggestions for the future including topics for policy work, ideas for revitalizing the network of specialty practice groups and identification of gaps that ARNBC could fill during the next few years.

As our showpiece project for the first part of 2012, we have created a special Consultations Page that includes a map and calendar of sessions, comments and updates. You can also review and download resource materials—these materials provide additional background and are available for nurses to use in hosting informal kitchen table conversations with groups of colleagues.

We are proud of the work of our Board members and our team from Monkeytree Creative on our website and social media development. It is so gratifying to observe the recent increase in social media followers and contributors as well as the fantastic response to our blog articles. Members of our team and guest authors are coming forward with timely and thoughtful articles and many people are posting fascinating comments. Please see recent posts by Bernie Pauly, Wendy Bowles, Barb Reece and Betty Poag—thanks for sharing your ideas and opinions!

We continue to work closely with the Canadian Nurses Association and look forward to seeing many nurses in Vancouver in June at the CNA Annual Meeting and Biennial Convention.

Posted by Nora Whyte

ARNBC Website

Trumpeter Swans - Comox Bay

The ARNBC Blog is gathering momentum! It has been so interesting  to read the posts and the comments that are being generated over time. Pat Foster wrote a great one recently on the theme of Better Health, Better Care highlighting the role of nurses in chronic disease management.

Two astute commentaries on Pat’s article are worth reading for the authors’ knowledge of the history of the Comox Valley Nursing Centre and for their expert perspectives on the value of a professional association in innovation and policy leadership.

Please visit the ARNBC blog to read other articles of interest to nurses in British Columbia and to add your voice to our discussions.

We are launching a consultation process with BC nurses in 2012–more to come in the next update.

 

Posted by Nora Whyte

Project Manager, Association of Registered Nurses of British Columbia

 

Creating a new nursing association in BC

For the past six  months I have been working as project manager for the Association of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (ARNBC). My role is to support the work of the Board of Directors in creating a professional organization for registered nurses in the province.

The goal is to establish a new organization that will bring the perspectives of BC nurses to health and social policy issues. Once fully established, the new association will carry out strategies to advance the role of the nursing profession and collaborate with other nursing and health organizations provincially and nationally.

The ARNBC and the Canadian Nurses Association have signed a one-year agreement to work together on initiatives that will contribute to  building our new association. We are hosting a cross-country tour to BC by a CNA delegation in December and we’re planning a province-wide consultation process with nurses that will be launched in January. It is an exciting time in the history of nursing in BC.

Members of the ARNBC Board are reaching out through engagement with nurses at meetings, conferences and at schools of nursing this fall. We’re using our blog to post opinions and commentary on topical issues including the new Nurse-Family Partnership Program and a fascinating background piece on Insite, Vancouver’s supervised injection site.

Please visit the ARNBC website for updates, new blog posts and links to our social media sites.