Dear OADN Members:

In my first message of the year, I highlighted the amazing work of our members through their volunteer service on OADN committees and task forces. .  I shared with great admiration how each of you persevered and made a difference in the lives of your nursing students.  I am forever grateful for all the work you do to advance the profession and support OADN. Now, I must ask that you continue to make a difference by sharing the value of an OADN membership with your nursing faculty and colleagues to help us strengthen our collective voice and impact. As the only national organization solely advocating for community college nursing education and the associate degree pathway, it is imperative that we all contribute to the continued growth of OADN.

Over the last few weeks, I have had the chance to review the 2021 convention evaluations that have been submitted thus far. It is obvious everyone was elated to be in person with their colleagues, share experiences from the past two years, and hear from the exceptional speakers.  It was some of the general comments at the end of the evaluation that spoke to my passion and purpose as OADN’s CEO.  Statements such as, “The last session left an impression on me as a culmination to be part of the solution to assure many more have access to nursing as a profession. I am hoping we continue to gather and plan and act upon these initiatives. Thank you OADN for being in the forefront of these issues. WE ARE OADN!”  Another comment, “Really enjoy being a member. You are doing great work!”  Yet another, “I have the utmost respect for OADN and all that it does for associate degree nursing educators.”

However, one remark that really stood out for me was, “We need to do an intensive campaign for all ADN educators to join the national organization.  Being that it is the only organization that advocates for associate degree nursing.”  I wanted to stand up and cheer, as it has been a long-term goal for OADN that all ADN programs become members.  We realize there are challenges to achieving this goal for ADN faculty, such as budget constraints, an unsupportive administration, and  a lack of understanding among program about the important work OADN does every single day to advocate for the preservation and advancement  of the associate degree pathway.

OADN is your strongest advocate and best resource for associate degree nursing, but  we need your help now more than ever to strengthen our voice and collective impact.  Each of you play an integral role in our ongoing advocacy for associate degree nursing education and our future expansion in networks that promote leadership, professional development and collaboration within community college nursing education and the communities we serve.

I would like to challenge each of you to use your role and experience as a valued member of OADN to speak with a fellow faculty member, dean or director and share the important work that OADN does to support them. Let us know how the conversation goes and how we can support you.  Also, I am more than willing to speak with any of your Deans and Directors group about the value of OADN and provide an update on the important work we are doing.  OADN membership offers many benefits, one of the most significant being it gives you a voice in OADN to help shape and direct the future of this critical pathway on the national level. I humbly ask that you use your voice now to help us expand our membership and shape the future of associate degree nursing. For more information on the benefits of membership, please visit Membership – (oadn.org)

As always, I value hearing from you so please let me know how I can help to encourage all ADN educators to become members of OADN.

We are truly stronger together!

 

 

Donna Meyer, MSN, RN, ANEF, FAADN, FAAN
Chief Executive Officer, OADN