Happy New Year! 

As we enter 2019, we look forward to new possibilities, renewed energy, and hope for a bright future for all of us as individuals and for our organization.  With this in mind, it is important that we take time to enjoy the moment, taking pleasure in everyday activities, as are the student nurses in this photo, circa 1910 at the University of Virginia.

As an organization, we have several events to look forward to. Plans for our annual conference in September in Dallas are shaping up nicely, with a “hands on” preconference focused on finding “Hidden Nurses” in online archives, and a keynote about diversity in nursing history by Dr. Barbra Mann Wall, Director of the Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry.  In addition, we are planning to hold the annual conference in Chester, UK, in 2020, with an optional four-day excursion (by bus through England’s Lake District) to Edinburgh, Scotland. There we will visit Edinburgh castle and Surgeon’s Hall, among other sites. Stay tuned for details. The brochure should be available shortly!

On a more serious note, AAHN board members will participate in a strategic planning session in March of this year. Working together under the leadership of Keeling and Associates, and with the help of the Riggs’ management team, we hope to address issues of diversity and inclusion noted by our members in the recent survey. We also hope to create a plan for sustainability of the organization for the future, addressing both membership and financial issues.  As to the latter, I am happy to report that the capital campaign is well underway!  As of this writing, we have received donations amounting to more than $7,500. For that we are very grateful!  While not quite to our goal of $20,000 in four weeks, we have raised enough to enhance our operating budget for this year. Hopefully, we will also begin to enhance the organization’s endowment in the near future!     

Once again, I wish you a very happy and healthy New Year!  We have much to look forward to!  

Sincerely,

Arlene W. Keeling PhD, RN, FAAN

President, AAHN