A Letter From Our President - September 2020

Hello CTSGNA members and friends,

I wanted to take an opportunity to update you on CTSGNA during this unprecedented time. It has indeed been a wild year, and I hope this letter finds you and your families all healthy. Between Covid -19, civil unrest, killer hornets, snow in May, and a total change in all of our family schedules I believe that the best description of 2020 is this: If 2020 were a drink, it would be Golytely. We can all understand that sentiment!

As most of you are aware by now the SGNA annual course that was postponed from May is now cancelled for an in person conference, and will now be a virtual one. There is still time to register. Check the SGNA website for more information.

On that same note, we have decided to cancel our region’s Beyond the Scope course that was scheduled for mid-October. We still wanted to offer our members educational opportunities though, and will be having a FREE online educational session on November 14. It will be a 4 hour program presented by Healthmark. More information about this will be upcoming on the CTSGNA website and by email.

Save the date for next year’s BTS on October 15-16 at the Doubletree by Hilton in Bristol, CT! We are already beginning to plan for it. If anyone would like to serve on the BTS committee please contact me. We are always looking to recruit new talent for this event!

In a normal year we would be recruiting nominations for officers in our fall elections. Since this has been a stressful year for all, and a lost year for our regional endeavors, the current board has agreed to stay in their current positions for 2021. This will give us a chance as a board to pursue our goals that were unable to be completed this year, and to allow some continuity into a hopefully normal new year. We had hoped to review the chapter by-laws and policies & procedures this year; therefore, that will be a major goal for next year.

Don’t forget the educational opportunity for September that was emailed to you, and is also on the website. So far, even with all the social distancing requirements and craziness of this year we are proud that our region has continued to offer CE’s: a total of 8 completed or planned! November is our usual dinner meeting, and we are hoping that it may still occur. If not we will try to secure another virtual offering. Here’s hoping to an end to Covid-19 soon!!

Please contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you all for your continuing service to our patients, our profession, and our specialty of gastrointestinal nursing.

Sincerely,
Barbara Comstock BSN,RN, CGRN
President CTSGNA

Beyond the Scope 2019 was held in Bristol, CT on October 25th and 26th.

Happy New Year!

I am honored to be the CTSGNA president for 2019 and thought I’d update you on what’s coming up and

what’s new.

1. Your new board is Barbara Comstock (immediate past president and president-elect), Rose

Leitner-Byrnes (secretary), Janet Cordova (treasurer), Meg Ramsay (Board of Directors),

Kathleen Saunders (Board of Directors), Mary Jason (Board of Directors), and Kathleen Radecki

(Board of Directors). We had a very productive first meeting and have decided to focus on the

bylaws this year while continuing to promote membership and benefits. In addition, we are

considering new venues for Beyond the Scope and are looking for suggestions.

2. We have our first membership meeting of 2019 on February 21 at Midstate Medical Center

(435 Lewis Ave, Meriden) in conference rooms 2&3. Our educational session will be

“Therapeutic Endoscopic Mucosal Resection”, presented by Boston Scientific. Arrival is 6pm

with a quick meeting at 615 and lecture at 630. (flyer attached)

3. At the February meeting there will be a vote on decreasing the quorum for voting to 3% in order

to align with national SGNA.

4. Applications for scholarships to the national conference are due by the February meeting.

Applications should be submitted to Barbara Comstock, scholarship committee chair.

5. It’s time to make your travel arrangements for Nationals! The conference is April 14-16 in

Portland, Oregon. There are a few of us from Connecticut that will be making the cross-country

trek for this wonderful conference.

6. Download the SGNA on the Go app and/or explore the SGNA communities (a professional social

media) at https://communities.sgna.org

7. Please consider lending your talent to CTSGNA. We are always looking for committee members

and board members. This is a wonderful organization!

8. Meetings planned for the rest of this year are:

a. March 21- Middlesex; we will need to vote on resolutions

b. May 23- HOCC New Britain

c. June 20- dinner meeting TBA

d. September 19- Norwalk

e. Beyond the Scope- TBA

f. November dinner meeting TBA; elections

Thank you to the sites that volunteered to host educational meetings!

In closing, I’d like to thank our board of directors and committee members for their all their efforts and

thank all of you for recognizing the benefits of being an SGNA member. I will do my best as your

president this year and welcome your suggestions/comments. I can be reached at 203-537-5225 or

jojorn88@gmail.com

Regards,

Joanne Struble, MSHA, BSN, RN, CGRN

CTSGNA President

Beyond the Scope 2018 was held in Cromwell, CT on October 12th and 13th.

It's with gratitude and humbleness I thank you all for allowing me to serve as your President. It has been a term of change, revising, and re-thinking the vision and mission of CTSGNA. We have worked hard as a Board to move forwards, plan for succession, and commit to mentoring.

I would especially like to thank members for their countless hours of meetings, emails, texts, and phone calls. Their commitment has helped make decisions for the general well-being of the Region. We represent different hospitals/organizations, and practice in a variety of settings/roles. Yet we have united together to meet obstacles every step of the way, including managing dual roles.

CTSGNA has seen the development of "bullet points" describing details of Chair Responsibilities in BTS. As the major source of income, this Regional Course commands attention in achieving a balanced budget. All "bullet points" have been added to the CTSGNA.org website so that others may learn the responsibilities in event planning. It truly has been an era of updating and change.

We have committed to updating an electronic data base each year by adding new attendee emails. In addition, we have continued with a Hospitality/Membership Table which serves as a resource for non-members to learn about CTSGNA and its benefits. National SGNA now offers flexible options to join. Our raffle resurrection has met a high degree of success. Attention to detail this year marked a celebration of 25 years of providing education in CT. We respect the past and where it began, as well as celebrate current and future endeavors.

This year marked a special one in being able to review BTS Templates, as well as the CTSGNA overall budget, to make decisions regarding upcoming expenditures. At this time, reviewing finances, and comparing baselines have become our fiscal responsibility. Recognizing a "spend-down" (paying no mind to the budget), is understood as negatively affecting future members of this organization.

CTSGNA has made history celebrating the 2017 Outstanding Certified Region of the Year (for the 2nd time!). We have made a footprint in National endeavors such as teaching/revising the SGNA Nurse Review Course, participating in the Healthcare Policy Committee, and National Audit Committee. We have also been identified as an outstanding example of Team Work by Endo Pro Magazine and will be featured in a future 2018 issue.

CTSGNA has updated policies, created new ones more in line with our mission, and now mirrors National practices. Lastly, CT has made history, in having produced 2 National Presidents.

Thank you once again, for your commitment and support; you have made me so proud.

All the best,

Christine Sarisley, MS, APRN, CGRN

CTSGNA Beyond the Scope 2017 was held October 13th and 14th in Cromwell, CT. 

"Beyond the Scope 2016" was held on October 22nd. The venue for this year's conferences was Four Points Sheraton, 275 Research Pkwy Meriden, CT 06450, (203) 238-2380. On October 21st SGNA also hosted our annual ERCP Workshop