Message From the President

Lisa M. Deaton BSN, RN

Welcome to the Baton Rouge District Nurses Association (BRDNA), I am Lisa Deaton, the current President of BRDNA.  If you are a member, I would like to thank you for your support and if you are not a member I would like to invite you to join.

BRDNA continues to strive to be a strong voice for all professional registered nurses and an advocate for the citizens of the 7 parishes we serve.  To be successful we need You to join and become engaged in the work of our district.  We are stronger together.  I know many of you belong to your specialty organization and I applaud you for that.  I would ask that you consider joining the organization that speaks out for all RNs no matter their level of education, area of practice, or work setting.   The cost of supporting your professional organization is less than a dollar a day/month.

As I begin this year as President of the BRDNA, I have met with the board members to brainstorm on how we can evolve as a District to meet the needs of our very diverse nurses in the parishes that make up BRDNA.    I would love to hear from you on any ideas you have.  Please feel free to contact me at presidentbrdnalmd@gmail.com

In addition to BRDNA’s routine responsibilities, we also serve as the co-lead for the Region 2 group of the Louisiana Action Coalition (LAC) Future of Nursing Campaign.  The LAC was formed in response to the call to action prompted by the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” which provides a blueprint for transforming the nursing profession to improve health care and meet the needs of diverse populations.  You may find more information about the campaign at https://www.louisianafutureofnursing.org.   There is information about the work of Region 2 under the “Our Work” tab on this website.    Those interested in working with the group please contact: Clara Earl at clarabrd@yahoo.com.

As part of our professions’ celebration on this Centennial year, we are honored to be the host of the LSNA/BRDNA Carnival Cruise and Learn on October 31, 2019.  The cruise is a 4 day cruise and leaves out of New Orleans.  Our speaker will be Cynthia Bienemy, PhD, RN. Cynthia currently serves as the director of the Louisiana Center for Nursing at the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and as co-lead for LAC and is a member of the LAC Core Leadership Team.   The topic is “Nursing’s Role in Building a Culture of Health Across Louisiana”.
As the largest and most trusted group of health care workers, nurses can have an astonishing influence not only on the future of our profession, but on improving the delivery of healthcare for all citizens we may be required to serve.  My hope is that we can all work together to make good things happen in 2019 for our profession.