The National Black Nurses Association will induct 14 nurse leaders into the Institute of Excellence during the NBNA 40th Annual Institute and Conference, Friday, July 27, 2012, 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm, the Hilton Bonnet Creek Hotel, Orlando, Florida. The class of 2012 is the fourth cohort of NBNA members that will be inducted. The induction includes Bayhealth Nurse Eunice Gwanmesia, RN, MSN, MSHCA, who is a staff nurse on the 4A Medical Surgical Unit at Bayhealth Kent General, and is also a full-time faculty member in the Department of Nursing at Delaware State University. Gwanmesia is a member of the Bayhealth Cultural Diversity Committee and the Chair of the Delaware State University Department of Nursing Cultural Heritage Committee.
“This is a very exciting time for you to be a part of this Institute as the 2010 IOM Future of Nursing Report details that nursing organizations like the NBNA should promote and honor our nursing colleagues who exemplify extraordinary leadership within the profession of nursing”, stated NBNA President Deidre Walton in a letter to the inductees.
“This wonderful group of professional nurses demonstrates outstanding work in the areas of education, practice, research, public policy and community service”, said Dr. Bettye Davis Lewis, NBNA Past President and National Conference Chairperson. “Their work helps to reduce health care disparities and excess morbidity and mortality in communities of color.”
The National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) was founded in 1971 under the leadership of Dr. Lauranne Sams, former Dean and Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama. NBNA is a non-profit organization, which represents 150,000 African American registered nurses, licensed vocational/practical nurses, nursing students and retired nurses from the U.S., Eastern Caribbean and Africa, with 83 chartered chapters, in 34 states.
If you’d like to join the Black Nurses Association of the First State, please contact Eunice Gwanmesia at egwanmes@desu.edu or at (302) 399-5776.