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Heartland Regional SGNA P.O. Box 114 Lone Jack, MO 64070-0114 On October 3, 1989, a group of almost 100 nurses met at Shawnee Mission Medical Center to begin discussions about forming an organization of G.I. Nurses in the Kansas Citv metropolitan area. It was agreed by all who attended, that area G.I. nurses and associates were in need of a method to network, share experiences and provide educational programs to keep us abreast of the latest in our specialty. The dinner that evening was sponsored by Pentax Corporation, and an educational program was provided on the internal functions of the Pentax scopes. Throughout the next two years, meetings were rotated among the area hospitals for the purpose of providing discussions and education on clinical topics relating to gastroenterology. In October of 1990, we initiated the move of Wheatland SGNA in Topeka to Kansas City. In November of 1990, Wheatland disbanded their charter. National denied our request to charter in Kansas City, and recommended that we work with Gateway Regional in St. Louis. Several members from Kansas City met with the Gateway officers and found that joining their regional organization would be difficult. Upon reporting this to National in May of 1991, we were granted permission to form our own regional society in Kansas City. The first slate of elected officers were: Peggy Hieronymous, President, Peggy White, President- Elect, Geribeth Auslander, Secretary, and Candice Quillin, Treasurer. Peggy was the key person in our chartering efforts. The first membership dues were $20.00 per member to join. At this time, a nurse or associate could join a Regional without joining the national organization. Membership for the first fiscal year was 68 members. The officers developed our first set of Bylaws and Articles, wrote our goals, and started planning our future. To make our community more aware of our specialty, the officers hosted a booth at the Nurses Dav Celebration at Bartle Hall in May 1991. We celebrated our first G.I. Nurses Day, as a group, with all the other nursing organizations in Kansas and Missouri. We were on our way to developing a strong organization ourselves. At the June 4, 1991 meeting, the name "Heartland" was selected, the Bylaws and Articles were approved and accepted. Heartland was granted its first charter in September of 1991 at the National meeting in Baltimore, MD. The following November 9, the Heartland logo was selected. On May 10, 1993, the Heartland Chapter of SGNA received its plaque from National SGNA in San Francisco, CA. The first Poster Contest was held in 1993 as a way of giving back to our members for their sharing. In 1995, an Educational Scholarship was offered twice a year through drawings at the Spring and Fall seminars. We developed moneymaking projects to provide more educational scholarships. These included selling sweatshirts and tee shirts with the Heartland logo, and had a porcelain Nursing Doll Raffle. In 1998 we added a "new membership" drawing to encourage nonmembers to join and remain in the membership. For added excitement at our educational seminars, we provided baskets representing "Kansas City" for those lucky attendees whose names were drawn. A new high was reached with 130+ members in 1998. Vendors began inquiring about our next meetings requesting to participate by showing new products and services. Vendor interest continued and we attained a record of twenty seven vendors participating at our Spring seminar in 1999. We began working with neighboring states and presented our first joint educational program in the fall of 1999 in Omaha, Nebraska. A new board position was developed in 1999, as the Director of Education became an elected position. This gave added strength to the Board as well as to the person doing so much behind the scenes work developing the educational programs for our regional. March of 2000 proved to be another record setting seminar with 150 attendees. Our Fall 2000 seminar marked the introduction of a new educational scholarship of $1,000 specifically for a G.1 nurse to attend the National SGNA meeting in the spring of 2001. In 2002, the Board voted to expand the scholarship money. Two $1000 awards are given at the fall seminar, and four $500 awards given annually: two at the spring seminar and two at the fall seminar. The Board also expanded the number of membership drawings to four per year. Heartland Regional is a strong organization. Members have become involved on the National level holding positions such as CBGNA Board member, CBGNA President, serving on and Chair of the SGNA Regional Committee and member of the e-SIG Committee. Physicians offer to present educational lectures for us. Vendors are joining forces with us through membership and support of educational opportunities. Our fellow nursing peers view us as great resources in the field of gastroenterology. |