Greetings TSAOHN members,

Here we are in the Texas “dog days of summer” experiencing a historic record number of HOT days. Hopefully you are finding a way to stay cool. This is a challenging time for workers who are exposed to these extreme temperatures and a great opportunity for OHNs to make sure your action plans for keeping workers safe and healthy are in full force.

I would like to recap the board activities for the second quarter of 2023:

The past few months have been busy months for the board and all OHNs. President Melinda Cordova and Communications Director Marsha Vanlandingham visited the University of Texas School of Nursing on March 24, 2023, to participate in a Professional Nursing Association Mixer with the nursing students. This was a way for the students to learn about a variety of nursing opportunities and the organizations that support them. We created a tri-fold flier to share what OHNs do daily in their jobs, how we support the community and protect the worker, as well as a little bit about our organization and credentialing.

Several of the board members attended the national conference in San Antonio representing TSAOHN. It was great to see all our members who attended and catch up on the latest and greatest in occupational health. TSAOHN designed the pin for the conference, it is beautiful representation of Texas. President Cordova was able to attend the Chapter Leader session which was a great opportunity for us to share our current challenges with membership and voice our concerns about the communication struggles we are experiencing with the national office.

The Board of Directors met April 28 & 29, 2023 for our second meeting of the year in Austin, TX. On Friday we had the honor of visiting the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History located at the University of Texas at Austin. We were hosted by their staff and were able to view items from of the TSAOHN collection. Those items included pictures, manuscripts, meeting minutes, event items, etc. We also had additional items to donate to the collection. One of the most significant was a couple of historic manuscripts donated by our member Katherine Moore. If you would like to peek at the collection you can do that online @ the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and go to “find a collection” and type in Texas State Association of Occupational Health Nurses and this will bring up the collection that can now be viewed by you wherever you are.

In second quarter we celebrated OHN week as well as International Nurses Week. Wow! It is great to be a NURSE! Hope you all had a chance to celebrate YOU and your accomplishments!

Our Election Advisor, Mary Garrison, is actively seeking nominees to run for open board positions for the 2023 election, service years 2024/25, positions open and needing candidates, President Elect, Treasurer, Two Director Positions and Election Advisor. There will be a membership email with needed information coming soon if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else. Please consider volunteering and serving your fellow OHNs, your service to the organization would be greatly appreciated and you will be rewarded through your service.

Respectfully,
Melinda Cordova, President of TSAOHN