Boston City Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association
President’s Address - October 17, 2009

The officers and Board of Directors welcome you. The membership is so fortunate to have such a talented and committed Board. As President, I depend on them and trust them implicitly to insure the legacy of the BCHSNA. I could not do my job without them. I am pleased to introduce your Officers, Board Members and Committee Chairs:

VP: Elizabeth Keating
Treasurer: Peggie McCarthy Mogan
Secretary: Marybeth Greene Anderson
Board: Catherine Kneut, Donna Serra Kenny, Audrey Tingle Leeping, Monica Rielly Hart, Mary Johnson Moore, Ann Martin Daley
Scholarship Chair: Linda Jute Shinkwin
Social Activities Chairs: Joan Youngston Keane & Ginny Styles
Website Liasion: Lauren Ells
Remembrance Chair: Netta Ramano

The Board has been busy since the Spring meeting working on the issues we identified at last Fall’s meeting: 1.) Donations and dues; 2.) Scholarship and 3.) Discussion of creating an endowment for our funds once BCHSNAA no longer exists.

  1. Donations and dues: Thank you all for your continued generosity. Your response to my request to make donations in lieu of not having to pay dues has been outstanding! This is how we will keep our organization alive. Details to follow in Peggie’s report.
  2. Scholarship – There were only 2 applicants this year. – This is the first time this has happened since we opened our scholarships up to families of graduates. They were awarded to: Amanda Joyce (niece of Bobbie Metal) attending Curry College and Elizabeth Finnegan (daughter of Betty Finnegan) attending Florida Gulf Coast University. Bobbie and Betty are both graduates of the class of 1962. PLEASE DO NOT FORGET ABOUT THIS VALUABLE RESOURCE FOR YOU OR YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS.
    2a) We did not award a scholarship to a UMass student this year as yet. The board has revised the process for this scholarship and now the nursing student must apply directly to us and we will be able to select the student we think is most deserving. Linda can give you details in her report. We will once again, sponsor the BMC Ann Hargreaves Award next Spring.
  3. Discussion of creating an endowment for our funds once BCHSNAA no longer exists: With the permission of the membership by vote at the Fall ‘08 meeting, the Board is making the following recommendation:

“The BCNSNAA donates upon its dissolution as an organization, the remaining funds in its general and scholarship fund to the Nursing Division of the Boston Medical Center. The donation will be made to honor the nurses of the BCHSNAA who trained and practiced at Boston City Hospital, now Boston Medical Center (BMC). This gift is intended to continue the commitment of the BCHSNAA to inspire and educate future generations of professional nurses to serve the most vulnerable of populations.

This gift shall be used to support the academic, scholarly and research goals which individually and collectively enhance professional nursing and evidenced-based nursing practice that in turn provides compassionate, scientific nursing care to the patients of the BMC community. The gift shall not be used to support capital needs or salaries and shall be administered by the Vice President for Nursing and the Nursing Director of Nursing Education and Research. In the event these positions no longer exist, the President and CEO of BMC shall oversee the gift. In the event BMC no longer exists, the gift shall be donated to the College of Nursing, University of Massachusetts at Boston to be used for scholarships for undergraduate or graduate students in nursing.

The gift shall be held as an endowment fund as defined in Section 1 of Chapter 180A of the Mass General Laws. In addition, for the life of the gift, the monies shall continue to support the annual Ann G. Hargreaves Award for Nursing Excellence awarded each year to a BMC nurse during Nurses’ Week in May.” *

*After the motion was passed, there was discussion, then vote taken to accept the motion with 10 opposed and no abstentions. Motion passed and voted on to amend the bylaws to reflect the vote on the first motion.

The Board has decided to suspend the activities of the Social Activities Committee as it is labor intensive with modest yield. We do not want to give up the idea of organizing social events so if any of you would like to join the Committee and generate some new ideas, please see me. Many thanks to Joan and Ginny for all of their hard work!

Anyone wishing to join the Scholarship Committee should see Linda. We welcome new members. Also, we have formed an Archives Committee chaired by Kathy Kneut and Betsy Keating. They are planning a trip to the BU Mugar Library to view the BCH artifacts that are there. Please see them if you’re interested in joining the Committee.

We welcome and congratulate the graduates of the class of 1959, who are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Welcome also to the graduates of the class of 1969, who are celebrating the 40th anniversary. Congratulations to Eileen Duff, Class of 1965 on her retirement from BMC and thank you for wonderfully representing the spirit of the BCHSNA in the BMC’s Nurses Week video Lisa O’Connor presented at our spring meeting.

Feedback is important. If you would like to share your ideas, thoughts or concerns, please see me or any of your Board members.

On behalf of the Alumni, a lovely ceramic spa basket was sent to Netta Ramano to let her know we are all thinking of her and wishing her well.

As a result of our raffle in the spring, the Alumni donated $500 to Lisa O’Connor’s charity: Birth Sisters Program at Boston Medical Center. Please be as generous today and buy raffle tickets for our beautiful donated baskets and gifts. Also, please make sure you see our note packets that are for sale as well as our pens, thanks to the hard work of Marybeth Anderson, our Secretary.

Our guest speaker today is Dr. Daniel Oates who professionally grew up at BMC. His respect for nurses started as a medical student at BU with one of our very own Alumni who actually was nice to him as a medical student! He is, and continues to become, an accomplished, thoughtful and compassionate physician who deeply cares about the special population served by BMC. We are honored to have him here today as our speaker.

Respectfully submitted,
Clare Gateley Wohlgemuth