2021 Spring GAPNA Newsletter Volume 40 Number 1

First Student Board Member Elected

By Ron Ordona

During its virtual chapter meeting November 21, 2020, the Northern California Chapter of GAPNA (NCCGAPNA), after going through the process as prescribed by the chapter by-laws, elected Kristin Brady, BSN, RN, an adult-gero nurse practitioner master’s student at Boise State University, Boise, ID, as its first student board member. Kristin is graduating with honors this year but will help the chapter establish the Student Board Member succession.

Kristin graduated from The Catholic University of America with a BSN in 2003. She began her nursing career in transfusion, blood banking, and blood manufacturing with BloodSource in Sacramento, now Vitalant. Pursuing her passion for the older adult population, she worked as a nursing director in a 189-bed assisted living community with Dignity Health. There she witnessed the lack of access for older adults to qualified gerontology/geriatric specialists within the healthcare system. Kristin’s clinical experience and background working with older adults prepared her well to become a primary care adult geriatric nurse practitioner.

Kristin is currently a senior nurse advocate educating and navigating patients and families through the continuum of senior care services.

Qualifications for the NCCGAPNA student board member include:

  1. The Student Board Member is a non-voting position on the NCCGAPNA Board of Directors designed to be the liaison for Advanced Practice Students (NPs and CNSs).
  2. The Student Board Member is an elected position voted on by the NCCGAPNA Board from among applicants who submit a letter of interest/application.
  3. The Student Member must be a member of GAPNA, in general, and NCCGAPNA, in particular.
  4. The position is effective April to April (beginning and ending with the yearly BOD elections in April). Applications are accepted until the April meeting. (By a unanimous vote of the board, the first elected student board member was granted an exception to fill a vacant position).
  5. The candidate should be a current Master’s in Nursing or DNP-enrolled student.
  6. The BOD reviews all applications and votes to select the Student Board Member.

The duties and responsibilities of the student board member include:

  1. Availability for Chapter meetings via teleconference or in-person.
  2. Feedback privilege on BOD motions before the voting members cast a vote.
  3. Co-chair the Annual Student Night Out.
  4. Develop liaison with NP and CNS students in colleges and universities with NP and CNS programs (consider a Student Affairs Committee in future).

The term of office for Student Board Member is 1 year with a possible second term of office.

Ron Ordona, DNP, FNP-BC
Chapter President
ron@seniorcareclinic.org