President's Report

Deb Baker, accel. ’92, MSN ’97 President, JHNAA

This is a bittersweet day for me-my last address to all of you at our annual Homecoming Business meeting. I thank all of you for your years of support for me as president and will miss receiving your opinions, criticisms, and accolades-they keep the board driven and focused.

Over the past four years, we have worked as a team to secure our legacy and pass on the love for tradition in partnering with Phoebe Letocha in the archives, with the stellar book committee on seeing through completion of Our Shared Legacy; and with our graduation classes keeping the pinning ceremonies alive. During this time we also folded the proud and rich traditions of Church Hospital into our family–Deb Kennedy has added warmth and creativity to our events with unmatched energy. Thanks, Deb.

We continue to be challenged by the daunting efforts of connecting with our more recent alum classes. Our students become community and global leaders and are difficult to lure back to Wolfe Street as they go out to save the world. We need to find more progressive ways to keep them connected. Our colleagues at other university schools of nursing face the same challenges. To this end, we have tried to support and be present for student activities on campus and get to know our faculty. Our networking panels are well attended and received. Through these efforts, our hope is that our students will give back and come back to their alma mater. The school needs ALL of  us!

The alumni board and development office have become like family to me, and I have learned from all of them. I want to thank Lois Hoffer, Betty Scher and Sue Culp for reminding me about my duty to give back as an alum and educating me about the school’s rich history and tradition. I can’t thank JoAnn Coleman enough for her support and mentorship over the years-personally and professionally. Kate Knott’s creativity and pragmatism have kept our activities current and fresh-thank you Kate. Leslie Kemp, Marguerite Baty and Matt Soladay continue to infuse new ideas while keeping our traditions alive in our attempts to connect to our graduates and students. Our graduate student alums on the board-Tina Cafeo, Sue Verrillo and Paula Kent-have strengthened our leadership with their wisdom and passion for the school, hospital and alumni association. I am forever grateful for their friendship and hard work. I would like to give a standing ovation to two people who REALLY make this organization tick-daily and on time-Melinda Rose and Jackie Gray. They are the
central nervous system of this organization, and the warm connection on the other end of the phone with our alumni-new and old. Thank you both. I will forever be connected to this great association and will continue my efforts at the nursing school, on the JHU Alumni Council and as a director of nursing in the hospital. I now hand the gavel over to Tina Cafeo. She will keep us focused and challenge us to think progressively while guarding what we love. I am looking forward to her leadership. Thanks again for four great years!

Treasurer’s Report:
Sue Culp

The Alumni Association is financially sound. We went over budget for membership due to the purchase of 1,000 nursing pins to be presented over the next three years (six graduating classes). Due to the current financial crisis, investments are down but we are working with our financial advisor on strategies to protect them. Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations Fiona Newton thanked the alumni for their generosity to the school. A total of $323,364 was given to JHUSON through class reunion gifts. Priority for JHUSON is to raise funds for scholarships since quite a number of accepted students do not come to JH because they cannot afford it. Fiona also addressed additional building space which will cost $35 million ($15 million raised so far).

Committee Reports:
Archives: Sue Culp

The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives thanks you for your continued support of the Archives’ work to process the Johns Hopkins Nursing Historical Collection (JH) and the Church Home and Hospital Nursing Collection (CH). The nursing collections continue to be used by researchers including students, faculty, and staff at the School of Nursing, alumni, and historians of medicine and nursing.

Phoebe Evans Letocha presented a poster at the American Association for the History of Nursing titled “The Role of Nursing History Scholarship on the Development of the Johns Hopkins Nursing Historical Collection.” Her poster explored Adelaide Nutting’s influence in establishing the collection and the role the two histories, the Johns and Pfefferkorn book and Our Shared Legacy, played in the collection’s development.

New material has been added to the JH and CH nursing collections at the Archives this year from the Alumni Association office, the offices of the Dean and Communications at the School of Nursing, and from individual alumni. One of the more significant accessions is the papers of Dr. Victoria Mock, who died last year. Other accessions include the World War II scrapbook of Eleanor Niernsee Godfrey JH ’36.

Rachel Pickett Anderson JH’ 58 donated a letter from Florence Nightingale to a Mrs. Robertson dated Sept. 6, 1887. Mrs. Anderson’s generosity follows in the footsteps of Isabel Hampton Robb and Howard Kelly, who established the Nightingale Collection at Johns Hopkins.

Volunteer, Betty B. Scher JH ’50, has indexed all the articles and alumni news to the Johns Hopkins Nurses’ Alumni Magazine from 1949 to 2003.

In addition to processing and describing the personal paper collections, Ruth Carver did significant work on the Records of the JH Nurses’ Alumni Association, student records and nursing service employment records in the Records of the JH Hospital SON, catalogued records from the Office of Communications at the JHUSON, including photographs published in Nursing News from 1985-1993. Ruth also completed the processing of the Dorothea Orem Collection under a grant from the Sarah E. Allison Foundation. Ruth resigned at the end of June in order to pursue a career in music. Since then the Archives’ Visual Materials Archivist Tim Wisniewski has been working on the
photographic holdings.

The Medical Archives is redesigning its website. The new online catalogue will include descriptions of all the nursing related art and artifacts. The Archives is also in discussion with the Maryland Historical Society for the return of the materials that Betty Cuthbert placed there in 1973. The return of this material will mean that the entire Johns Hopkins Nursing Historical Collection will once again be united.

Nominating: Lois Hoffer

The slate of officers for 2008 is:

President:Tina Cafeo MSN ’97
Secretary:Leslie Kemp ’95
Elected Director:Neysa Ernst ’06
Nominating Committee: Deborah Baker accel. ’92,
MSN ’97 (outgoing President) Bernard Keenan ’86,
MSN ’93 Kellye Nelson ’06, and Sarah Payne ’03
Motion was unopposed to accept the slate as presented.

Membership: Kate Knott
The committee scheduled two networking events, sponsored a job fair for graduate students, participated in welcome events for new students and offered history tours of JHH. JHNAA continues to sponsor pinning ceremonies for BSN students which are a big expense but the students are very appreciative of receiving the Hopkins nursing pin from the alumni. Membership increased slightly this year. We continue to try to engage recent alums. Focus for the year is to engage students while they are here and increase membership.

Homecoming: Paula Kent
The Homecoming Committee made a concerted effort in 2008 to reduce overall costs. Although all of the charges have not yet been submitted, it is anticipated that we have decreased our overall expenses for Homecoming by at least a third. The cocktail party remained at the School of Nursing with a slightly smaller range of refreshments. A musical trio played music, a photographer took photos, and a video of the previous year alumni events played in the café area.

The Saturday events were all planned for the JHH East Baltimore Campus this year in an effort to reduce overall expenses incurred with having these activities off-site. The breakfast and luncheon were held in the Turner Concourse and the business meeting and reunion photos were held in the Turner Auditorium. A few tours were conducted through the first floor of the hospital to see the Christ Statue, the nursing portraits, the Vivien Thomas and Dr. Blalock portraits, and Hurd Hall. Hospital Banquet Services was contracted for catering, the JHH Book Center offered items for sale, and several student volunteers kindly spent the day posing for photos in donated uniforms from years ago.

Editorial: JoAnn Coleman
The members of the Editorial Committee continue to meet with the Editorial Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Nursing magazine to review past themes and generate ideas for future issues with new story ideas. New members to the Advisory Board have brought thought-provoking and exciting ideas for sharing Hopkins nursing stories. New ideas are always welcome. The magazine solicited feedback from CASE, an Editors Forum Faculty Critique Service. Many positive aspects were identified along with areas for improvement. The Editorial Board has taken these suggestions into consideration. A major theme for the 25th anniversary of the JHUSON and the 120 years of nursing education at JH will be Hopkins nursing in action to recognize the accomplishments of Hopkins nurses both at the School and the Hospital in order to acknowledge the best in Hopkins Nursing. “They Must Be Hopkins Nurses” is the logo for this campaign. Stories are being shared via e-mail, website, regular mail, and telephone interviews, and many were obtained from alumni during Homecoming. These stories will be edited and posted on the SON website, where viewers can vote on those they enjoyed the most. The top 25 stories will be published in the fall 2009 issue of the magazine.

Education: Sue Verrillo
Scholarships are provided by the JHNAA to current students enrolled in the master’s or doctoral programs. Each student is eligible for a maximum of $1,000 per semester or $3,000 total toward tuition and up to $300 per semester toward books, fees or other expenses. This year 15 students were assisted with varying levels of scholarship assistance for a total of $25,000.

Church Home Alumni Report: Deb Kennedy
It is a privilege to address this group again at Homecoming. It has been five years since Church Home and Hospital Alumni have become consortium members of your alumni, and you have indeed “Secured a Future for Our Past.” I am proud to see 66 Church Home grads from 1946 to 1976 here today! I especially want to welcome the 17 members of the Class of 1958 celebrating their 50th Anniversary. Phyllis Bannister Abendschoen deserves the credit for getting this group together. We have five members of the class of 1948 celebrating their 60th and eight members of the class of 1973, my own class, here for our 35th!

We are honored to have with us the former president of Church Home, Mr. Gil Whedbee and his wife of 58 years, Marianne. When Hopkins decided to re-open a school of nursing in 1984, Church Home, along with Sinai Hospital, each gave $100,000 seed money toward that effort. We also have Mr. George Riepe, the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees from Church Home with us. Recently, Mr. Riepe was instrumental in increasing the Freda Creutzburg Church Home Scholarship by $100,000, taking its worth to nearly a quarter million dollars. Church Home is proud of their efforts to help young men and women become nurses by assisting with the financial commitment to their education. This year’s recipient of the scholarship, Jessica Moon, graduated in May and is now employed at JHH on Weinberg 4.

In this past year, there have been many generous donations to the Archives. Most recently, I received a pin from Julia Holland Webster ’48 in Nebraska. Evidently this was the only class that decided to have their own unique pin, much to Miss Creutzburg’s dismay.

Old Business:
None reported

New Business:
Deb Baker passed the gavel to Tina Cafeo. Tina thanked Deb for her leadership and dedication to the Alumni Association over the past ten years and presented her with a shadowbox including a Hopkins nurse’s cap and maltese cross pin. Tina commended Deb for setting the bar of excellence for the alumni. Tina hopes to continue Deb’s work to increase membership and engage the more recent alumni. Tina asked alumni to offer their suggestions and ideas.

Homecoming 2009 is tentatively scheduled for September 25 and 26 of 2009

Meeting adjourned at 11:40 a.m.

Meet the President
Tina Cafeo, MSN ’97

“We need the involvement of the next generations. To do that, we need to explore both virtual and real venues for Hopkins Nurses to say connected.”

Hopkins nurses always ask: ‘How can I make nursing better? How can I make my environment better?'” says Tina Cafeo, MSN ’97, RN. “They want to use their education to improve upon the status quo.”

Her pride in Hopkins Nursing is obvious when she describes her fellow alumni, which perhaps is why she was elected President of the Johns Hopkins Nurses’ Alumni Association in September. The position seems a natural step for Cafeo, who has previously served as the JHNAA Board’s Elected Director (2001-2004), Secretary (2004-2008), and has been involved with the Membership and Homecoming Committees.

“Hopkins nursing alumni are wonderful at supporting nursing through both mentorship and networking,” she notes. “The alumni association is a great way to perpetuate friendships and promote professional relationships.”

During her term, Cafeo hopes to enhance those relationships among recent graduates of the school, who tend to have a lower rate of membership in the alumni organization. “We need the involvement of the next generations. To do that, we need to explore both virtual and real venues for Hopkins Nurses to stay connected.”

With an alumni base of more than 5,700 nurses, the association relies heavily on mail and e-mail to keep in communication with alumni. Social networking is on the horizon, as are a number of innovative projects for alumni and students to meet face to face.

Among these future plans is the involvement of alumni in community-based projects alongside Hopkins nursing students. “We’d like to see alumni and students working together in the East Baltimore community,” says Cafeo. “It will provide an opportunity to discover common professional interests, get to know each other, and learn from one another. Students will become attached to the association while they’re still in school and hopefully become active alumni when they graduate.”

In November, Cafeo begins a new position as Director of Nursing for Surgery at University of Maryland Medical Center. Previously, she served as nurse manager of The Johns Hopkins Hospital Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Cardiac Progressive Care Unit, where she has worked as a nurse since 1984.

–KBS