LPN Association Annual General Meeting
Thursday April 8, 2021
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Meeting start time: 1900 Meeting wrap up: 2040
Location: Zoom
In Attendance: Keri Moore (president), Theresa Beaudouin (treasurer), Jessie Rushant
(secretary), Sherry Fairweather (director), Adam Mackie (director), Karen Gilbert
(director), Melinda Ovens (member), Ray Refuerzo (member), Kendra Sallis (member).
Guests: Amaris Poznikoff (YRNA president), Jerome Marburg (YRNA CEO)
Agenda was approved with the addition of the following 2 items to “new business”.
-timeline
-membership fee and due dates
2019 AGM Minutes approved.
Financial Report:
As of yearend, March 31, 2021, we had $10,600 brought in through the year and have
$6123.11remaining in the bank.
We will need about $1500 more by June to pay the liability insurance which is largest
association expense.
Financial report approved.
Year in Review (President’s Report)
Continued Collaboration with the YRNA:
The last year was a difficult one for the YRNA with a large turnover in the board and a
halt in proceedings due to COVID. They are regrouping now and looking to the future.
Regarding the possibility of a merger between the YRNA and LPNs of the territory: a
proposal was submitted to the government by the YRNA that included a number of
different items. This proposal was refused with the direction to prioritize each item on
the proposal and submit each proposal item separately.
Amaris Poznikoff, president, and Jerome Marburg, CEO, joined the meeting as guest
speakers.
The CEO was introduced as what was previously the Executive Director role. The
position name was changed to fit with trends across the country. Jerome, who was
handpicked for the role, has an extensive history in regulatory background having
worked for the college of dental surgeons and in forestry.
YRNA is looking into following the trend across the country of separating the licensing
body from the associations. This is something that provinces are legislating as
advocating for nurses and protecting the public are potentially conflicting goals that
should not be coming from the same organization. It was noted that the LPN group in
the territory currently has separate organizations for this though we are unique in that
we do not have our own regulatory body but that of the government, who regulates
many groups. We are also in a conflicting situation though in that our licensing body is
also our disciplinary body.
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Thursday April 8, 2021
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The YRNA’s last 6-8 months with Jerome have been focused on regulation. Amaris has
been focusing on the determining the role of nursing within the territory, who are the
territory’s nurses and what are they doing? She discussed the potential merger and
reiterated the information around the current state of the merger proposal to the
government. She spoke to how difficult it can be to get progress with goals when
nursing is such a small group, as we are in the territory.
Jerome spoke about wanting to connect with the LPN group and wanting to get a sense
of who does what. Per Jerome’s request, an email will be sent to Amaris and Jerome
after the meeting, with a current list of board members and their contact information.
Regulatory Concerns:
Therapies in the territory have been having similar licensing issues to the LPNs and in
their own pursuit of resolution of these issues, have reached out to YLPNA to see if
there is a way to join forces on working toward change. Their issues include difficulties
with getting education hours approved, feeling they are losing autonomy to the
government, and potentially losing ability to work in other jurisdictions. They have an
upcoming meeting on April 15 with the DM, current and past president and executive
director and will continue to stay in touch with YLPNA in regards to potentially working
together toward resolving each of our similar issues. As with us, the therapist’s
regulations are from the Health professions Act. We will need to move in the same
direction to resolve our issues.
Yukon University Health Programs Advisory Committee:
Yukon University Health Programs Advisory Committee has asked the president of
YLPNA or a designate to sit on their board to advise on the LPN and HCA programs. It
is a two-year appointment and we have accepted this role.
It came up that Yukon University still does not have their own nursing program though
the current plan is to broker the LPN program through Bow Valley College for one more
year.
Business arising:
Reaching out to the CLPNA:
Keri has tried communicate with CLPNA numerous times via email and phone both to
investigate the idea of an associate membership through them or to just see if they have
any guidance for us. Recent written response states there is no current platform for
LPNs from outside their own jurisdiction.
Karen Gilbert spoke re trying to get in with a college of nursing and engaging all nursing
bodies (NP, RN, LPN, midwives, HCAs). She expressed concern over losing individual
identity if “under” YRNA, ensuring LPNs would have equal representation and voice
within whatever body we are licensed under. Per Karen, RNs are in worse shape than
us in disciplinary areas.
How to move forward? It will take huge manpower and finances.
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Thursday April 8, 2021
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Sub committees (Education, Social Media, Grants & Funding):
YLPNA has a need to strengthen our member foundation in order to move forward with
any and all ideas as the challenges we face ahead will take a tremendous amount of
man hours and power. There were comments from members who want to help but don’t
know what to do. Reinforcement was given that just showing up to meetings is a good
start. YLPNA will continue to lean on experienced organizations such as the YRNA for
guidance.
Theresa will be learning grant writing but is having a hard time finding money to apply
for. YLPNA will reach out to other health groups (therapies, RNs, etc) to identify areas
for potential funding.
Discussion around staying current on our website and social media account. Kendra
agreed to help with social media.
YRNA:
See above. Conversations will continue.
New Business:
Timelines/Member fees due dates:
Timelines for various dates (AGM, member renewal, etc) have changed for various
reasons over the years. We need to establish set dates. Annual renewal/expiry dates for
memberships need to be once annually. There was discussion around fees for half
memberships for new members who join midway through the year. There was
agreement that we can do a half year and full year fee but we will not break down the
fee any further (no pro-rating). It was discussed that the best expiry date might be
March 31st so that we can align our member renewal with our financial year end and to
align our intake of fees a couple months before insurance premiums are due.
Societies Act:
In accordance with new Societies Act bylaws, we can set all our own dates for year end,
etc. Assessment of the Act and establishment of parameters will be a priority item of the
new board.
Member Priorities:
We need to decide where we want the manpower of our board to go. For instance, are
the local business sponsorships valued or should our manpower be going to other
projects?
Bursary for YLPNA members:
There has been a suggestion that YLPNA could provide a bursary for members. This
will be a discussion between the new board and members.
Incentive for board members:
There has been a suggestion that YLPNA could strengthen its board by giving some
sort of incentive, such as discounted or free membership, to potentially interested board
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Thursday April 8, 2021
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members. This will be a discussion item for the new board that could be brought to the
membership for vote.
Question from member around liability insurance and what it covers:
We have agreed to send the policy to the membership with the AGM minutes. It is not
currently on the website though, per discussion in the meeting, it will be posted there
going forward. There was also discussion around creating a document that itemizes
how to make a claim. Jessie will look at the therapies website as a suggestion for ways
to lay out the policy and how to utilize it. There was a suggestion around having
education around what happens when you don’t have insurance, for example, a
presentation from the nurse’s protective society.
There was extensive discussion around the importance of an engaged membership and
how to achieve this. Ideas discussed surrounded location and content of shared
information.
Elections:
President – Adam Mackie
Vice President –Karen Gilbert
Keri Moore will stay on for a year as past president.
Secretary – Jessie Rushant will stay in the role.
Treasurer – Theresa Beaudouin will stay in the role.
Director – Sherry Fairweather will stay in the role.
Director – Sheryl-Ann Wasson will stay in the role, per email communication post
meeting.
Director – Heidi Foley will stay in the role, per email communication post meeting.
Director – Kendra Sallis voted in.
Director – Ray Refuerzo voted in.
There was discussion around the need to alternate terms. Each elected position
currently sits for 2 years and ideally these would alternate so that there is not a
complete change-over of the board in one year. Because we have had the same
individuals sitting in the board roles for many years, it is currently not clear which terms
are up. These terms will be established with the new board to try to have the
president/vice president roles and treasurer/ secretary roles come up for change on
alternating years.