Welcome to 2009 and a new year with IANN!   As we all patiently wait for winter to end and spring to officially arrive, I wanted to take this opportunity to update everyone on the exciting events planned for IANN this coming year! 

Our organization is a state-wide group and we have members from all over Iowa.  Be sure to look at the membership list provided in this newsletter to see who your fellow members are.  We often carpool to meetings and the meetings provide a great opportunity to network with other neonatal nurses throughout the state.  Last year we recruited 6 new members to IANN.  This year, I would like to challenge you to helping us gain even more members. Just tell your co-workers the fun we have and the things we accomplish; then invite them to the next meeting.

We had our first meeting in January where we updated our bylaws and had an excellent CEU presentation on “Neonatal Feeding: Applying Evidence to Practice”. If you missed this meeting, check out the minutes in this issue for more information.  We will have another CEU offered at our October meeting in Cedar Rapids. 
We are looking forward to the RNC review course, High Risk Newborn Care and Certification Review Program, to be held April 27-29 in Des Moines with Madge Buus-Frank as the featured faculty, as well as many of our colleagues from around the state.  If you have not yet registered for the conference, there is still time as the registration deadline is April 6th!  You can register online at www.blankchildrens.org.

I would also like to challenge everyone to continue with the community outreach donations in this coming year. It is so gratifying to be able to help those less fortunate!

Don’t forget that this year’s NANN conference is their 25th year celebration!!  It will be held in Austin, Texas, September 23-26, 2009.  Plan now to attend this fun conference and great learning opportunity!

Looking forward to seeing all of you on April 27th!

Denise

Contact me anytime @ denise-holida@uiowa.edu