Dr. Catherine Smrcina was a dedicated nurse leader who believed in advocating for nurses through organizational collective action. She was tireless in her volunteer activities in the National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses (NAON), the American Nurses Association (ANA), the Illinois Nurses Association (INA), ANA-IL, the Illinois Nurses Foundation, the Illinois Coalition of Nursing Organizations (ICNO), and the Illinois Center for Nursing resources. Her dedication was evident in everything she did. She was an active volunteer in every one of the organizations to which she belonged and could be counted on to be in attendance at any meeting addressing nursing issues.
Cathy began her journey with NAON, being elected to the NAON Executive Board as the North Central Representative in 1984. She served in this capacity for 3 years as the liaison to all members in the upper Midwest. She met with hundreds of nurses across the geographic area and would often appear at local and regional meetings.
In 1992, Dr. Smrcina became the 13th President of NAON. At the time NAON had over 9,000 members, and Smrcina was diligent about making sure that each member's needs were met. Cathy was involved with the development of the orthopaedic nursing standards of practice.
At the time of NAON's 25th Anniversary, Cathy spoke to Carolyn Rogers from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (Rogers, 2005) and explained the importance of an organization that led the way in developing standards for orthopaedic nursing practice. Dr. Smrcina stated (2005), "NAON was the forerunner in the development of standards of practice, standards of care and the establishment of a core curriculum. ... Because little specific coursework on orthopaedics is taught in nursing schools, much of the training takes place on the job. In years past, this meant that most nurses learned to practice the way another nurse taught them to practice. NAON was responsible for bringing much-needed uniform standards of care to orthopaedic nursing."
Dr. Smrcina was a valued member of the Orthopaedic Nursing journal reviewer panel and served as a lead reviewer for a couple of supplements that were published over the years. When you asked Cathy for help, her response was always yes.
In recent years, Cathy was overseeing the NAON archives and acted as the association historian. She was in the process of writing the history of the third decade of the NAON.
During her nursing career, Cathy was very involved in the state nurses associations (INA and ANA-IL) and the Illinois Nurses Foundation. She helped lead the INA at multiple levels by serving as a board member for INA District 19, establishing a much needed "district president's orientation packet," serving as a committee member on various committees and helping in the development and success of the Illinois Nurses Foundation as a board member and chair of the Policy Committee.
Cathy's willingness to provide structure for organizational action led to her becoming recognized as an expert in developing bylaws and policy. She was diligent in her preparation and knowledge of the INA and ANA-Illinois bylaws and served as Bylaws committee chair for various terms over the last decade. She even took that knowledge and dedication to the national level and served on the ANA bylaws committee for several terms. She was a "go-to" person when direction was needed as to how to proceed with amendments and/or interpret changes.
Her involvement did not end there as she also assisted the INA by serving on the Commission on Continuing Education as well as serving as a CE reviewer. She was always willing to volunteer when needed, and in 2007 when the INA executive director resigned unexpectedly, Cathy quickly raised her hand to serve on the search committee to find a replacement.
When the ICNO was re-established in 2009, Cathy again stepped up as a "go-to" person when she provided copies of documents from the 1990s that helped assure the historical significance of the work previously done was not lost.
In 2012, when the INA made the difficult decision to divide along service lines, Cathy helped to make sure the new bylaws were reflective of a "new" approach and attended nearly every board meeting to help cement ANA-IL as the professional association for all registered nurses in Illinois.
We could not end this memorial without a little humor. Cathy loved humor. For those of us that remember Cathy's Opening Ceremony when she was President of NAON, it was determined that Cathy was not quite tall enough for the height of the various podiums. A "special box" was made with her Congress logo and a handle. She was able to carry that around and be seen from whatever podium she encountered at that meeting. Most every year when the Past Presidents of NAON get together, the topic of the "special box" is brought up and Cathy as well as the rest of us have a good laugh. The one thing we know though is that although Cathy was tiny, she was sure mighty!
Cathy's participation in all the associations to which she belonged will be greatly missed. She will be fondly remembered as a true professional-a nurse who cared for nursing as much as she cared for patients.
Mary F. Rodts, DNP, CNP, ONC, FAAN
Editor, Orthopaedic Nursing
Maureen Shekleton, PhD, RN, FAAN, DPNAP
President, Illinois Nurses Foundation
Susan Swart, MS, RN, CAE
Executive Director of ANA-IL and Illinois Nurses Foundation
Reference