The NAON Foundation was established in 1994 to support the goals and mission of NAON by providing funding for grants and scholarships to advance the specialty of orthopaedic nursing through excellence in nursing practice, education, research, and leadership.
As you well know, the scope of orthopaedics is diverse, touching all ages across the life span, and as the population ages, musculoskeletal injuries, disease, and the wear and tear of everyday living are affecting the lives of many Americans. Ever-changing technology and the current healthcare economic challenges make resources for the advancement of orthopaedic patient care and orthopaedic nursing practice imperative. To meet this need, the NAON Foundation has awarded more than $470,000 in educational scholarships to help prepare orthopaedic nurses for the changes in both nursing practice and patient care. The NAON Foundation also provides grants for cutting-edge research and evidence-based practice studies to help provide new interventions and therapies in orthopaedic care such as pain management and osteoporosis prevention.
The NAON Foundation has created affiliations with universities' online RN-to-BSN programs. These programs are highly recognized in the healthcare industry for offering outstanding programs for practicing nurses who are seeking to further their education. These affiliations allow choices for our members as potential opportunities to consider for returning back to school. In addition, our NAON members are able to receive a discount.
Carolyn Crane Cutilli was the recent recipient of the Clara Donahoo, RN, & Joseph Dimon, MD, Memorial Clinical Legacy Lectureship. Carolyn presented at the 2017 NAON Congress. This scholarship is awarded to promote excellence in orthopaedic nursing practice through a lectureship addressing best practices, health policy, or clinical research. Carolyn says,
I applied for the Clara Donahoo RN and Joseph Diamond MD Memorial Clinical Legacy Lectureship because I wanted the opportunity to teach the congress participants about evidence-based patient and family education. The scholarship provided support so that evidence-based patient education strategies could be examined and learned by the congress participants.
Past NAON Executive Board Director, Ann Bruemmer, created the Joseph & Octavia Bruemmer Memorial Pediatric Congress Scholarship. This scholarship is specific for an orthopaedic pediatric nurse. Ann says,
I was blessed to have congress expenses reimbursed each year that I attended from the military or my employer. Very few employers reimburse nurses these days and I wanted to pay it forward. I also wanted to honor my parents in some way after they had died. They both had osteoporosis and they both loved children. Thus, I thought of creating a scholarship to benefit a pediatric orthopaedic nurse. I also wanted to support the NAON Foundation in some way.
NAON Past Presidents Leadership Scholarship
The NAON Past President Leadership Scholarship is funded by the NAON Past Presidents and it is to support the education of a NAON member who has demonstrated leadership in the specialty of orthopaedic nursing.
The NAON Foundation would like your support whether to fund an endowment, support lectureships, or support scholarships for NAON nurses. Please visit http://www.naonfoundation.org for more information
In your service,
NAON Foundation Trustees
Alpharetta, GA