"For everything there is a season" (Bartlett, 2005, p. 12). As I sit writing this last message during my tenure as your president, the words from one of my favorite phrases about change keep playing in my mind. It is time for a new season in nature as well as time for change in the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN). Spring is here, a new STN Board of Directors (BOD) has been installed, and there are new visions and goals on the horizon. I am amazed at how fast this past year went. It seems like only a few months ago we were in St. Louis at our 20th Annual Conference and now our 21st Annual Conference is over and we have all returned home from Portland. I would like to take this time to once again thank you the members for having elected me as your president. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve you in that role. I also want to say thank you to the membership of STN for all of the amazing work that you have done over the past year. All of the committees and task forces continually astounded me with the creativity, hard work, and dedication that were put into improving the care of trauma patients not only in their own institutions but all over the world as well. To every member who called, e-mailed, or texted me-thank you so much for your commitment to our organization. It is because of you that we are the premier trauma nursing organization in the world.
The list of accomplishments is too lengthy for this last presidential address, but the highlights are as follows: the TCRN Review Course, the third edit of the E-library, the International Council, and the work being done on the World Trauma Congress. We have strengthened our liaisons with the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), the American College of Surgeons-Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT), the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST), the World Trauma Congress (WTC), the Panamerican Trauma Society, the World Health Organization, the Trauma Center Association of America (TCAA), and the American Trauma Society (ATS), to name a few.
The STN BOD is an extraordinary group of professionals with incredible vision. They have done an amazing job with prioritizing projects, keeping things on task, on budget, breathing life into old initiatives, and determining what new ones will move the organization forward. A great amount of time and effort were evidences by the work of the following groups and related activities: research grants, the Leadership Institute, the annual conference planning committee, Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN), Trauma Outcomes and Performance Improvement Course (TOPIC), Optimal Trauma Center and Management Course, the Journal of Trauma Nursing editorial review board, etc. The list goes on and on, and it never ceases to amaze me that STN (like fine wine) just continues to get better with age.
And so, as the song goes, it is time for another season to start-It is time for change. It has been exciting to work with our President-elect, Sean Elwell, over the past year. His energy and thought processes have been a great sounding board. So too has Joan Pirrung as Immediate Past-President, whose wisdom I sought and broad shoulders I leaned on many a time. Nothing, though, would be a success for STN if it were not for our national office staff that is headed by Stephanie Czuhajewski and Brian Doty. They offer guidance and expertise that is second to none, and they provide support to every project and make the day-to-day operations of our organization so easy. With our BOD meeting in March now behind us, it is time for all of us to take the new initiatives and projects on our strategic plan and renew ourselves.
I would like to thank my coworkers, the nurses, administration, and members of the trauma attending staff at Temple University Hospital (TUH). I always say that miracles happen at our hospital every day and amazing care is what we do every day. I have been honored for the past 14 years to call TUH my home. The Trauma Department has supported me in ways I never thought possible, and I am eternally grateful. Finally, I would like to take a moment to thank my family. If it were not for the love and support of my husband Paul, I could never have traveled and done as much work for STN as I did. I would also like to thank our three children: Elizabeth, William, and Paul Jr. The three of you are amazing young adults, in college and off achieving your dreams. You have literally shared your mother with the world, and you never complained once. No matter what time zone I was calling you from-you never complained. When we were on the phone or you were home on break and I told you I had to be on a conference call, needed to rewrite a document, etc., you all would say "to be continued when you are done." You recognized that in the big picture, whatever the project I was working on, it translated into helping save someone's life. I love you three and your father more than you will ever know and thank you for your love, support, and patience over the past 6 years that I have been on the board but especially the past year that I was President.
In closing, this is not goodbye. The Society of Trauma Nurses has too much work to do in the world in regard to improving the quality of care that trauma patients receive, injury prevention, leadership, legislative issues, etc. It has something to offer to everyone. No matter what your passion, skill, or talent is, STN is the organization for trauma nursing. With my time on the BOD ending, I will return to working on various STN committees and being a member at large. I have put off contributing to various projects with colleagues and friends due to BOD responsibilities. There is still so much work to be done and "I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep" (Frost, 1969, p. 52). Thank you again for the privilege and honor of serving as your President.
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