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 The Province of Ontario's perianesthesia nurses are fortunate to have had their own dedicated association for 26 years. Founded in 1985, the Ontario PeriAnesthesia Nurses Association (OPANA) has been an active association in many ways, and had a major role in the formation of the National Association of PeriAnesthesia Nurses of Canada (NAPANc). Now with a membership of nearly 500, and sponsoring an annual conference, the OPANA members and other Ontario perianesthesia nurses have been able to have the benefit of this and other annual educational opportunities. All members of OPANA are automatically members of NAPANc and a portion of their annual membership fee goes towards supporting the national association.
OPANA sends its members quarterly newsletters with updates and information on a regular basis, which include new articles on the latest updates as they become available. Information on conferences, seminars and workshops, including OPANA's own annual fall conference is published here, plus a Question and Answer section where members can submit a question about perianesthesia nursing practice and the answer is published in the next newsletter. Every newsletter features a new OPANA volunteer who represents a region of Ontario or performs another role in the association. Ads for careers, educational material and conferences are accepted. The front cover always sports a full page address from the current president, plus a "What's Inside" feature box. The front cover is then posted to the association's website and potential members can see this and gain an understanding of what is in store for them to receive if they join as a member.
The Standards of PeriAnesthesia Nursing Practice are constantly upgraded to remain current in the field of perianesthesia nursing. They include standards of practice, resources and Position statements. The most current set of Standards was published in 2009. Watch for it!
OPANA has an Executive Council consisting of each: President, Past-President, President-Elect, Treasurer and Secretary. The Board of Directors consists of the Executive and Regional Directors from 7 regions: Greater Toronto Area, Northern Region, Kingston, Windsor, Hamilton, Ottawa and London. This committee also has 4 Directors at Large, one each in charge of Membership, Consumer Pricing, AV/Printing/Mailing and Marketing. These people have roles specific to their titles. Also involved in OPANA are the Committees that are vital to the smooth operation of the association: Standards Committee, busy constantly revising the provincial perianesthesia standards, the Newsletter Committee, actively creating the next newsletter, the Conference Committee, working for an entire year to plan the next, even better conference, and the Website Committee, which is constantly making changes to the website to keep it current.
OPANA is always looking for members and for volunteers who will be committed to working and keeping the association operating seamlessly. For more information in getting involved in OPANA's activities, go to www.opana.org
Be sure to visit our website often: www.opana.org to get an idea of our activities and to see what OPANA is doing for you now!
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