Creating a new nursing association in BC

For the past six  months I have been working as project manager for the Association of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (ARNBC). My role is to support the work of the Board of Directors in creating a professional organization for registered nurses in the province.

The goal is to establish a new organization that will bring the perspectives of BC nurses to health and social policy issues. Once fully established, the new association will carry out strategies to advance the role of the nursing profession and collaborate with other nursing and health organizations provincially and nationally.

The ARNBC and the Canadian Nurses Association have signed a one-year agreement to work together on initiatives that will contribute to  building our new association. We are hosting a cross-country tour to BC by a CNA delegation in December and we’re planning a province-wide consultation process with nurses that will be launched in January. It is an exciting time in the history of nursing in BC.

Members of the ARNBC Board are reaching out through engagement with nurses at meetings, conferences and at schools of nursing this fall. We’re using our blog to post opinions and commentary on topical issues including the new Nurse-Family Partnership Program and a fascinating background piece on Insite, Vancouver’s supervised injection site.

Please visit the ARNBC website for updates, new blog posts and links to our social media sites.