The Community Health Nurses of Canada Strategic Plan 2016-2019 will be officially launched at the CHNC AGM on May 30, 2016 in St. John’s, NL. In April 2015, a survey was developed for CHNC Board members to provide feedback on the existing 2012-2015 CHNC Strategic Plan. The results of this survey were used to guide the discussion at a CHNC Board planning session held in Winnipeg, June 2015, which resulted in identification of continuing and emerging priorities, and reaffirming and refining the CHNC vision, values and mission statement. During the fall of 2015, the CHNC Executive refined the priority areas, completing a comparison with the 2012-2015 Plan and the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Strategic Directions with the goal to align with and support the CNA vision, particularly as it relates to community health nursing. At the November 2015 CHNC Board meeting, the CHNC Board of Directors approved/refined the priority areas and reviewed outstanding and proposed activities. A December planning session with CHNC Standing Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs provided an opportunity to further refine the activities and assign the work to the various Standing Committees. The final 2016-2019 Strategic Plan was approved at the February 2016 Board of Directors meeting. 

This was a busy year for the Leadership Competencies for Public Health Practice in Canada project with the release of the Leadership Competencies for Public Health Practice in Canada: Leadership Competency Statements Version 1, June 2015, followed by the Leadership Competencies for Public Health Practice in Canada: Knowledge Translation Work Plan, November 2015, and Leadership Competencies for Public Health Practice in Canada: Organizational Readiness Tool, December 2015. The three-year project provided an invaluable opportunity for CHNC and our project partners, the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (CIPHI) and the Manitoba Public Health Managers Network (MPHMN), to assist in building leadership and organizational capacity to address important public health issues in Canada. Special thanks to academic partner, Ardene Robinson Vollman, and project consultant, Helena Wall. A robust set of competencies now exists for public health leadership development. The knowledge translation plan offers a roadmap to disseminate and adopt the public health leadership competencies in practice and education and ultimately to improve the response to public health goals at all levels. A Public Health Leadership Network has emerged from the project’s Expert Advisory Committee with the goal to encourage those involved in public health to understand the leadership competencies, apply them to workplace practice and policy, and create opportunities for leadership development. 

With funding from conference profits from the last two to three years, CHNC has been able to undertake a number of improvements to our CHNC website. Lifeline Design was the successful website design company among those who responded to our request for proposals. The past several months have been exciting with development and review of the new website, scheduled to be launched at the conference in June. Our goal is to enhance our online presence, improve access, and develop a solid foundation of online processes to better serve CHNC and its members. 

There were several firsts for CHNC in 2015-2016: CHNManitoba was the first province to make use of the CHNC website to create a provincial/territorial webpage. Community Health Nurses of Manitoba members can now access information about their provincial association and CHNC through the same 

site. CHNC also posted its first Position Statement–Community Health Nursing Education on our website. Also, the CHNC Policy Manual was finalized and posted on the CHNC Members Only page.

Membership in the CNA’s Canadian Network of Nursing Specialties continues to provide wonderful opportunities for advocacy and input. This year Morag Granger was a member of a new working group set to formalize and strengthen the network role. CHNC nominated Anne Clarotto as a representative to the CNA Board for the Canadian Network of Nursing Specialties. While Anne was not successful, it did provide another opportunity to highlight the many issues important to CHNC and community health nurses in Canada. CHNC has continued to work to strengthen the relationships with two of our Network partners, the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada and the Canadian Family Practice Nurses Association.

Other valuable experiences through CNA include discussion about partnering with CNA to promote the Dorothy Wylie Health Leaders Institute, participation on the Certification Program Advisory Committee, discussion about the challenges and opportunities with certification, as well as completion of the CNA Primary Health Care survey. Two CHNC Board members have been invited to participate in the Choosing Wisely Canada Nursing Working Group. The first wave of Choosing Wisely Canada’s campaign was to get physicians and patients talking about unnecessary tests, treatments and procedures. To be effective, it used plain language and patient-friendly materials designed to educate patients and help them "make smart and effective choices about their care.” This group’s purpose is to develop a Top 10 list for nurses through a series of monthly teleconference meetings from April through December 2016. CHNC also nominated Claire Betker, CHNC Past President, for the position of CNA President-Elect and we eagerly await the election results, hopeful for another opportunity to ensure an important voice for community health nurses in this important role.

Morag had an exciting opportunity in February 2016 when she attended the Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing focus group in Washington DC. This group is travelling to various regions around the world to discuss the most pressing issues facing nursing and global health.

2015-2016 saw an evolution of the Centre of Excellence Standing Committee to the Research and Health Policy Standing Committee. During that time the Centre of Excellence Standing Committee noted that CHNC is now functioning as the Centre of Excellence in Community Health Nursing. In order to support CHNC in its continued growth as a Centre of Excellence for Community Health Nursing and to respond to research and policy gaps, the Research and Health Policy Standing Committee emerged.

As Ann concludes her role as CHNC Executive Director in June 2016, she notes:

"I want to say thank you for the incredible honor and privilege it has been to serve as CHNC Executive Director since September 2012. Daily I am inspired by the volunteer spirit that is alive and well at CHNC and by the shared passion for community health nursing. When people ask me why I am a member of CHNC, my response is always the same…CHNC is our national association, a singular voice for community health nursing in Canada. We know how investment in community health nursing in Canada could create the real change required to improve the health of Canadians. I have a responsibility to lend my voice and support that vision. So the real point is not about why I am a member, but rather how inconceivable it is to me that every community health nurse in Canada is not.”

Morag Granger, President                                     Ann Manning, Executive Director