National Arab American Nurses Association Opens Nominations for
The National American Arab Nurses Association (NAANA) will hold its third Angel of Mercy Awards Banquet at Byblos Banquets, 7258 Chase Road in Dearborn on Thursday, October 2, 2014, at 5:30 p.m.
Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS (hon), FAAN, Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing and Professor of Nursing and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, will keynote the event.
Rose Khalifa, founder and president of NAANA expressed, “The contributions of nurses often go without public acknowledgement. We know that there are several nurses who are positively impacting the health and well-being of the Arab American community, whether they are Arab American themselves or unselfishly serve the community’s needs for care.
The board of NAANA believes that we can accomplish the dual purpose of elevating these nurses as well as showcase nursing as a viable career choice for Arab Americans in our community.
We could not have a better representative of what is possible for Arab American nurses than our keynote presenter, Dr. Afaf Meleis. NAANA is grateful to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars Program for making Dr. Meleis’ appearance possible.”
Dr. Meleis is a world renowned nurse scientist and scholar. Her scholarship is focused on global health, immigrant and women’s health, transitions and health and the structure and organization of nursing knowledge. In addition to serving as Dean and Professor, Dr. Meleis is Director of the School’s WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership. Prior to coming to Penn, she was a Professor on the faculty of Nursing at the University of California Los Angeles and the University of California San Francisco for 34 years.
She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing in the UK, the American Academy of Nursing, and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; a member of the Institute of Medicine, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar National Advisory Committee, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Macy Faculty Scholars program, the George W. Bush Presidential Center Women’s Initiative Policy Advisory Council and the National Institutes of Health Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health. Dr. Meleis is also a Board Member of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health; and co-chair of the IOM Global Forum on Innovation for Health Professional Education and the Harvard-Penn-Lancet Commission on Women and Health.
She is the President and Council General Emerita of the International Council on Women’s Health Issues (ICOWHI) , the former Global Ambassador for the Girl Child Initiative of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and Board member of CARE.
In an effort to recognize the contribution of Arab American nurses or nurses whose work has had a major positive impact on the Arab American community, NAANA has created the Angel of Mercy Award. The Arabic phrase for nurse translates to “angel of mercy.” Nominations are being accepted through May 30, 2014. The nominee should be involved in clinical practice, leadership, scholarship and/or education related to the Arab American community. The award is open to RNs, LPNs, APRN’s and academicians. A nomination form can be obtained by visiting www.n-aana.org.
Tickets and sponsorships are available by contacting Suehaila Amen at 313-615-1515, by e-mailing events@n-aana.org or by visiting www.n-aana.org.
NAANA was established as the American Arab Nurses Association in 2002, and expanded its scope nationally in 2006, as a voice, a network and a resource for men and women in their pursuit of employment and advancement within the nursing profession. NAANA focuses primarily on the Arab American nurse but it is an inclusive nursing organization fostering knowledge of cultural diversity and sensitivity between members and the community in the area of transcultural health care.