Demonstrated Commitment to Healing Florida’s People While Keeping State Moving
The Florida Association of Nurse Anesthetists (FANA) today hailed its members’ work over the past year to step up, serve vulnerable Floridians, and meet the historic health care challenges the COVID-19 pandemic placed on communities across the state.
FANA’s CRNA members are highly trained health care professionals who provide comprehensive anesthesia care to patients before, during and after surgical and obstetrical procedures. They are the primary anesthesia professionals in rural and medically underserved areas, as well as to U.S. military personnel on the front lines, navy ships, and aircraft evacuation teams around the globe.
“I’m proud of the immediate, unselfish, patient-first response of FANA’s members to Gov. Ron DeSantis clarion call to action when the pandemic hit. FANA’s members made an incredible difference as part of Team Florida’s work to keep the state moving when the world came to a standstill,” said FANA President John McDonough, EdD, CRNA. “When the pandemic hit, there was no way to lock down FANA’s health care heroes urgent, driving commitment to serve our state’s most vulnerable people. Our members immediately stepped up and went from supporting fellow healthcare providers in overtasked hospitals in the early days of the pandemic to injecting life-saving vaccination shots into the arms of Floridians.”
Saying, “No job was too small or large,” Dr. McDonough noted how FANA members immediately jumped into action to coordinate a volunteer effort across the state to help county health departments with vaccinations following Gov. DeSantis’ March 2020 declaration of a COVID-19 state of emergency. FANA volunteers, along with other fellow nursing professionals worked hundreds of hours at the vaccination sites helping with injections, data entry, traffic control, and patient monitoring.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management recently recognized FANA for its work to recruit volunteer nurses to staff vaccine-injection sites across Florida. According to DEM, more than 3,300 APRNS, including FANA CRNAs, SRNAs and RNs volunteered to immunize people at key sites.
Image: Florida Division of Emergency Management honors FANA members service to the state.
Source: Twitter Account,@FLSERT
At its May 2021 meeting, FANA’s Board of Directors not only lauded the contribution of the Association’s members in Florida’s pandemic response, recovery, and resilience strategy. FANA’s board singled out members Jose Castillo and Samantha DeBee for their leadership.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has provided Florida with an opportunity to witness firsthand the essential role CRNAs play in delivering high-quality health care to people throughout our country and state,” Dr. McDonough added. “We brought an up-to-date view of the vital role our highly trained nurses play to bring to health care delivery and showed the state something we’ve known for years: CRNA’s make a positive difference every day to improve Florida’s health and quality of life.”
CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is administered including traditional hospital surgical and obstetrical suites, interventional pain management, critical access hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. CRNAs also practice in the offices of dentists, ophthalmologists and plastic surgeons.
FANA in October will celebrate the commitment its members make serving patients at its 2021 Annual Conference at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Hilton Resort and Spa. Click HERE for more information about the event scheduled for October 1-3.
About the Florida Association of Nurse Anesthetists
Founded in 1936, The Florida Association of Nurse Anesthetists (FANA) represents more than 5,600 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) in Florida. FANA advocates for our patients and members in legislative and governmental affairs and serves as a resource for CRNAs, the nursing and medical professions, hospitals, health care facilities, and others interested in anesthesia care. For more information visit www.fana.org.
