Due to our active hurricane season and hurricane Floyd, our September chapter meeting was cancelled. The October meeting will be held in Ocala at Munroe Regional Medical Center.

The AORN Foundation has notified me that Camille Bergstraesser has been awarded an AORN Foundation Scholarship for the 1999 fall session. The supporter of the scholarship is regent Medical. Congratulations Camille!

National has sent me information regarding the President’s Award 2000. The award will be given for the most creative and effective activity that demonstrates how chapters and specialty assemblies reflect 50 years of magic, Partners in Care by promoting efforts to increase the ranks of perioperative nursing. One way they suggested would be to describe what our chapter activities/events were to get nurses into perioperative nursing. The submission should be limited to three typed double –spaced pages, with any supporting documentation. The deadline is January 7, 2000. This will be discussed at our October meeting so be thinking of what we could submit and if you would like to volunteer to be in charge of this AORN award.

National has sent me a video titled "Columbine’s OR Nurse Heroes." This video is about the positive role OR nurses played in the Columbine disaster. This information was shown on their local news station and we will show it at our October meeting. National has also sent our chapter a Media Relations Manual, which contains information to help our chapter be more effective with media relations. If this sounds like something that you would be interested in, please contact me.

The 19999-2000 legislative priorities for AORN were approved by national at the June Board of Directors meeting and are as follows:

Ensure the supervisory presence of RNs in the perioperative arena and promote AORN’s position

That "Every surgical patient deserves a perioperative nurse."

Third-party reimbursement of RN First Assistants.

Supervision and regulation of assistive personnel.

Patient and personnel health and safety in the perioperative arena.

These priorities pertain to legislative and regulatory issues at the state and federal level. They guide AORN’s public policy efforts. Chapters are an important part of AORN’s legislative network and you participation is integral to AORN’s success on behalf of public policy issues that affect the perioperative nursing profession. For more information call AORN’s Dept. of Government Affairs at [800] 755-2676,x233.

The 47^th annual AORN Congress 2000 will be held April 2-7 in New Orleans, LA. National has sent us the official notice of the number of delegates designated to represent our chapter. Our chapter’s membership on June 30,1999 was 123x2.93%=4 delegates plus one guaranteed delegate for a total of 5 delegates. We may also name 5 alternate delegates.

OR Nurse Week is November 14-20. The theme this year is "OR Nurses Make a World of Difference." National has sent me a catalogue for gifts for this year’s celebration. These items must be ordered by October 25 to insure delivery by OR Nurse Week. I will have these at the October meeting but if anyone would like them sooner than the meeting please contact me and I will mail or fax the information to you. National has also sent me a flyer with General Information: OR Nurse Week, a news release for newspapers, and an OR Nurse Week Proclamation. I will have these at the October meeting, but if anyone would like them before the meeting please contact me and I will get them to you.

National has notified us that the next scholarship application deadline is October1, 1999. The funding for these applications will be spring of 2000. Applications are available for AORN members pursing advanced degrees. You can receive an application by contacting the Foundation office.

The 1999 AORN Perioperative Specialty Conference will be held at the Adams Mark Hotel, Charlotte, NC. The preconference will be October 13, 1999 and the conference will be October 14-16, 1999. The AORN Center for Perioperative education and the Philadelphia AORN Chapter 3902 presents Perioperative Nursing: Quest for Knowledge, October 29 & 30. The seminar will be held at the Adam’s Mark in Philadelphia. I have information on both these seminars. If anyone is interested please contact me.

But closer to home and just as interesting is the FCORN Fall 1999 meeting, which is being hosted by our chapter, in Ocala. The meeting will be held October 8-10 at the Ocala Hilton. Topic for the weekend: Challenges, Choices, and Changes. I have had the responsibility of notifying our chapter members about the seminar. I have notified several of the hospitals and have asked them to make copies to give to the staff. But I still have several more to notify. If you have not received information about the seminar please notify me and I will get the information to you.

The Florida Council of Operating Room Nurses will again present a hands-on demonstration on November 11, 1999 for the Florida Nursing Students Association convention at the Hilton Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida. If you are interested in taking part in this presentation event please notify Connie Hammond at 1-813-788-7558.

Membership statistics as of August 31,1999-42,645 AORN members and 347 chapters.

I am looking forward to seeing you at the FCORN Fall Meeting and at our October chapter meeting, both are being held in Ocala.

Patricia Stewart

Chapter 1016 President