AAOHN Elections

October 21, 2016

Dear CSAOHN Members,

Our annual conference is just a few weeks away in beautiful downtown San Diego.  It is not too late to register to attend.  Simply go to CSAOHN 2016 Conference and follow the prompts. 

As you are most likely aware, the AAOHN Board of Directors has proposed a name change for our association.  They are suggesting we change our name from American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN) to Association of Nurses for Workers Health – Occupational Health Nurses Improving Well-being and Safety.  The AAOHN BOD explains this name change will reflect a shift in our role to focus on well-being and safety rather than injury/illness.

Voting for this change has begun and will continue through November 15, 2016.

Your CSAOHN Board of Directors has been actively discussing this suggested change and would like to encourage our members to vote no for the following reasons (Comments from board members):

• AAOHN will be celebrating 75 years, but has only recently been recognized for their expertise by NIOSH, ANSI, ANA and governmental leaders, we don’t want to lose our momentum now!   
• We feel the title of Nurses for Workers Health is too vague and does not represent us as a professional association of nurses engaged in ensuring the safety and health of workers, their families and the community.
•  As chapters, we would be expected to change our names as well.  This will mean incurring expense and time to re-file with State of California and explain our name change when filing taxes.  Local chapters do not have a staff to help provide this service, we are all volunteers with busy lives.  But AAOHN, if this goes through, does offer help to us for a fee.
• Occupational health roles are expanding and changing. Ensure our professional practice is one of the biggest issues facing California nurses. A name change will only confuse our ongoing dialogue with our legislatures as we try to push for a change in the law to enable advanced practice nurses to work to the full extent of our license and certification.

Over the past few years, your CSAOHN and other chapters have been instrumental in limiting pesticide exposures to not only workers but their families and the community.  We have lobbied and written letters of support to change the state and federal lead standard to reflect the current recommendations from NIOSH and supported the new Heat Standard SB 1167 which has just been signed into law.  As Occ Health Nurses, we do so much more than "worker health".

Please take the time to vote on this very important issue.   (I have attached instructions from AAOHN on how to vote)

On July 1, 2016 AAOHN started using a new management company, SmithBucklin.  This means, if you have not logged into the AAOHN website since that change you will need a new user name and password.  Holland Robinson (details below) can provide this for you.  She can also help you update your profile to ensure they have your correct information. (send her an e-mail, she is very quick to respond)

If you or a member are having any membership and or chapter issues, you can contact Holland Robinson at 

Holland Robinson

Membership & Chapters, AAOHN National Office

330 N. Wabash Ave. Suite 2000 | Chicago, IL 60611-7621

hrobinson@aaohn.org| 312-321-5173| Fax: 312-673-6719

Thank you for your continuing support and I hope to see you in San Diego!

Julie Rochefort DNP, ANP-C, COHN-S, FAAOHN

Occupational Health Consultant

CSAOHN President

310-213-0082