The Board of Directors is comprised of the four members of the Executive:  President, President-Elect, Secretary and Treasurer, as well the Past-President, all Directors (Regional Directors, Directors-at-Large) and Committee Chairpersons.

The President will call a meeting of the Board of Directors at least every three months, and more frequently if vital issues require more urgent attention.  In order for decisions to be made, a Motion must be initiated, and all those in favour identified.  A quorum vote is required to pass any motion which consists of 51% of the members of the Board of Directors.

Many Board of Directors meetings can be held by teleconference calling.  This is particularly necessary during the winter months when travel can be difficult.  This type of meeting style also reduces expenses necessary to pay for travel costs to individual Board members.  During the spring/summer/fall months, the Board of Directors meet in person if possible.

OPANA members are invited to the Annual General Meeting, held at OPANA's Annual Conference in the autumn.  At this meeting, changes to the Constitution and Bylaws are proposed and passed by the entire Membership.  A Financial Statement for the previous year is developed and shared with the Membership.  In this forum, the Executive and Board of Directors fully discloses all undertakings, financially and administratively with the Membership.

Board of Directors Meeting, February 29, 2008, RNAO Building, 158 Pearl Street, Toronto:

The President, Paula Ferguson called the meeting to order at 1200 hours.  A financial statement was presented in two parts:  one statement included income acquired after the conference up until December 31, 2007.  All invoices from the Conference have been paid.The other was the statement of the current state of affairs, including income from all sources. 

Membership is quickly accumulating:  283 members to date.  We will all actively recruit.

The Standards Committee discussed progress made revising the Standards.  There was discussion of expanding these into a larger, more comprehensive format which would require months of work.  The 2005 OPANA Standards of Perianesthetic Nursing Practice are quickly selling and will soon be gone. 

The Regional Directors gave their reports on activities in their regions, including Perianesthesia Nurses Week celebrations.

The new, enlarged and improved website will soon be going live:  59 categories will be available.  The Website Chair gave an overview of categories and subcategories.  The Board approved these changes.

The OPANA Blog is very active:  lots of discussions and many responses between practitioners.

The next Newsletter will be distributed in early March.  Items to include were discussed.

The Conference committee gave an update, including the new site for the conference and an overview of the speakers to date.  Duties were distributed to the members of the Board to assist in preparations.  This year, we want to find a permanent name for the conference, as other associations have.  Let's have a CONTEST!!!!!  See website for details, put it in the next MONITOR.

NAPAN© is nearing completion of their Standards of Practice.  OPANA will be required to send $5.00 per OPANA member to NAPAN© by the end of March to ensure that every member of OPANA is also a member of NAPAN©.  NAPAN is writing a Position Statement to present at the CAS meeting in June regarding the role of the Nurse Practitioner ~ Anesthesia.  OPANA is actively assisting.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1600 hours.

Board of Directors Meeting, June 20, 2008, RNAO Building, 158 Pearl Street, Toronto:

The President, Paula Ferguson called the meeting to order at 1200 hours.  A financial statement was presented regarding Income and Expenses Paid and Pending.  OPANA's accounts are in a stable state at the moment.  We hope the Conference will help to increase our balance.

Membership is at 328 recorded, but we may receive more news of new members who have joined through RNAO soon.

The Standards Committee are planning multiple meetings over the summer to really hammer out those standards, 27 presently with more planned.  Copies of the 2005 Standards have been reprinted for sale due to demand.

The Regional Directors gave their reports on activities in their regions, including plans for site visits.

The Website committee reported that the website went live in March, with 60 categories available.  All categories have not been filled to date.  The Clinical Practice categories are the last remaining to be filled because they are dependent on literature searches and reviewing the OPANA Standards so that the information is in alignment.  Paula will ask Heather and Sandra for help with some of these areas that they are experts in.  The Board approved the website to date.

The next newsletter has just been sent out, and it was inclusive of the Conference Brochure and Application form.  We hope this will encourage conference registration.  The newsletter looks great again, Sue.

The Conference Committee gave an update, including speakers' information acquired, exhibitors/sponsors confirmed, AV Aids and Poster Board companies updates and quotes, and promotional items suggested and researched.  The committee has been working overtime!

NAPAN© has finalized and printed their Standards, and were selling them at the National Conference in Winnipeg.  Paula has made arrangements to receive 50 copies on credit to sell at the OPANA Conference in October.

NAPAN© sent two representatives to the CSA - Allied Health Care Professional Group meeting in Halifax on June 14 to present the position of NAPANc and OPANA in regard to the RN as an Anesthesia Assistant and also the Nurse Practitioner of Anesthesia as a vital member of the Anesthesia Care Team.  The CSA requested NAPANc to send a representative every year to their meetings.

The OPANA Brochure has been updated, and one created for NAPANc.  Please send any additions or corrections to Paula, before they go to print.

Re:  CNA Certification, the NAPANc Standards need to be translated into French before the process can begin.  Keitha will investigate having them done at her hospital, since this is done routinely in Ottawa.

The meeting was adjourned at 4 p.m. sharp!

Next Meeting:  September 12, 2008

Board of Directors Meeting, September 12, 2008, RNAO Building, 158 Pearl Street, Toronto:

The President, Paula Ferguson called the meeting to order at 1200 hours.  Introductions were made for our new Kingston Regional Co-Directors, Loretta Jarrell and Jennifer Kelly, present in person. 

The Financial Statement was presented and although we are in good shape now, we are hoping for a great turnout to the conference so that we will be in better shape with another conference so close behind.

Membership is now at 428, with 76 joining so far as a result of the Conference Membership rates.  This is great news, with hopes for more to come.

The Regional Directors reports were deferred, since there was nothing extraordinary to report.  Time is required for the Standards Committee (1.5 hours) at the end of the meeting.

The Website committee reported that all but two sections have been completed:  Pain Management and Normothermia/Thermoregulation.  These will be completed prior to the conference.  There is now a new member added to the committee to assist: Ramona Hackett from Sunnybrook.  Paula has trained her on how to add/change information on the website already.

The Newsletter committee reported that the next deadline for submissions is November 17, after the conference.  Carol Deriet has joined the Newsletter committee and Sue has been filling her in on her role.

The Conference Committee gave an update:  everything ready to go, but we still need more registrants and sponsors/exhibitors.  Everyone, please help.  The food selection and the final conference syllabus are being prepared.  Promotions decided, not ordered yet.  All ready to go! 

Clarification regarding the definition of Active versus Associate Members was discussed, with reference to the original OPANA Standards.  An Active member is one who is a Registered Nurse, registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario and has a vested interested in perianesthesia nursing.  This includes related areas such as the OR, ambulatory care units, central service departments (for sterilization of OR instruments) etc.  RPNs are therefore Associate Members, as are out of province RN's.  Kileen Tucker-Scott, Professional Practice Advisor to OPANA lead the discussion.

Board resignations and nominations were discussed.  Keith Kirkham from Ottawa will not renew her term.  She is attempting to locate a replacement.  Marsha Lipsius has accepted the position of Director at Large, Membership, since Lorna McDonough will not renew her term.  A new position of Director of Marketing was approved.  Paula will ask a few potential volunteers if they are interested.  The position of Director of Consumer Pricing would be perfect for Deborah Bottrell, who has already proved herself with her work on promotional items for the conference.  Paula will ask her if she would accept this nomination.  Tammy Gallagher has accepted another two year term as Treasurer.  Sandra Robinson will stay on until May, 2009 as Secretary, when she becomes Secretary for NAPANc.  All of these positions will be announced as Nominations at the AGM in October, and requests for other nominations made from the membership.  If no other nominations made, these people will hopefully accept and these roles will be in place as of October 18, 2008.  We are still actively recruiting a Windsor representative.

The Agenda for the AGM was discussed.

The Standards committee presented their revised and updated Mission Statement and several standards.  Kileen Tucker-Scott gave her feedback and suggestions.  The Standards Committee will make their revisions as discussed and present these at the October meeting, October 17, 2008.

The meeting was adjourned at 4 p.m.  We'll see you at the next BOD meeting at the Sheraton Centre Hotel on October 17, 2008, just before the conference!

Board of Directors Meeting, October 17, 2008 at the Sheraton Centre Hotel, Toronto Ontario

The President, Paula Ferguson called the meeting to order at 1200 hours.  All representatives were present in person;  no teleconferencing at this meeting.

Tammy Gallagher presented a Financial Statement, and showed the copy of the Finance Statement to be presented at the AGM the next day.

Membership continues to grow from the conference registration (150 in total now), although slower since the Early Bird Deadline of August 31, 2008.

Conference Report:  Well, here we are ready to go.  The Conference committee and all Board members will have a "rehearsal" and stuff bags at the end of the BOD meeting.  The conference committee will meet with us at 1600 hours.

Newsletter Report:  The new Kingston co-reps will be featured.  Newsletter due out beginning of December with post-conference review by co-chairs.  We will try to have no mailings this time around ($$$).

NAPANc Report:  There is now a new New Brunswick/PEI President:  Tanya Lavigne.  The NAPANc executive plus committee chairs will receive complimentary conference registration commencing 2009 (in Toronto).  Paula Ferguson will be the new website chairperson for NAPANc's new website, due out by the end of this year.  The next annual conference will be in Calgary (hosted by PANA-SAC) in 2010.

Website Report:  The OPANA blog has now changed to a "Forum", which is a better layout, organized into categories and easier to locate topics of interest.  If you have any other suggestions for categories for the Forum or for any other changes to the website, please let Paula know.  Ramona Hackett has now been trained to make changes to the content (not the layout yet) of the website.

Board/Committee Vacancies:  We will try to recruit Windsor at the conference.  GTA is vacant.  Keitha from Ottawa has resigned as of the end of the conference weekend, but has found a replacement. Director at Large for Consumer Pricing (nomination for Deb Bottrell) and for Marketing (ideas?) will be put forth at the AGM tomorrow.  Bring suggestions, and recruit from the crowd.

Regional Reps:  Visits to hospitals:  Loretta and Jennifer from Kingston have a contact person from each of the hospitals in their region.  Sue has completed about half of the Windsor list.  Suggestion to have another Northern Rep since it is so large.  Sue will approach Leslie Manary from North Bay.  Also, Kandy may be moving to Sudbury and could assist Sue with this large region.

Goals for 2008-9 for the AGM tomorrow:

1.   To complete the revision of the OPANA Standards of Perianesthesia Nursing practice in 2009

2.   Develop strategies to increase OPANA membership and exposure;

3.   To promote the OPANA website as the primary resource for Perianesthesia nurses and ensure that the content remains current, relevant and up to date;

4.   To pursue opportunities to network with other interprofessional associations

Standards Committee:  Long discussion about Standards with approval of some, revisions for others.  Will bring back new standards to the December 5, BOD meetings along with new ones.  Job well done, committee!  We'll get these standards out in 2009 for sure!

The meeting was adjourned at 1615 hours.  Conference rehearsal begins!

Board of Directors Meeting December 5, 2008, RNAO Building, 158 Pearl Street, Toronto