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To:      AWHONN Canadian Members
From: Kim Armour, AWHONN President & Luisa Ciofani, Canada Section Chair
RE:     Upcoming Bylaw amendment that affects AWHONN Canada members
Date:   June 27th, 2009

Dear AWHONN Canada Member:

Recently, AWHONN and the AWHONN Canadian section coordinating team have been in conversation about AWHONN Canada becoming an independent organization in Canada and no longer an AWHONN section. Over the past several years, the Canadian section has evolved into an organization that requires increased ability to work more effectively within its own country. Establishing itself as a Canadian organization will do the following for AWHONN Canada:

Enhance AWHONN Canada's ability to respond more quickly in policy and health care initiatives.

Allow wider collaboration with other disciplines within Canada

Work without the constraints of exchange rate issues

Allow AWHONN Canada to work within Canadian laws and regulations vs. United States laws and regulations.

Permit AWHONN Canada to benefit from subsidies available to uniquely Canadian organizations.

For AWHONN Canada to become its own organization, a bylaw amendment is necessary. This Amendment has been approved by the AWHONN Board of Directors and is ready for membership vote. The amendment will be on the upcoming national election ballot at the end of July, 2009. You must be a member of AWHONN as of June 30, 2009 in order to be eligible to vote.

As an AWHONN Canada member, should this bylaw amendment pass, you will have 3 options.

1. You may stay an AWHONN member

2. Become a member of the new Canada organization or

3. Belong to both groups

You will only need to make this choice if the amendment passes. If it does not pass, everything will remain as it currently is with AWHONN Canada as an AWHONN section.

AWHONN and AWHONN Canadian section coordinating teams are in agreement that this change will benefit both organizations. Our discussions have been collegial and productive with mutual input and decisions bringing us to this point of informing you, the membership. Please remember the entire membership of AWHONN will vote on this bylaw amendment. Although it directly affects the Canadian Section, it also changes our overall membership. If approved we look forward to being sister organizations.

With the passage of the bylaw amendment, AWHONN and AWHONN Canada leadership will mutually agree to a satisfactory disaffiliation agreement allowing AWHONN Canada to become an independent Canadian organization. The organizational changes will likely take about one year. During this time, both AWHONN and AWHONN Canada will keep you apprised of the progress taking place. The upcoming bylaw amendment described previously in this letter will first be presented to the AWHONN membership on Tuesday, June 30th during the membership meeting at the annual convention in San Diego.

Respectfully,


Kim L. Armour, AWHONN 2009 President

Luisa Ciofani, Canada Section Chair

AWHONN Members - Instructions for 2009 National and Section Elections for 2010 Slate and Bylaw Amendment

AWHONN will conduct the 2009 national and section elections online by electronic vote on the AWHONN website again this year. Online balloting will take place July 28th - August 6th. Only those full voting members whose membership is current as of June 30, 2009, will be eligible to vote.

Voting members will be asked to provide their membership ID# when logging in to vote. If you have forgotten your ID #, log onto the AWHONN site with your username and password and your membership number will be displayed on the upper right side of the screen.

The following positions will be available for the 2010 AWHONN Board of Directors: President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer, three regional directors- Region I; Region V; Region VI and one at-large director. The ballot for the national election has the following candidates:

PRESIDENT-ELECT
Joanne Goldbort, MSN, PhD, RN
Kathleen Hale, MS, RN, CE-BC

SECRETARY-TREASURER
Karen Adkins-Bley, RN, BSN, MSA, JD
Mary McMahon, BSN, MSN, RNC

AT-LARGE
Sandra Cesario, RNC, MS, PhD, FAAN
Rebecca "Becky" Cypher, MSN, PNNP

REGION I
Jill Janke, BSN, MSN, PhD, WHNP
Susan Mattson, RNC, CTN, PhD, FAAN

REGION V
Mabel Payne, BSN, RNC
Mimi Pomerleau, MSN, RNC

REGION VI
Mary Rachui, RNC, MS
Raquel "Kelly" Walker, RN-BC, MSN

The following sections will hold elections for Section Chair and Section Secretary Treasurer in 2009 for the 2010-2011 term: Armed Forces, CA, DE, FL, IL, IN, KY, MO,MT, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NV, OK, OR, SC TX, UT, VT, WI, WY.

During this election process, all members will also be asked to vote on an amendment to the AWHONN Bylaws that identifies AWHONN Canada as a Section. Recently, AWHONN and the AWHONN Canadian Section coordinating team have been in conversation about AWHONN Canada becoming an independent organization in Canada and no longer an AWHONN Section. Over the past several years, the Canadian Section has evolved into an organization that requires increased ability to work more effectively within its own country. Establishing itself as a Canadian organization will bring several benefits to the AWHONN Canada organization. Additional information will be available on the online ballot itself as you are voting. AWHONN and AWHONN Canadian Section coordinating teams are in agreement that this change will benefit both organizations. Our discussions have been collegial and productive with mutual input and decisions bringing us to this point of informing you, the membership.

The proposed bylaw amendment involves Article IX, section1. Article IX, Section 1 reads:

Each state of the United States shall constitute a Section of AWHONN (e.g. AWHONN New York). Canada shall constitute a Section of AWHONN (AWHONN Canada). The Board of Directors shall have the authority to designate other foreign countries as Sections of AWHONN. There shall also be a Section entitled AWHONN Armed Forces.

The proposed change is a deletion of the second and third sentence so Article IX, Section 1 would read: Each state of the United States shall constitute a Section of AWHONN (e.g. AWHONN New York). There shall also be a section entitled AWHONN Armed forces.

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The Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) is a non-profit association of over 22,000 professionals dedicated to establishing and promoting the highest standards of nursing practice, education and research. AWHONN members reside in the United States, Canada and abroad, and are united in the common goal of promoting optimal health care for women and newborns. The association's activities center around:

Setting the standard of nursing knowledge/expertise for nurses engaged in the care of women and newborns in all settings
Advocating for quality health care through practice, research, education and political action initiatives
Addressing professional practice issues which affect our specialty
Providing a forum to explore leadership opportunities in a specialty professional association and to network with colleagues across the country
Serving the needs of its members

The rich diversity of members' skills and experience make AWHONN the voice for women's health and neonatal nursing.

AWHONN Canada

The headquarters for AWHONN are located in Washington D.C. The Canada Section of AWHONN has a national Chair, a Secretary/Treasurer and a Communication Coordinator. The Section is comprised of 5 Chapters:

British Columbia and Alberta
Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Ontario
Quebec
Atlantic Provinces

Each Chapter has a Coordinator and a Secretary/Treasurer, and other appointed leaders to assist with Chapter activities (ex. membership recruitment, education offerings). Additional Chapter committees are formed ad hoc for regional and national conference planning. AWHONN Canada has Standing Committees to support the Section's mission and priorities.