From the desk of the President

Sara Gabriel, RN, MSN, MBA

2007-08

Good evening,

Today is a special day of celebration for all Indian Nurses in America. Today we celebrate the creation of the professional Indian Nursing Association for the first time in this country.

As you know, every creation is created twice and ours is not any different. If you compare the creation or construction of a building or a house: First it is created on paper by a professional architect, then the actual construction by the builder Applying the Carpenters Rule Measure Twice and Cut once it is very important during this phase. That is what we had been doing for the past two years.

A handful of highly motivated and visionary Indian nurse leaders from all over this country pledged to build or create our organization. You can imagine how difficult it must have been to work over the phone with a bunch of confident, successful women to have them agree upon topics like mission and goals.

Though we haven’t seen each other until today, I am proud to say that the original team stayed together and against all odds completed the first and most difficult part of our project. I want to personally acknowledge each and every one of you and extent my sincere appreciation for the great ladies- the pioneers of NAINA.

Today we have a house, standing on a solid ground, it is safe and we do have the occupancy permit. Though it is not very full, or has the fine elements like the draperies or furniture, I can assure you, it is built on solid principles, ethical codes and values that will not be washed away, but will help us to flourish and sustain in harmony.

It is my sincere prayer and wish that our house will become a home to serve all nurses of Indian origin and heritage in this country. And that is our mission. We will strive to make our home to be the symbol of UNITY, Compassion, Love, Caring, Sharing and above all Service with Passion to our fellow nurses in their time of professional, social, or cultural need.

We want our nurses to have the desire to seek us enthusiastically, join us voluntarily and feel proud to belong with us by seeing what we do and what we have accomplished or can accomplish together.

We want our voice to be heard as the voice of all Indian nurses not only in America, but all over the world in the long run. All Indian nurses with RN license to practice in USA, are welcome to join with us regardless of their State of origin, the gender, culture or religious affiliations.

We have to strive to achieve acceptance by other established professional organizations like ANA, AMA, NCSBN and NCEMNA and to acknowledge NAINA as an ethnic minority nursing association. We should be in the forefront with other deserving ethnic minorities to capture the financial incentives like grants and scholarships that are available from the federal government and other agencies.

There are numerous social and community development programs funded by the federal government to improve the health and welfare of women, children and to decrease health care issues and disparities. We need to be aware of these the new programs as it is initiated.

As David Starr Jordan said, Wisdom is knowing what to do and virtue is doing it. Today, the Indian Nursing Community, we are more mature and wiser than when we left our home land so many years ago, and we know what to do. And you can see we are starting to do the right thing, slowly but surely.

NAINA will have many future programs and events. We want to have our first National Indian Nurses Conference /Professional Seminar in Chicago, next fall. Your alumni associations can be part of this event if you chose to do so. Keep your calendar open.

With every initiative, we need support and encouragement from our spouses, our family, and our community. We need political and legislative allies who are sympathetic to our causes. We need resourceful policy makers who can connect with us, empathize with us and above all can understand and relate to our culture and value system. Who else is best to do this other than one of our own?

I want to appeal to our community leaders and organizations to support and mentor an aspiring youngster to get elected to Local, State and National level. They could be in the Senate, in the Congress, in the Judiciary or Legislative branch in the American Government. They could be the champions of our cause and which in turn will benefit us, our children here and our native land.

Some of our children are old enough to be in the White House. Many of them are much more resourceful than Skinny Kid with a Funny Name growing up in this country like our children forty some years ago who is aiming for the highest office in the world -the American Presidency- and is the front runner now.

Nothing is impossible for us, the Indian Community, the immigrant sector with the highest brain power and financial resources in this country among all other migrant population

But to accomplish anything,

We have to plan purposefully, prepare prayerfully, proceed positively and pursue persistently (Unknown author)

I want to add “Do it passionately without expecting any reward or personal gain.

Lastly, we will be celebrating the National Nurses week next week. Let us remember the service provided by that Lady with the Lamp  many years ago which started the modern nursing era. Let us be instrumental in brining a new era for Indian Nurses in America now for us and for the future generations to come

I want to wish all nurses, a happy nurses week. As this years theme states, indeed Nursing is a Profession and a Passion. Always

Thank you.