Program Directors:
Pat Graham, RN, BSN, CGRN 
Mary Jo Ciaccia, RN, BSN, MPA, CGRN
Communications Committee:
Carol Stringer, RN , AAS, CGRN
Sandra Brentnall, RN, AAS, CGRN

Western New York Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates was founded in 1978 and chartered in 1979. 

Due to unforseen circumstances, the June 2nd educational meeting has been cancelled.

The fall educational meeting, " WESTERN NEW YORK SGNA ROCs", will be September 29, 2012 at the RIT Inn and Conference center in Rochester.
Our featured guest speaker is Theresa Vos, MS, BSN, RN, CGRN a past president of SGNA and a renouned speaker. Please join ue for a day of learning and fun.

WNYSGNA BOARD MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 25, 2012

ATTENDANCE: Sandy Brentnall, Ann Christ, Lisa Fleming, Pat Graham, Patti Knight, Grace Smith, Rosemary Zimmer

Review of minutes: The December 10, 2011 minutes were reviewed, a correction was made with respect to Conference Evaluations where we need 6 contact hours not 6 speakers for SGNA credentialing with our conferences. The minutes were then approved.

Treasurer report: Year-End December- Ann gave us the financial report for year -end. Sponsorship data sheet was sent to SGNA. Financial sheet, invoice, Regional insurance, and copy of what is in invoice sheet; all the accounting was listed. She will be checking into an October service charge of $10.00, $2.50 plus $8.00 charge by M&T for an addition error. It is unknown if a monthly service fee has been established when the account was set up. Ann has talked with Donna Morbito, the tax person. She will do a compulation or account review mid-April when tax season is over. A cost estimate will be given to the Board. Ann questioned if Adam received his gift card ans Sandy will follow up with him. Lisa asked about the year end account and Ann reported the WNYSGNA has a nice balance in our account.

2012 Educational Offerings: How we will present this years conferences was discussed at lenght. It was decided by the group to present 2 half day conferences. One in the spring and one in the fall. We need 6 credits annually: have been able to offer 7 credits over the last several years with a spring conference dinner and one spreaker and our fall conference with 6 speakers as a full day program. The date of Jude 2nd was decided upon with 3 speakers, each giving a one hour talk. Our program will be registration and light breakfast from 7:30-8:30am. Spe3aker one will talk from 8:30-9:30, speaker 2 from 9:30-10:30, vendors from 10:30-11:00 and the final speaker from 11:00-12:00. We will decide on the Rochester location, with possibilities being Mario,s, Doubletree, RIT Inn and Conference Center. Additional suggestions were The Faculty Club @ U of R with the SMH staff checking on the venue and Woodcliff. We need to have vendor support for both conferences. A contacy with Boston Scientific has already voiced interest. Our conference topics of interest were discussed. Hep C with Michael Colicchio, PA, GAVE, a surgical topic from one of the RCRG (Rochester Colo-Rectal Group), Dr. Kornfield - unusual cases in GI, Robotics were several of the possible conference ideas.

WNYSGNA Website: The minutes from our meeting will be placed on our website in addtion to a picture of the Board members. The picture will be taken at our next board meeting. In addition, information about conferences, National Conference information, available scholarship information and guidelines will be added to our website.

National Conference 2012: Similar to last year, the board members attending this years National conference, Lisa and Rosemary, both requested early advancement of their registration and airfare to take advantaqge or early registration and airplane tickets. Ann requested an itenized list for plane, hotel, and registration. The WNYSGNA will cover $1500.00 or less.

Open Discussion: Sandy stated that the corporate office for SGNA/ABCGN will be moving to a new location in downtown Chicago. The new location will have significant update in design and have space for corporate visitors. Sandy as discussed that there were bylaw updates with no changes in Article IV and on the non-discrimination policy. Voting is via can be via website with information available to view the old vs new information.

Next Meeting: Varios dates were discussed for the next Board meeting. April 14, 28, May 5 are possibilities. Lisa will contact us and will decide a date soon.
Meetin adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted,
Patricia R. Knight, RN, CGRN





                                                                                    WNYSGNA BOARD MEETING DECEMBER 10, 2011

ATTENDANCE: Sandy Brentnall, Ann Christ, Lisa Fleming, Patti Knight, Grace Smith, Rosemary Zimmer
Review of Minutes: reviewed from October 22, 2011 and approved.
This will be the last meeting with Grace Smith as President of WNYSGNA.
Treasurer Report:(copy by Ann Christ submitted) Ann commented on the fact that there was a service charge on the account. She will be looking into this. The WNYSGNA Fall Conference went very well for us financially. Several of our vendors provided financing that covered breakfast and other portions of the conference. Mentioned were Byrne Medical, Olympus, and Cook Medical having donated grants. Ann discussed the fact that she attempted to contact the accountant to help us with our tax audit. Ann and the accountant have been unable to make contact via email. Ann has been very busy at work with RGH bringing their computer system on-line. The holiday time does not help with communications. Ann will be re-attempting to contact this person. We will have WNYSGNA complete their account audit  in 2012.
WNYSGNA SCHOLARSHIP: Grace mentioned there was no application(s) made for the National Conference or for either of the conferences held by WNYSGNA. It was decided more publicity is needed and we should utilize our website as a resource to inform our membership.
CONFERENCE EVALUATIONS: On a whole, the comments ranged from the usual regarding the room temperature and site satisfaction, to being able to save tables so your friends could sit together. Future topic suggestions were GAVE - Gastric Antral Vascular Ectasia which is an unusual cancer of the stomache , TIPS, Spy Glass- mother/baby scope, ERCP, AVM, Botox in GI, Hep C, Infection Control with Marcia Hardick is always well received. As an FYI in order to keep the WNYSGNA charter active, we need 6 contact hours for credentialing.
2012 CONFERENCE: We discussed several possible changes to our 2012 conferences. Instead of our usual spring program of one speaker and the 6 plus speakers at our fall conference, it was suggested we offer 2 short programs; one each in the spring/early summer and the other in the fall. This could br accomplished over 2 Saturdays each being half day programs. We would have 4 speakers each day, the program could start later and it may only require a light breakfast/lunch/or snack. Our speakers could possibly have a shorter time frame, splitting an hour between 2 speakers. This would not require overnight accommendations and may be looked at more favorably by our membership. It could also be a less expensive option. A question regarding vendors and how to accommodate them was posed. We may do a word-or-mouth questioning about this option. We also began todiscuss future sites of the conferences between Buffalo and Rochester. Several of the suggestions were: Doubletree at Jefferson/Thruway, RIT Conf. Center (both Jefferson Road and at West Henrietta Road near the Thruway), Marriot near the Thruway, Burgundy Basin Inn (utilizing nearby hotels as needed), and once again Niagara Falls as the casino is a draw factor. We do have time to check into options for future conferences. Rosemary offered to put out a survey to members regarding 1/2 day conferences. 
LATE REGISTRATIONS: We discussed how to prevent future late registrations from occuring. We may require a specific "post marked by" date on our registration forms. We will attempt to reduce the potential of late registrations. A suggestion that the registrant send a committment to attend and request their facility expedite payment to WNYSGNA may be a solution.
RECHARTERING WNYSGNA: All up to date with Board membership information. In January we will provide this newly updated list. Grace will turn over president material to Lisa. Rosemary will attend the National Conference this year with Lisa. This program is very valuable and always filled with useful information and offers great contacts.
WNYSGNA WEBSITE: Sandy Brentnall will continue to help with our ne website. She will see her son in April and get some continued advice from him. It was suggested a picture of the board members be included of our site. We need to dress it up a bit but not make it too busy. Other regional website have an over abundance of information on their sites. We could place minuted to our meetings on our website. It was recommended our group give Sandy's son a gift certificate for all his work in setting our website up and working with us as we learn all about the web. The group was in agreement for the gift certificate. We also talked about using the web as a resource to become more "Green". Utilizing the web could save costs for printing. Information for annual membership dues will be sent out this month (Dec.). Each region receives the dues as they are paid. We could utilize the conference checklist to cross reference members and non-menbers. Rosemary will work on this and print the most up-to-date list we have available.
UPDATED BYLAWS: Sandy is still working on this. She will get the bylaws done and send them to Lisa. The content is done and she is working on the rest.
NEW OFFICERS: The 2012 WNYSGNA Board was introduced. Lisa presented Grace with a gift from the Board as her term as president was complete with this meeting. She received a charm of a dangling heart for her bracelet.
WNYSGNA BANK ACCOUNT: It was decided that Lisa's name would not go on the checking account as Ann and Grace's names are on the account presently and either of them can sign for checks. In 2013 the incoming president will be placed onto the checking account. We have a substantial balance in our account even with the major purchase recently of a computer, projector and light bulbs. Having our own AV equipment saves us substantial charges at conference sites.
Lisa will e-mail us after the holidays to schedule our first meeting in 2012.
Meeting Adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted,
Patti R Knight RN,CGRN