A Message from our 2018-2019 AACN-PBC President

A message from our 2018-2019 AACN-PBC President, Bonnette Villalba-Novak, BSN, RN, PCCN:

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” -Dr. Martin Luther King

My name is Bonnette Villalba Novak, BSN, RN PCCN. 10 years of being with AACN, has led me to a wonderful journey in my career as a nurse. AACN has given me the opportunity to find the inspiration and motivation to continue and live with my purpose as a nurse, as a leader. Through this association, I found a community of exceptional nurses, who truly believes in excellence, higher standard of practice, value of continuing education and certification, evidence-based practice, professional development and most of all, a community that cares and recognizes the value of our nurses. Our AACN National President Lisa Rigg’s theme this year “Our Voices Our Strength”- “It is easier to act our way to a new way of thinking than thinking your way to a new way of acting”. Our AACN mission “Patients and families rely on nurses at the most vulnerable times of their lives. Acute and critical care nurses rely on AACN for expert knowledge and the influence to fulfill our promise to patients and their families. AACN drives excellence because nothing less is acceptable”. Our resilience thrives through our passion and dedication to serve our patients, their families, our community and our profession. We as nurses carry the virtue of caring, kindness, compassion, integrity, respectability and humility. We believe in what is morally good, we carry individual greatness. We are the most trusted profession. We put others first before ourselves. As we spend our daily lives caring for others, we also struggle with so many challenges in our organizations, in our practice, changes in our healthcare and the compliance to government regulations, patient satisfaction, inadequate staffing, increasing patient ratios, higher acuity of our patients, compassion fatigue, bullying in workplace, lateral violence and more. But we do what we do, because of who we are. As we come together as professionals, we have the opportunity to be the catalyst for a positive change. Through the power of our voices, we collectively and collaboratively challenge the status quo, make our voices heard, express our creative ideas. We must mentor our weaker colleagues, to build a stronger team. We need to promote engagement rather than showing indifference, be proactive rather than reactive, motivate others rather than turning our backs, we speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. We need to promote positivity in our workplace and in our community, we need to advocate for each other. Let us start within ourselves, find solutions to our problems rather than complain. We need to stand up for what is right, we promote optimal outcome and never stop striving for excellence. Let us remember, TOGETHER, our voices will strengthen our nursing community.

On behalf of the AACN PBC Chapter Officers, we are looking forward to an exciting year. We are here to serve you, we are here to support you, we embrace your participation in our chapter.

Let us take care of you while you take care of others. It is my great honor to serve as your President 2018-2019. I am sincerely humbled by your trust for me to lead this chapter. To our critical care nurses and acute care nurses, we come together, so please join us in this community of exceptional nurses.
We as a community, our voices, our strength, we can do this together.

Bonnette Villalba Novak BSN, RN, PCCN
President 2018-2019
AACN Palm Beach County Chapter