ENA Connection - September 2016

Inspired by Their Past,
Invested in Their Future
Scholarship Recipients Excited to Attend Emergency Nursing 2016

Crystal J. Howard, MSN, RN, a registered nurse in the mergency department at
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical
Center in Los Angeles, has lived
with and financially supported her
mother since she left the military
last year and started working at the
hospital. When Howard’s
grandmother in LA died this year,
Howard paid for relatives’
Howard wondered whether she could afford to attend the
annual conference for the first time, even though it is local for
her this year.

“My hourly salary is good,” Howard said, “but it does not outweigh the expenses I have recently incurred for my family’s financial support. Having the opportunity to attend this conference free from further financial burden will be a great benefit not only professionally, but personally.”

Dollars for Scholars

Howard was one of 43 ENA members who received annual conference scholarships to help them attend Emergency Nursing 2016 in LA from Sept. 14 to 17. A scholarship covers the full conference registration fee, which was $655 per member at the early bird rate in spring. At that rate, the 43 scholarships are valued at more than $28,000.

Scholarships are supported through contributions from ENA members, staff and corporate donors. The foundation is a

501(c)( 3) charitable organization whose mission is to provide opportunities for emergency nurses through scholarships and grants. It has awarded hundreds of conference scholarships since 2007.

Peter D. Dagher, BSN, RN, CEN, a charge nurse at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, was able to attend Emergency Nursing 2015 because his hospital paid for the trip.

Paying his own way this year, he was not sure he could afford to attend until he applied for and received a conference scholarship.

“With all great things comes a price,” Dagher said. “Along with basic accommodations and transportation expenses, it would be a stressor to add on the full conference fee. I am forever thankful for the ENA Foundation and the opportunity it has given me in my journey as an emergency nurse. I’m looking forward to another jaw-dropping conference.”

Paying It Forward

Dagher knew in his early teens that he wanted to become an emergency nurse. After living in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, for 14 years, he and his family returned to the U.S. so his father could receive a heart transplant in Houston. This September, his father and the rest of the family are celebrating the 13th anniversary of the transplant.

“I’ve always known I wanted to get into healthcare,” Dagher said. “I remember promising God to never stop giving back to the community if my dad gets the heart.” Dagher was not alone in being inspired at a young age. While a lieutenant nurse officer in the military, Howard lived and worked on Native American reservations in New Mexico for five years and was deployed to the sites of natural disasters around the country. That is when she found her passion for trauma and emergency nursing. But long before that, her grandmother, a nursing assistant, showed her the joy of caring for others in the apartment complex her grandmother managed. Howard spent a lot of time with the sick and elderly, feeding and bathing them, helping them with medication and taking them to medical appointments.

“My granny nurtured me from a child on how to take care of sick people,” Howard said. “I saw how caring for someone and his or her daily needs improved health overall. As a little girl, I saw people recover from their sickness and saw people struggle at their dying hours. I got firsthand experience on what it takes to be a nurse. I am a nurse today because of my granny.”