DANA news

DANA has formalised partnerships with these organisations:

• Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD)
• Royal College of Nursing Australia (RCNA)
• Te Ao Māramatanga New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses (NZCMHN).

Each organisation shares some common goals with DANA namely providing opportunities for members to improve professional practice through professional development opportunities and the recruitment and retention of members. To join forces to realise these common goals makes good sense. It also broadens the scope of opportunities available to each organisations’ members through:

• broadening the scope of opportunities available to members through increased access to professional development and educational opportunities;
• reciprocal member benefits especially regarding special members fees to access  conferences, organised events and other professional development activities;
• a special DANA rate for DANA members wishing to join the RCNA (follow this link to find out details of this offer).

Partnerships also provide opportunities to collaborate on joint initiatives such as the:

• cost-effective sharing of trade booths at professional conferences;
• opportunity to display membership information at no charge to DANA;
• sharing of reports, policies and position papers.

You can follow DANA on Twitter and stay up to date with current ATOD information and events!

If you already have a Twitter account just scroll midway down on the right hand side of this page, just below the Facebook logo, and become a “follower” of @DANAnews1 by clicking on the “Follow” button.

If you are new to Twitter a brief summary of  how it works might be helpful. It is an online network that lets us send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters.  These are known as “tweets” and they are a bit like sending SMS messages.

To begin with you need to set up a Titter account by going to http://twitter.com and following the easy step-by-step instructions

Then you are free to “follow” your interests. For instance @DANAnews1 (DANA’s Twitter name) is presently “following”

• Dept of Health and Aging
• Narcotics Anonymous
• Alcoholics Anonymous
• AERF
• RCNA
• Moosk74
• Medical Observer
• NZ doctor news
• APSAD conference
• AMA
• AIHW
• ACMHN
• Alcohol Research

Over time you also gather “followers”; people who are interested in what you have to tweet. They in turn will often “re-tweet” information that you have tweeted. This is how word travels really fast, in moments, around the world. The more you use Twitter the more its possibilities become apparent.

“So what?” I hear you asking. Well you can find out really quickly what is going on with the people, organisations and matters that interest you, often by following a link on a selected “tweet” to an internet site for more information.  You can also use Twitter to promote issues of interest e.g. it is a great vehicle to get news about the DANA Conference (or any conference for that matter) out to a large audience and then have them visit the DANA website for more information. Before his surgery of 2 weeks ago Kevin Rudd was busily tweeting on behalf of the RSPCA’s fundraiser in conjunction with Twinning’s tea. They managed to raise in the vicinity of $500,000. Sadly in the UK last week we are also saw how Twitter and Facebook could be used in a destructive way.

If you would like to know more be sure to leave a comment on this website.

Orientation of new Management Committee members, planning for the 2012 DANA National Conference (“In the Age of Complexity”), strategic planning, revision of manuals and policies and  recommendations about revenue generation were just a few of the items on the agenda of  last weekend’s DANA Management Committee meeting convened in Adelaide.

Janice Ough had the opportunity to hand over her portfolio to newly elected Treasurer, Tara Kennedy (SA), while Judy Gonda orientated Jayne McCarthur (SA) into the role of Membership Secretary.

It was also a chance to welcome some new comers to the management committee.  Jane Dowling (WA) and Dee Robinson (NT) attended their first meeting.  Steph Anderson from Nelson in NZ could not get across the Tasman to attend her first meeting. We also missed Elly Richards (NZ), Peter Athanasos (SA) and  Robin Murray (NSW)  as they were unable to attend.

Other developments include Jane Dowling (WA)  putting up her hand to develop the DANA Newsletter. Colleen Blums (Qld) will continue to manage the DANA website, Facebook and introduce Twitter while Ros will continue as conference convener.

The work begun at this meeting will be continued through to the next AGM by various sub committees.

Be sure to read the latest issue the ANJ (July 11 Volume 19 Number1). It has a special focus on current issues in drug and alcohol nursing (which you can read more about by clicking the tab ATOD in the Media).

Margo Hickman and Charlotte De Crespigny have an article published in the issue which looks at the achievements of DANA over the last 12 months (and the challenges ahead) in relation to the development and validation of specialist standards for alcohol and other drug nurses.

Margo Hickman is the President of DANA, a registered nurse and midwife and CNC of the Drug Court Program in SE Queensland. Professor Charlotte De Crespigny is a DANA Life Member, registered nurse with a PhD in Addictions and professor of Drug and Alcohol nursing, joint chair, School of Nursing  at the University of Adelaide and Drug and Alcohol Service South Australia.

Ash from Puyehue Cordon-Caulle  might have blanketed New Zealand and parts of Australia but with a few exceptions most delegates arrived at the 2011 DANA conference albeit a little late in some instances.

Together we explored the “Frontiers of Drug and Alcohol Nursing” both at the pre-conference workshops and during the conference proper. A special highlight was the inaugural Adams – de Crespigny – Harvey Oration. Meredith Adams’ oration, “DANA: 25 years old and still going strong!” explored DANA’s beginnings and  its achievements over the past 25 years.  You can read Medeith’s oration on this website; just click on the Oration tab. Inspired by her words it was agreed that every effort will be made to preserve DANA’s history through the National Archives and a special group has been tasked to see that this happens.

Speakers’ presentations will soon be available on line so keep an eye on the website for these.

A DANA conference would not be complete without time to relax in the good company of our friends and colleagues and this conference was no exception. Words do not do justice to this aspect of the conference so you might like to follow this link to see photographs of some of the less formal activities that took place (as well  as some of the more formal moments).

It is important to acknowledge that the conference would not have been possible without the support of our gold sponsor Reckit Benckiser, our Bronze sponsor MSD Hepatology and our poster sponsor Roche as well as the numerous exhibitors.

The AGM was held on Thursday 16.6.11. Margo Hickman is continuing as President. After many years of wonderful service to DANA Janice Ough is retiring from her role as Treasurer but promises to maintain an active role in DANA. Similarly Judy Gonda is stepping down from the role of Membership Secretary. New office bearers and state representatives were elected. If you would like to know more about the new office bearers and state representative  the ‘contact’ tab on the website will be updated shortly with their details.

Join us in Melbourne 14^th and 15th 2012 for the next national DANA Conference.