REPORT: September 2006

In the News

Karen Ballard was recently published in Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice. Her article, “National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s Paper on the Regulation of Advanced Practice Nursing: Is This Really a Vision?” appears in the May 2006 issue. Ballard was director of NYSNA’s Nursing Practice & Services program from 1987 until 1999, and director of Special Projects until her retirement in 2005. Ballard’s nursing career has spanned decades — she was a staff nurse at Bellevue Hospital, a clinical nurse specialist on the pediatric mental health unit at New York Hospital Cornell University Medical Center, and teacher at Cornell University Medical Center and the City College of New York. Throughout her career, Ballard volunteered tirelessly on election campaigns endorsed by the ANA. An energetic advocate of quality health care and the preservation of the Nurse Practice Act, she became an expert of laws and codes governing nursing practice in New York State. This led to appointments on the National Council on Patient Information and Education, the ANA Cabinet on Nursing Practice, and ANA’s Standards and Guidelines Development Committee. By her own admission, the profession became her patient. Colleagues note, “Karen has the ability to make the arcane world of New York’s government regulations regarding nursing practice understandable to RNs who practice in any setting…without Karen’s hard work and leadership, we would suffer professionally and personally.” In 2005, Ballard received NYSNA’s Honorary Recognition Award—the Association’s highest honor.

Linda Witte of Olean has been chosen as the Democratic candidate in the upcoming election in the 149th Assembly District of New York — the district incorporates Cattaraugus, Allegany and Chautauqua counties. A certified doula, breastfeeding educator and childbirth instructor, Witte has been employed in Olean General Hospital’s Maternity Unit for the past 13 years. She has served on the Cattaraugus County Legislature since 2003 and is a former alderwoman of the City of Olean’s Common Council. The founder of “Penny’s Garden,” in memory of slain nurse and colleague Penny Lea Brown, Witte is also co-keeper of the City of Olean’s Children’s Garden and co-hosts “Voices,” a community television news program. She is a founding member of the Warm Hearts Blanket Drive for senior citizens, and volunteers weekly with Cattaraugus Meals on Wheels Program. Witte has previously served on the County’s Senior and Human Service Committees and worked with the WIC program for five years. Her key focus in the run-up to the elections includes healthcare accessibility and management, and Medicaid reform.

Margaret ‘Peggy’ Leonard, vice president of the Hudson Health Plan (HHP) received the National Case Manager of the Year Award from the Case Management Society of America, in recognition of her “significant contribution on a national level to the field of case management.” HHP President Georganne Chapin credited Leonard’s vision and hard work in ensuring people “receive the healthcare services they need…case management can mean the difference between life and death for many of our members who are economically disadvantaged and unaccustomed to dealing with the complexities of our healthcare system.” Leonard joined HHP in 1998 and established its clinical department, which now has 18 nurse case managers and bilingual case management assistants. She is co-chair of the New York State Department of Health Case Management Workgroup, and helped develop the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s nurse case management certification exam. Several successful programs have been implemented by HHP under Leonard’s direction.