Edmund J.Y. Pajarillo
President, UPNAAI
2016-2017

Hello UPNAAI Members, Associates, UP-PGH SN, and UPCN Alumni:

Hope all is well with you and that you are gearing up for our 37th UPNAAI Annual Educational Conference and Business Meeting on October 14-15, 2016.

This year's convention will be sponsored by one of our newly-formed chapters, UPNAA-Texas and will be held on a different time (different from our usual August convention) when we can enjoy what the Galveston-Houston areas of Texas offer.

This year's theme is "Crossing and Closing the Gap: Nursing Then & Now." We hope that you will avail of this very interesting topic that will cover various gaps in nursing. One speaker will speak on gaps in nursing practice (with the different foci on education, quality and patient safety), the generational and culture gap (younger and seasoned nurses and nurses coming from various cultures), changes in health care reimbursement, quality improvement, patient-centeredness and interprofessional approaches, and advanced practice nurses (with more nurses functioning in advanced roles, i.e., nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists, and nurse midwives). Each panelist will speak for 10 minutes. Once the four panel speakers complete their talk, we will open the floor for Q&A and discussion between all the speakers and the audience to gather concrete action plans to bridge these gaps and improve the practice of nursing. And of course our JV Sotejo Recipient will keynote and offer her summative remarks of the theme.

We hope that even if you do not need CEUs anymore because you have retired or do not need to renew your license or certification, you will still attend this educational conference. The gaps that will be discussed apply to all nurses, young and seasoned, educated elsewhere or in the U.S., those who are of various nationalities, and those who may be tech-savvy and those who are not. We offer CEUs for the educational conference, as well as the poster presentations.

Of course, we are also celebrating this year's jubilarians. Class jubilarians this year are from the following classes: 2011, 2006, 2001, 1996, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966, 1961, 1956, and 1951. You will hear the accomplishments and projects of UPNAAI and will be entertained by the class jubilarians themselves.

This year also, we have changed the format of the Dinner Dance, where you will have more time to dance than usual, and we will continue our new tradition of honoring the Gold, Emerald, Diamond, and Double Diamond class jubilarians with a jubilarian medallion.

Our event fees and hotel rates are quite affordable. However, we have blocked only a few rooms and we encourage you to book your rooms and flights early. Rooms might go quickly so don't wait long. Let us know if they run out and we will request the hotel to open up more blocked rooms (if there will still be available ones). So please do not procrastinate.

And as always, the Class of '68 continues its tradition of a bus tour commencing the Sunday after the dinner dance and ending the following Saturday. The bus tour is quite affordable and your fees include hotel accommodations, breakfast, and some entrance fees to tour attractions. This year, the tour will begin in Texas and end in New Orleans. For more information on the bus tour, contact Nati Matitu-Mercado at natitom1@aol.com.

Attached is the registration brochure. Plan your schedule and register early. Should you have any questions, please course them through our email at upnaai@aol.com.

If you lose this registration brochure, visit our website at www.upnaai.org or our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/upnaai/

Hope to see you in Texas. Network, socialize, reminisce, learn, and be part of our UP pride! Be part of UPNAAI. While this is a UP sponsored event, we encourage non-UP alumni to attend and experience our convention. It is awesome!!! See you all in Texas in October!