Board Messages

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 TO: California Nurses in acknowledgement of Nurses Week...

Dear Colleagues,  

It is that time of year when your nursing school’s alumni association is planning our  annual luncheon.  The luncheon will be held Saturday, April 13, 2024, at the  Marriott Hotel, in Pleasanton, CA.  This year’s theme is: “Celebrating KFSN…The  Legacy Continues”.  The registration form is enclosed. 

At this year’s luncheon we will:  

• Hear from our guest speakers how the Legacy Continues.  We will learn about  current programs that support professional nursing within Kaiser Permanente  (KP) that sets it apart from other health care organizations.    
• This will also be the topic of our Continue Education Program.  One unit of  complementary CEU will be available.  The Program will be presented by our  two KP sponsors – Jim D’Alfonzo, Director of the Northern California Nurse  Scholars Academy and our-ever faithful Champion, and Phyllis Doulaveris, the  new corporate nurse who is providing leadership for nursing across the country.   You will be most impressed to learn what KP is now doing, while keeping the  Legacy of KFSN Alive.  
• Honor our dear colleagues who have passed with a tribute from the Nightingale  Nurse Honor Guard.  If you know of a classmate who has died this last year that  we may honor, please contact Phyllis Moroney, Class ‘57A (email:  nursephyllis57@gmail.com).  
• A silent auction will be offered – a new event!  

Our new Honorary Members, Jim D’Alfonzo and Steve Gilford, and Associate  Members, Priscilla Javed and Heather Jepsen, have been invited to join us at the  luncheon.  KP’s corporate nurse, Phyllis Doulaveris, and KP’s new historical  archivist, Cuong Le, have also been invited.    

We welcomed Jean Higgins, Class ’72 and Kathy Malone, Class ’69 as new  members of the Board.  Also, we congratulated Board members who have  assumed new committee leadership roles: Terry Foushee, Class ’69, as  Scholarship Committee Chair and Pat Rodriques, Class ’69, as Luncheon Chair.   Diane Salgado, Class ’71, has joined the Editorial Board, led by Janice Klein, Class  of ’63.  

I want to highlight activities that KFSNAA has been involved in this year:  

• Our book – The Editorial Board is preparing for the 3rd printing of our book.   They will be adding quotes from readers that have raved about the value and  readability of the book and updating the Publishers Page.   
• The Kaiser Permanente Historical Society – Phyllis Moroney will be  representing our alumni association to the Society.  We were honored to have  her share our book with them.    
• Alumni Stories – Alumni have begun sharing stories of their student nurse  experiences.  The Board is exploring ways that we can incorporate these stories  as a means of further capturing our history as Your Stories represent the ‘rest of  the story’, thus augmenting our book.  We will have a page on our web site to  house stories you may want to share with others. If you have one to share,  please contact Joan Carr, Class ‘72, at jpjcarr@gmail.com.   
• Providing scholarships to nursing students - In 2023, we awarded 20  scholarships for $1000 each.  Since we began our Legacy Scholarship Program  in 2015, we have distributed $106,000 in scholarships.  Our recipients have  reminded us how important these awards have been to them in their journey to  become a nurse.  Under Terry Foushee’s leadership, the Scholarship Committee  will review ways that we can enhance the impact of our scholarships.  If you  know of a nursing student who could benefit from a KFSNAA Scholarship,  please refer them to our web site: www.kfsnaa.org.  

Your alumni association has ensured our Legacy Continues through the distribution  of scholarships to student nurses.  We have been fortunate to have association  costs underwritten by a generous contribution from KP Program Office; thus, all  other sources of fund raising go directly to scholarships.  These include: sales of  the maquette (miniature of the Kaiser Student Nurse Sculpture), proceeds from the  sale of our book (after printing costs), raffle tickets, and the Wine Tasting Fund  Raiser…but MOST importantly, the foundation of our fund raising is donations  made by our alumni.  Many of you have faithfully made regular contributions –  some have been most substantial.  Whatever you may have given is gratefully  accepted.  But, if you have not been a regular contributor to the Legacy Scholarship  Fund, please consider how you are able to help a nursing student while keeping the  Legacy of KFSN alive and contributing to the nursing profession.  Send your check  with the enclosed Contribution Form to MarinLink, our fiscal agent.  

I look forward to seeing you on April 13.  Stay safe and healthy.   

With regards,  

Deloras Jones, Class ‘63, KFSNAA Board President  

Dear Alumni,

Once again, we regret to tell you our “Annual” Luncheon has been postponed. The plan was to

hold the luncheon in October of this year; but we received enough feedback from alumni to

know that folks are still not comfortable with traveling and /or gathering in large groups.

COVID19, and its variants, is still too much of a threat for many. However, we are determined

that ONE DAY WE WILL HAVE AN ALUMNI LUNCHEON. Please put April 22, 2023 on your

calendar. We are aiming for that date.

This year, 2022, is the 75 th Anniversary of our School of Nursing. We will celebrate the

anniversary and our book when we have our 2023 Luncheon.

Your Alumni Association Board has several updates we’d like to share with you.

• New Board Member - We are so pleased to let you know that your Board has a new

member – Terry Foushee, Class of ’69. Terry lives in the Central Valley and is attending the

Board meetings by ZOOM, as we all are. We have folks joining the meetings from Nevada,

Washington, and throughout California. Distance is no longer a barrier to serving on the

Board. Please consider if you could also contribute to your Alumni Association as a Board

member.

• New fiscal sponsor – After 13 years with Community Initiatives as our fiscal sponsor, we

have now join with MarinLink as our new 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. Over time, our needs of a

fiscal sponsor changed, thus it was time to consider finding a new sponsor who was a better

match for us. All donations to our scholarship fund will continue to be tax exempt through

MarinLink.

• Management of book sales – The Alumni Association has taken over the management of

book sales from Terri Moss. We have contracted with Heather Jepsen to manage the

process for us. Heather is also our ‘web master’ and is quite skilled taking care of these

administrative tasks for us. If you are interested in purchasing a book, you may do so by

…… Price of the book for alumni is $25, plus shipping. Retail price of the book is $35.00.

• Associate/Honorary Membership – The Board is planning to add two new categories to our

membership: Associate and Honorary. Associate membership would be for those who want

to be connected to our Alumni Association and to participate as a member. Honorary

membership has actually been on the “books” for several decades, but has never used. We

hope to activate that category with well deserving individuals. Both Associate and Honorary

members will be presented at our April 2023 Luncheon.

• Outreach to Nursing Historical Societies – Janice Klein, Class of ’63, has contacted a couple

of Nursing Historical Societies to determine their interest in including our book in their

inventories of nursing history books and in their archives. The book about Kaiser

Foundation School of Nursing adds a wealth of information to the history of nursing. There

is very little published about diploma schools.

• The story of our legacy is being told –

Cuong Le, the new Kaiser Permanente Archivist and Historian has been very

impressed about the story of our School of Nursing. He continues to look for

opportunities to tell our story and share our legacy as he makes presentations across

the national Kaiser Permanente program or writes articles about nursing. Cuong will

be invited to be a speaker at our luncheon.

Jim D’Alfonza, our Kaiser Permanente champion, continues to promote the legacy of

KFSN to new hires in Northern California. Most recently, graduates of Northern

California’s first yearlong nurse residency program had Deloras Jones. Class of ‘63

as the key note speaker, relating our legacy to nurses today. The title of her speech

was “Bridging the Past to the Present”.

• Legacy Scholarship Fund – Our legacy lives on through the scholarships given to nursing

students. Marian Feinstein, Class of ’63 is our Scholarship Chair. She and her committee -

Deana Medinas, Class of ‘…. and Rebecca Calloway, Class of ‘… -identified 20 very well

qualified students to receive scholarships of $1000 each. Students were from associate

degree programs, state and private universities. There were even students who lived

outside California. The diversity of the students awarded scholarships reflects one of the

most important tenants of our school – our legacy lives on! Over the last … years, $…. in

scholarships has been distributed to …. students.

Primary funding for the Legacy Scholarship Fund come from donations, mostly from alumni.

Profits from the selling of our book and sales of the maquette (miniature of the Kaiser Student

Nurse Sculpture) also go towards scholarships, and does proceeds from fund raisers such as

the Wine Tasting Events. Annually, the number of scholarships distributed is based on the

amount of funds contributed. This last year designated donations in memory of Clair Lisker and

the selling of the book gave us a real boost. We are hopeful we can continue funding

scholarships at a meaningful level. Enclosed is the donation form for you to send your tax-

exempt contribution to our new fiscal sponsor, MarinLink. As you think about who you are going

to make your 2022 charitable donations to, do consider helping keep the Legacy of your School

of Nursing alive and relevant by assisting student nurses in their education.

Your Alumni Association has been busy as you can tell by the above summary. Although our

scholarship funds is in solid financial standing, the Alumni Association itself needs to collect

dues to pay for the cost of alumni activities. We have normally collected dues when alumni

register for the luncheon. As we have not had a luncheon since 2019, our Associate funds have

been drained. We use these funds for such costs as printing and mailing communication,

luncheon costs not covered by registration fee, and … Please respond to this request for dues,

and ……

Dates to remember

• Scholarship Fund Raising Wine Tasting Event - October 13, 2022
• Next Board Meeting … Contact Pat Rodrigues at….to receive a ZOOM invitation. All

are welcomed.

• Alumni Luncheon, April 22, 2023. Pleasanton Marriott.

Be safe and stay healthy, your Alumni Association Board looks forward to seeing you in 2023.

With regards,

Deloras Jones, Class’ 63

President, KFSNAA Board of Directors