Our annual conference is complete, and we are very proud. We gave our greatest effort to support  you in finding your true north with our incredibly knowledgeable and transparent speakers. We, of course, hope that you left empowered, encouraged, and energized.

Here is a recap of HMA’s 35^th Annual conference

Day 1

Diane Tieman started us out with a reflection that served as a reminder to have sympathy rather than judgement.

Debra Palmer PhD DNP FHNP-c ONP (Family Health and Orthopedic Nurse Practitioner) shared poignantly about her story and named the emotional/spiritual healing stages and their connection to spiritual healing.

Dr. Sanders eloquently discussed the importance of spirituality being included in the social determinants of health. He reminded us that to “address spirituality is not to practice religion, but to affirm the wholeness of their being”. To not address spirituality is actually malpractice.

O”bette Jamison, MBA, BS encouraged us to find comfort in the messiness and to remind ourselves of our strength. She wants us to recognize that experiences from our childhood do help mold us as adults.

Day 2

Mary Teresa Gubbels asked the Lord to let us be more like him.

Fe Anam Avis, M.Div., BS let us know that parental estrangement is an epidemic in the United States. He discussed his support of this type of grief in his work with the resource PEAK, Parents of Estranged Adult Kids. He started this program because this phenomenon is prevalent, pervasive, perilous and there are profound spiritual questions raised.

Teresa Runyon, MA, Pastoral Assistant shared her personal story of being in the sandwich generation and emphasized that self care is key. She gave us excellent examples of self care and how that nurtures.

Sara McNamee, MSN ED., RN reminded us how children experience trauma and the many ways that may play out in children’s lives. We need to think not what we did wrong, but what happened to them.

Day 3

Ann Gornik, RN encouraged us to recognize our light and of compassion and to look for and find it in others.

Linda Aluoch, BA, Human Rights & Anti-Trafficking Consultancy was so vulnerable as she shared her story, filled with pain and how, out of that pain, she found purpose. 356 billion dollars a year have been made from human trafficking, and we need to report, report, report.

Nancy Romanchek, MPH, BSN, RN-BC, CHPN gave us the details of how she became a cofounder of a free clinic at the mosque that she serves. It was not her original goal, but her path brought her out of moral destruction, compassion fatigue and into moral resilience.

Debbie Harbinson, MHI, BSN, RN, HNB-BC started out by having us contemplate our purpose for developing health ministries in a faith community. She also reminded us that PASSION stands for P-perspective, A-attitude, S-sensitivity, S-savor, I-interest, O-opportunity and N-nourish.

Day 4

Sheryl Shantz asked us to see ourselves clothed in compassion.

Vanessa Burks, MSW, President of HMA presented the 2025 Norma Small award to Deb Fell-Carlson BSN, MSPH, RN and the Westberg Leadership In Faith Community Nursing award to Frances Hawkins MN, RN-BC. Congratulations ladies and thank you to the award committee.

Bev Bateman, MSN, RN, AHN-BC gives her full support to documentation and justified why it is so important. It ensures continuity of care, facilitates communication, provides evidence of nursing interventions and protects patients and nurses from legal and ethical issues. We need a new tool soon.  She touched on AI, in practice, and emphasized that it must not affect patient care.

Vanessa Burks, MSW, President of HMA shared our achievements and thanked all involved. She gave us an introduction into consensus building and we did an exercise with the question, what are the best ways to market HMA. Answers were placed on a whiteboard and there will be a follow up.

Reverend Julie Morris, M.DIV., MA closed our conference asking us to tap into the beauty of it all. She shared a nature video that really allowed us to see the beauty around us. She asked about our experiences, not practices, that help us cope. Then encouraged us to literally put those skills on a calendar. It’s all stuff we know, we just have to do it!