MEMBERSHIP UPDATES

CNNT Membership Updates

Joanna Lee Neumann, RN, CNN
CNNT Director-at-Large

Ms. Melinda Martin-Lester (CNNT Chair), Ms. Jordan Cannon (Sr. Director, Professional Programs and Member Engagement), and Ms. Joanna Lee Neumann (CNNT Director-at-Large) met during year end 2022 to discuss different strategies to gain more members. Melinda has been sending out welcome letters to new members to set the tone of a welcoming organization. CNNT will continue awarding Educational Stipends to CNNT members as an incentive to be a member. We also want to explore social media and technology for the newer generation by posting their pictures and a short quote when they join or renew their memberships. We will continue to work on different ways to increase membership.  

CNSW Membership Updates

Jennifer Miller, MSW, LICSW, FNKF 
CNSW Membership Chair

Hello Everyone! 

Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year that many of us are thinking, planning, and gearing up for the Spring Clinical Meetings. At this point it won’t be long and they will be here. This year for those of us in the cold…. we are heading to warmer weather in Austin, Texas. The Spring Clinical Meetings or SCM23 is April 11-15, 2023, in sunny Austin, Texas unlike last year in cloudy and chilly Boston, MA. Who can’t use some sun and a whole lot of education and networking?

Please continue to encourage all of your colleagues to join CNSW and to take advantage of the many benefits of membership, such as: 

• Free online CE through NKF's Professional Education Resource Center (PERC) 
• A subscription to the Journal of Nephrology Social Work (JNSW) 
• Discount registration to the NKF Spring Clinical Meetings, NKF's premier education event which is in person and virtual again this year.  
• Subscription to RenaLink, NKF's interdisciplinary renal health information and industry news e-magazine 
• Eligibility to apply for the Nephrology Social Work – Certified (NSW-C) Program 
• Eligibility to apply for travel grants, research grants, and the Fellowship of the National Kidney Foundation (FNKF) 
• Receive access to the CNSW Membership Listserv, where everyone can exchange information, ideas, resources, and participate in events such as Gary Petingola's CNSW Midweek Meditation.  
• CNSW offers 4 separate listservs for members: General, Pediatrics, Transplant and Chapter Chairs 
• Enjoy discounts on the NKF Store 

Feel free to call me at (612) 863- 9107 or email me at jennifer.miller2@allina.com. Please let me know how I can better serve your needs and answer your questions about CNSW membership.

Michigan CNSW Chapter

We are welcoming incoming Board members for 2023 – Matt Butler, LMSW-Vice Chair and Aisha Franklin-Onyeugwo, LMSW-Treasurer.  We’d like to thank Colleen Satarino and Becky Nichols for their service on the Board as Vice Chair and Treasurer respectively. 

Congrats to Aisha Franklin-Onyeugwo for receiving both our Michigan CNSW New Worker Award and the CNSW New Worker Award.

Upper Midwest Chapter 

The Upper Midwest chapter has been working on planning on how to engage the chapter community on coming together again after meeting virtually for so long. We have also been doing strategic planning on what the CNSW local chapter meetings will look like long term. We are planning an in-person presentation regarding whole person care and how culture affects that in May. 

Maryland Chapter

The Maryland Chapter is hoping to re-start meetings and events – are you interested in helping out? Contact Kenya Brown at Kenya.Brown@fmc-na.com. 

Rhode Island and Southern New England Chapter

Holding bi-monthly calls to talk about all things nephrology social work related. This is a great opportunity to share resources and talk out tough cases, or just get moral support! Our next call will take place March 9^th at 10am EST. We hope to eventually plan a CEU event for later this year. If you are interested in joining us, contact Sarah Stevenson at sarah.stevenson@va.gov. 

Orange County Chapter

On January 12, 2023, a Board Meeting was held to discuss re-starting chapter efforts since the onset of COVID. The Board Members agreed to survey the Orange County area Dialysis Social Workers in order to gain a better understanding of the desire to participate in the Board and in chapter events. Are you interested in getting more involved with CNSW OC? Contact Robin Sharpe-Worker at rworker@hs.uci.edu. 

Pacific Northwest Chapter

Our chapter held an event on Jan 26^th via Zoom. Eric Strom presented on Confidentiality, Lethality and Telehealth: What Behavioral Health Clinicians Need to Know. 3CEUs were offered. Expect more events from this chapter this year. If you’d like to become more involved, reach out to Karli Mitzel at Karli.mitzel@davita.com.   

Kansas and Western Missouri Chapter

CNSW of Kansas and Western Missouri had a “check-in” meeting in December. Some topics we discussed included:

The social work licensure compact that is in draft form. It will allow social workers licensed in one state to practice in any other state that is part of the compact without having to be separately licensed in that state. Before it can take effect, the draft must be finalized, and 7 state legislatures will have to approve it. Learn more.

The Council of State Governments (CSG) is partnering with the Department of Defence (DoD) and the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) with support from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and Clinical Social Work Association (CSWA) to support the mobility of licensed social workers through the development of a new interstate compact. The compact may not be ready to introduce legislation in 2023 due to concerns about some of the current language in the draft form.

Social workers in Missouri and in Kansas in the Kansas City area report problems with non-emergency medical transportation. Contact info for the Missouri contractor (MTM) was shared.

Our ESRD Network provided information about involuntarily discharges (IVD) and access to care problems, noting that one cause of involuntary discharges is when physicians terminate patients (often due to noncompliance) and no other physician in their group or other nephrology groups in the area will accept the patient leaving the clinic to IVD the patient with no one to write orders. Access to care issues also happen when a medical director will not accept a patient, for example, one with a trach, especially those that require suctioning. These patients are at higher risk for poor outcomes and the higher costs to Medicare when treated in hospitals sometimes for months.

We discussed Medicare Advantage plans, their pros and cons for meeting patients’ needs and how ads do not tell the full story.

We discussed whether to have in-person or virtual professional education meetings. The consensus was to plan for future education meetings to be 1-2 hours on Zoom. Our next educational meeting will likely be in May.

There was a request to hold quarterly Zoom “check-in” meetings like this one to share information and concerns and provide/get support. We will schedule a Zoom meeting in March and send an invitation to social workers in our catchment area.

CRN Membership Updates

Carol Lim, RD, LD
CRN Membership Chair &  Region IV Representative

New to NKF? Here are some things we have been working on. 

Need membership support from your employer?  We have created a template for each profession to help you make the request: Membership Support Letter 

Council on Renal Nutrition (CRN) Chapters.  All national dietitian members are also members of their area chapters; here is a listing of the twenty-seven affiliated chapters. 

• Thank you to all our Chapter Chairs and Regional Representatives for a successful re-affiliation period. We would like to recognize Region 1 Representatives, Marisol Kramer and Region 1 Alternative Representative, Ann Pittaoulis for their efforts to be the first region to have all their chapters affiliate. 
• Thank you to Western Pennsylvania chapter for being the first to complete the affiliation process. 

Stay connected and join us in Austin. NKF’s annual Spring Clinical Meetings will be held April 11-15, 2023. Live and on-demand registration is available. For registration details, pre-conference programs, and award winners, visit the SCM23 site. 

Looking for a local NKF field office?  Connect with your area NKF office. They can provide you with updates on local NKF events and news. 

NKF Patient Network.  The first nationwide registry for people at all stages and types of kidney disease developed to improve lives through research, clinical care, drug development, and supportive health policy decisions. Patients will be able to contribute data that will aid in the success of clinical trials and patient outcomes; learn more here. 

CKD Dietitian Database.  Promote your pre-dialysis CKD nutrition practice by getting listed on the CKD Dietitian Database. This is a resource for patients who seek nutrition consultation. To get started, fill out the application form. 

Have a question? Feel free to contact NKF Membership Services (888) 564-6653 or membership@kidney.org.