Our member of the month for November is a longtime and active LINAPNAP member, as well. She, along with Lee has served the local chapter, profession, her colleagues and students throughout her tenure as a nurse. Back in her days at NYSNA, she served as Chair of the Nursing Education Council. She developed a series of live NYSNA webinars for new nurse educators addressing innovative teaching techniques, dealing with student issues, creating relevant clinical assignments, student evaluation and professional role development. This member frequently volunteered for various committees and subcommittees such as those pertaining to child abuse, immunization adherence, parenting, childcare and nutritional programs. She has been an integral part of the Nurses Association of the Counties of Long Island (NACLI) and served in numerous positions such Director at Large, Chairperson of the Awards and Program Committees, planned educational conferences, and President. Her participatory management style resulted in robust membership and scholarship fundraising. This member has embraced mentorship as faculty advisor and as the American Nurses Association (ANA) - New York consultant to the Nursing Student Association of New York State (NYSANYS). She empowers students to develop innovative programs, conferences, and provide community outreach service projects such as Ronald McDonald House. This member was essential for Farmingdale State College’s establishment of Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Nursing Honor Society’s local chapter, Chi Gamma. As a founding board member, Director-at-Large, and currently serving her second term as Vice President of ANA-New York, the wealth of her knowledge, dedication to the profession and her unwavering desire to provide optimal patient care is evident in the numerous roles she holds. This November member of the month is Joanne Lapidus-Graham. Joanne, thank you for all that you do for our chapter and the profession!
October 2020
Our October member of the month is a true leader, born to serve and act as a change agent for the profession. A longtime member of NAPNAP, both nationally and at the Long Island Chapter level, she has been an active participant at meetings and events over the years. In addition to serving our association, she has deeply and vigorously served numerous others. She has been a highly active member of the American Nurses Association (ANA) – New York, the state constituent of the American Nurses Association since its inception in 2012, serving as a Director-at-large followed by 4 years acting as its President. In addition, she has served on many other committees, including the ANA Membership Assembly, ANA-New York Strategic Planning Committee, ANA-New York Annual Committee Meeting, ANA-New York Nursing Education Committee, and ANA-NY Legislation Committee, just to name a few. When ANA was still affiliated with NYSNA, she was actively involved, serving on and chairing various committees such as the Parent/Child Clinical Practice Unit, and also represented the Professional Nurses Association of Suffolk County (PNASC) at NYSNA. She remains actively involved in PNASC and is currently their President-elect. Staying true to her leadership and dedication to ANA-NY, she was recently elected to serve on the Nominations and Elections committee, assisting with the succession and perpetuation of the association. She has mentored numerous nursing leaders through her tenure in various professional organizations. This member of the month is a retired pediatric and mental health nurse educator and worked many years as an esteemed and highly regarded academic nurse educator at Suffolk Community College, where she inspired students and raised the bar in order to have her future colleagues excel. This member is also a Certified Asthma Educator who is actively involved in providing health promotion education related to asthma directed towards vulnerable populations through her church and through other churches within the downstate area. She is currently collaborating with several colleagues on a manuscript on the Stepwise Approach to Asthma Management. Her efforts are endless, as she continually remains involved in community service. On numerous occasions, she has shaved her head for St. Baldrics, the charitable organization providing funds for pediatric cancer research. Our October member of the month is Elisa "Lee" Mancuso. Lee, thank you for your selfless acts and endless efforts to perpetuate and advance our chapter and our profession!
February 2020
To all my LI NAPNAP friends,
It is an honor to have been selected as the Member of the Month for LI NAPNAP. I have enjoyed working together for over 15 years in our organization. It takes a team of dedicated professionals to make a difference in advancing child health and safety and support the needs of families and community. LI NAPNAP has offered me so many opportunities to share experiences with may colleagues and we have learned from each other. LI NAPNAP does it all--networking, using resources for scholarship opportunities, developing an ambassador program, exploring job opportunities, engaging in education conferences, advocating for universal health policy and of course leadership opportunites. Together we have come along way from the original 10 members. Active participation promotes our organization to continue to succeed.
Future generations need to learn from the beginning the outstanding leaders of our organization and contributions that have changed our practice.November 2019
Thank you all so much for nominating me for member of the month. I was truly honored and surprised at the award. I am so grateful to have all of you as my friends. Joanne, job well done keeping it a secret every day at work! And even getting the pictures from me without me even giving it a second guess! LI NAPNAP has allowed me to have friendships that will last a lifetime. Thank you!!!MichelleMichelle L. Ceo, RN, CPN, CPNP-PCStony Brook Long Island Children’s HospitalPediatric Nurse PractitionerDivision of Pediatric SurgerySeptember 2019 
We appreciate all that Fran has done for LI NAPNAP. Her dedication and enthusiasm for our profession has been observed throughout her commitment to our organization as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner leader in education and clinical practice. Over the past 2 years she has volunteered as a Board member. Fran has worked diligently to meet the requirements to maintain our CEU program. She has been both a poster presenter and speaker for our LI NAPNAP annual conference. We applaud her multitude of credentials. Congratulations to our colleague and friend!
Maria S. Narine, CPNP SecretaryMarch 2018
Christine graduated from Philips Beth Israel School of Nursing in 2008 after working in the Insurance industry in Medical Malpractice. She started Stony Brook’s Pediatric NP program in the summer of 2017 and is going full-time with an expected graduation of May 2019. She has been a nurse for almost 10 years, specializing in Maternal Child Health. She has worked at Roosevelt Hospital (in Manhattan) as a nurse in Antepartum, Postpartum and Newborn Nursery, North Shore Manhasset as a Maternal Child Float nurse specializing in all areas including L&D, Stony Brook in Labor & Delivery and now works at Good Samaritan as a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She always knew that she would further her education and Pediatrics was her first choice. She has two children Matthew (9) and Isabelle (5), and when Isabelle started Kindergarten she knew it was the right time to re-focus on her education. In addition to NAPNAP, she is part of the Long Island Lactation Consultant Association (LILCA), AWOHNN (Association of Womens Health & Neonatal Nursing), USLCA (United States Lactation Consultant Association), ILCA (International Lactation Consultant Association) and New York State NPA (Nurse Practitioner Association). She has also have been part of a Suffolk County Breastfeeding Workgroup with the Suffolk County Department of Health, Suffolk County Department of Women’s Services and WIC to promote breastfeeding and allocate services to New and Expectant mothers and their children.
I quote: “I absolutely love what I am learning and am lucky to have the support of both my husband and children. The biggest joke in our house is that the kids can’t complain about homework since mommy has homework too! I joined NAPNAP as soon as I was accepted into the NP program in April knowing that it is a great way to learn about the profession, get access to continuing education and networking!”
I can’t begin to tell you how delightful it has been to meet and work with Christine through LI NAPNAP. For the first time this year and as a new student member, she joined our organization and eagerly volunteered and supported our special committee book drive. Her enthusiasm and determination has proven very successful. She single handedly reached out to various publishers and was able to collect over 200 new books for children of all ages. These books have been shared among our various clinics; our Spanish edition books were exceptional and a real treat for many children. Together we presented a collection of gently used and new books to the Tri-Community Youth Agency in Huntington—this program supports the needs of the underprivileged youth in the community offering afterschool supervised activities, lunch program, and refuge for youths in crisis. She shared her experience with her daughter and is pictured on our website with Isabella and 3 children from the TRiCYA accepting our donation. She has excelled in the field of Maternal Child Health. But her passion for learning is endless. I am happy to report, Christine will be LI NAPNAPs representative at the National Conference in Chicago, advocating for vulnerable youth. She has volunteered to attend a 2hr workshop on human trafficking and will report to our membership at our next June Chapter Meeting. We are so fortunate to have members like Christine who truly epitomize our profession and the mission of LI NAPNAP.
Maria S. Narine, CPNP
LI NAPNAP President
Dec 2017
Joanne has been working in various professional leadership roles since graduating as a registered nurse in 2000 from Suffolk County Community College and working at Stony Brook Hospital on the Pediatric Acute Care & Hematology/Oncology units. While working as the Nurse educator of the inpatient Acute Care & Hem/Onc unit in 2005 she enrolled and completed her BSN at SBU in 2008. She was soon hired as the supervisor/clinician for the outpatient Pediatric Hem/Onc clinic and Infusion center at Stony Brook Hospital. She earned her Masters and post-graduate degree and certification as a PNP from SBU in 2011 and has worked as an advance practice health care provider in various outpatient primary care facilities beginning her career at the Primary Care of River Pediatrics in Patchogue, and Nightingale Preventative Care in Farmingville “making prevention, wellness, and patient education a main priority.” Currently she continues to supervise the outpatient Ped Hem/Onc clinic at Stony Brook Medical Center in addition to working designated weekly hours as a PNP in the Prohealth Care Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine clinic in Holbrook.
Joanne Camarda has been a dedicated and active member of LI NAPNAP since 2012. It was during this year that she became our President-Elect for her upcoming 2013-2014 Presidency of our LI NAPNAP. Highlights of her presidency year included: a topic of much interest: Allergies & Asthma which introduced one of our favorite and returning speakers Dr. Stanley Goldstein; she organized an educational dinner conference at Jewel whereby APN earned 1.5 CEU credits as we learned about “Transitioning the Technology Dependent Child from Hospital to Home Care”. And as I recall, this was the infamous dinner conference where the sponsor had left before the final account of the bill was settled and paid--mind boggled, Joanne and I and a few others stood by looking at each other …the thought of dishwashing for the remainder of the evening did cross our minds. It was a first! It was during this year that she was a preceptor and mentor for Sheila Almendras-Flaherty, a PNP student and LI NAPNAP’s 1st Student PNP scholarship awarded recipient. She continued our annual adopt-a-family community service program for the Retreat shelter for battered & abused Women & Children. As our Board Leader, she helped to organize our 3rd Annual Educational Conference “Keeping our Kids Safe, Happy and Healthy this Summer” held at Farmingdale State College which allowed us all to earn 6CEUs and a parking ticket for Joanne by the school’s safety patrol. But seriously, by the end of her presidency in 2014, our local chapter membership growth of 23% was recognized and awarded by our National NAPNAP organization as she passed the baton to our next President Elizabeth Seim.
Joanne knows her numbers. She continued on as an elective member of the Board working as our treasurer for 2 terms. She has been the contact person most of our sponsors know by first name basis and have her contact number on speed dial. Our treasury funds have more than doubled with the support of our sponsors and thankfully to Joanne’s meticulous and thorough bookkeeping. This has allowed for our organization to grow and provide ongoing resources for learning and supporting our community of professionals. And yes she is usually the one handing out the raffles.
I have known Joanne since we worked together at SBUMC in 2009 both in the outpatient clinic and as academic clinic instructors for Stony Brook School of Nursing. I see her as a caring individual; organized; benevolent; noble and respectful of others and herself; her pride in her work and her profession is inspiring. Work-life balance is a concept that Joanne takes seriously as she has shared life with friends and family especially her husband Ron, children and now her 2 grandchildren. She is an amazing Wonder Woman. If I ever needed a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Joanne is the one I would want taking care of my child. It is of no surprise that she is our 1st chosen Member of the Month.Maria S. Narine, CPNPLI NAPNAP President 12/2017