ANMC nursing director presents at National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association Conference
August 21, 2018
Many of ANMC’s Magnet nurses go above and beyond in their nursing practices, serving as community nursing leaders in addition to their practice at ANMC. Among ANMC’s health care team, our nurses are viewed as respected partners, collaborators and leaders.
Sadie Anderson, Nursing Director for ANMC’s Inpatient Surgery, Neurosurgery and Orthopedics units, recently presented at the National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association (NANAINA) Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota. NANAINA’s mission is to unite American Indian and Alaska Native nurses and those who care for Alaska Native and American Indian people to improve their health and well-being.
Anderson graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) in 2016 from the University of Alaska Anchorage. At this year’s NANAINA conference, she presented her MSN research project, “The Effects of Cultural Beliefs and Customs of Alaska Native People on Nutrition and Chronic Disease.” Her presentation was well received among the nearly 70 nurse and nursing student attendees of the conference.
“The chair of my project encouraged me and accompanied me to the conference to present. It was really nice to have her support and encouragement to talk about my research to a group of my peers,” said Anderson. “I tend to shy away from public speaking, but it was much easier speaking since this was a smaller conference and an audience of Native nurses and students. I hope I was able to inspire some of the nurses who are considering getting their master’s or doctorate degrees.”
Anderson has worked at ANMC since May 2007, where she started as a weekend night shift RN on ANMC’s Inpatient Neurosurgery and Orthopedics Unit. She is also a Tribal member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
Anderson joined NANAINA in 2017 and at the conference that year they announced they were looking to fill two seats on their board of directors. She attended a membership meeting and expressed her interest in running. She was elected to the board in 2017 as a member at large. The NANAINA board meets monthly via conference call, as board members are located throughout the U.S. Anderson’s current NANAINA board term lasts through June 2019.
“I had a few nursing students come up to me at the conference and ask about nursing in Alaska and tips for getting their first nursing job,” said Anderson. “I enjoy being able to help mentor Native nursing students and be a resource for them if needed after they graduate. At the 2017 conference, I handed my business card out to a few people and my card made it from a nursing instructor to a Native new graduate nurse from a different school in a different state who was having trouble getting an interview at ANMC. I was able to help him through the application process, interviewed him and he has become a great asset to ANMC!”
Anderson was intimately involved in the planning of this year’s conference. She helped with conference logistics, updating the website for the organization and was able to get both a drum group and color guard from her Tribe to perform at the conference.