President's Message

Danya Garner, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, OCN®, CCRN-K

 

A message from ONS President Danya Garner, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, OCN®, CCRN

Oncology nurses have incredibly important roles in the lives of those requiring care in today’s healthcare landscape, which is developing in ways that position us to be stronger advocates than ever before. As we work together to provide the best possible care environments while sustaining and elevating our nursing practice, the diversity in our commitment to advancing oncology nursing is evident in our roles delivering direct patient care, leading interprofessional healthcare teams, educating nurses, growing informatics and technology, and beyond. 

Enveloped in the nurse’s role is also our responsibility to proclaim and practice well-being so that we may be the best, optimized version of ourselves professionally and personally. Take the opportunity to reflect on your growth as an oncology nurse, remember the many lives you have directly and indirectly affected, and envision the many great accomplishments on your horizon. We often give so much that we forget to fill our own cups so that we may pour them into others. 

The ONS Board of Directors and I are grateful to serve the more than 35,000 ONS members for the next year. The ONS Board sets the organization’s strategic priorities in alignment with the ONS mission and vision and is advancing the ONS strategic plan in 2023. We are developing member volunteer opportunities that provide for service to others and self, building avenues for meaningful knowledge transfer across our membership tenure to sustain oncology nursing practice, and creating spaces for nurses seeking oncology careers to enter the profession, grow, and develop.  

The diversity in our profession and in those requiring care challenges us to be more than we could have imagined possible. Mary McLeod Bethune, a passionate educator and civil rights activist, provides us with inspiration. She said, “The progress of the world will call for the best that all of us have to give.” In working together, the culmination of our different talents and unique attributes always allows us to achieve more.