Meet the NTI Work Group

The NTI Work Group fulfills a vital role in reviewing abstracts and recommending program topics and sessions for NTI and API. During the conference, these volunteers serve as valuable resources for participants.

Each day, NTI News will introduce you to different members of this group. Please stop by the Information Center in the Resource Center to chat with them and thank them for their contributions.

Members of the 2008 NTI Work Group are:
Mary Frances D. Pate (chair), Janice M. Wojcik (board liaison), Michele L. Avila-Emerson, Phyllis Cerone, Louise R. Cook, Gerard “Jerry” B. Hannibal, Donna Kruse, Barbara B. Pope, Susan Ward and Mary Zellinger.

Cerone has worked in critical care for more than 25 years in roles ranging from staff nurse to critical care educator and clinical nurse specialist to her current position as director of Critical Care Services for Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Ill. She has maintained her CCRN certification for more than 20 years.

Cerone earned her bachelor of science degree from St. Theresa’s College in Winona, Minn. and her master’s in nursing from Northern Illinois University.

A member of AACN since 1987, she has been a board member of the Northwest Chicago Area Chapter of AACN for more than 15 years. She has also served numerous times as chair for the chapter’s Annual Midwest Conference – a four-day educational program for nurses.

Cerone made a commitment to critical care nursing and AACN. She has attended more than 10 education programs at NTI, where she renews her commitment to innovative, best practice critical care nursing. AACN has provided a platform to guide her work to optimize patient care and healthy work environments.

Ward has been a critical care staff nurse for 16 years. A graduate of Lake Superior State University with a bachelor of science degree in nursing, she began her career in critical care nursing and fell in love with it.

Ward has been a member of AACN since 1993 and has been certified as a CCRN for 13 years. After attending her first NTI in Atlanta in 2002, she joined the West Michigan Chapter as one of its first board learning partners. Since then, Ward has filled the roles of treasurer-elect, treasurer, president-elect and next year will become chapter president. At the national AACN level, Ward has been a speaker at NTI, served as an AACN/CCRN ambassador, a member of the Board Advisory Team, Awards Review Panel and Scholarship Review Panel, and as a reviewer for the Standards for Acute and Critical Care Nursing Practice.

Ward is currently a bedside staff nurse in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, Mich., as well as a critical care nurse rounder, which is part of the hospital’s Rapid Response Team.

Kruse has been an active member of AACN since 1989. Besides being in the NTI Work Group, she was a review panel member for the Circle of Excellence Awards, and she served on the Continuing Education Panel and the Fall 2006 Advisory Board. Kruse is an active member and past president of the Northwest Chicago Area Chapter. She has received two AACN Excellence in Clinical Practice awards (1994 and 1998).

Kruse is currently employed as a staff nurse in the Cardiac Care Unit/Surgical Heart Unit at Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Ill. In addition to patient care and her involvement in unit clinical practice committees, Kruse serves on various health system teams. In 2005, the hospital gave her the “Nurse of the Year” award for her dedication to patient care and best practices.

She recently returned to her passion for academia by accepting an adjunct faculty position with Elgin Community College’s School of Nursing. In addition, she is continuing her community teaching on healthcare issues and has worked with various women’s groups and local schools.

Kruse is excited to be a member of the 2008 NTI Work Group and network with her colleagues from across the nation.