Happy New Year! Welcome to 2021! I am so happy to see the end of 2020. While I know things won’t be ‘normal’ for much of 2021, the ushering in of a new year brings hope, which AMSN’s President Summer Bryant discussed in her column, but also promises of a clean slate and an unwritten story. It reminds me of a new journal or notebook, with clean, blank pages.

As I look ahead to 2021, I am optimistic. I do believe we’ll turn the corner with the pandemic. I see pictures on social media every day of healthcare providers getting their COVID vaccine, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see selfies of deltoid muscles and syringes.

The experts, right now, are anticipating we might reach herd immunity by late summer or early September, which makes me quite hopeful for the status of our 2021 convention at the end of September. We’ll continue to monitor this closely, but right now we all have our fingers crossed that we will be able to be together in Orlando!

Did you know that AMSN is celebrating a significant milestone this year? AMSN is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021!

Did you know that AMSN is celebrating a significant milestone this year? AMSN is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021! Can you believe that 30 years ago a group of passionate med-surg nurses decided we needed a national voice representing med-surg nurses everywhere?

Their vision and commitment made AMSN possible, and since then hundreds of volunteers and thousands of members have made AMSN into what it is today.

We will be launching a year-long celebration to recognize and celebrate all that AMSN has accomplished. More than our accomplishments - we’ll be celebrating our anniversary all year long honoring you with giveaways, surprises, awards, and much more.

Each week throughout 2021 we will be highlighting the very reason AMSN is here. You. You are why we are here, and why we are so passionate about all that is to come. I hope you will enjoy the many special activities we have planned.

Reflecting on our 30th anniversary got me thinking. Did you know the pearl is the traditional gift for a 30th anniversary? I was amazed at what we can learn from the pearl, especially as we celebrate AMSN’s 30th anniversary in 2021.

• The pearl is the oldest gemstone and is the only gemstone to come from a living organism. In much the same way as AMSN is a pearl made from the contributions of our leaders, volunteers, and members. It takes the contributions of many individuals to make a successful professional society, and you all contribute to our ‘pearl’ every day.
• Pearls symbolize wisdom, and wisdom is so important to the work AMSN does. We offer education to make you all expert medical-surgical nurses, and without the wisdom of the staff, BOD and volunteers, past and present, AMSN wouldn’t be who we are without your ‘pearls of wisdom’.
• Pearls, like us, come in all shapes, colors and sizes. And, just like us, no two pearls are alike. Each pearl is unique and has its own fingerprint.
• Pearls are formed by a foreign body, a grain of sand or dirt, making its way into an oyster or mollusk. The mollusk then attempts to protect itself by secreting nacre, which envelops the foreign body in layers, which result in a pearl. In much the same way that 2020 was foreign to all of us, think of the layers we’ve all developed in coping and what pearl may emerge as a result!

We wish you a year that is the best yet, full of opportunity, growth, love, and self-care.