ABOUT USs

Greater Washington Area Chapter (GWAC), is one of the largest and most active local chapters of AACN.  In 2006 and 2010, our chapter won the AACN President’s Award for Chapters—a distinguished award category recognizing the chapters that best exemplify the association's annual theme—with successful nominees demonstrating how the chapter was inspired by that year’s Presidential theme. In 2011, our chapter won 3 Excellence Awards: Leadership Development, Educational Programming, and Chapter Community Education and Public Service.

Our membership consists of nurses and student nurses who care for acutely and critically ill patients in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and northern Virginia.  Many of our members work in critical care, but others may work on telemetry units, stepdown units, post-anesthesia recovery areas, emergency departments, or in a variety of other settings.  We are united by the goal of providing the very best, evidence-based care to patients and their families.

Initiatives that GWAC has been involved in include promotion of the Beacon Award by supporting hospital units in our area in their application to Beaconand the Healthy Work Environment Standards. 

There are many ways to form a commitment and become involved in the Chapter.  Our premiere conference, Spotlight on Critical Care, is attended by hundreds of acute and critical care nurses from Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Our Spring Spotlight is hosted to support our Advanced Practice colleagues, dinner meetings hosted by our vendor supporters are very popular functions, and there are also many opportunities to volunteer through varied community service activities.
All these activities provide a forum to network, to share and to renew one’s spirit in the future of professional nursing in the specialty of critical care.

Please click on an image below to view recent GWAC Awards

Board Members
2011-2012

President   
Helen Hughes, RN, BSN, CCRN
helenhughesrn@verizon.net

President-Elect
Kelly McNeil-Jones, RN, BSN, MBA, RCIS
kelly.mcneiljones@gmail.com

Immediate Past President
Dorothy Belkoski, RN, BSN, CCRN
dorothy.belkoski@inova.org

Treasurer   
Laura Fedge, RN, MSN, CCRN
fedgell@gmail.com

Treasurer Elect
Minnie Raju, RN, MS
rajum@cc.nih.gov

Immediate Past Treasurer Abigail Butts, RN, MSN, CCNS, CCRN
ADB9@gunet.georgetown.edu

Recording Secretary
Maureen Edwards, RN, MSN, CCRN
Edwardsm012@verizon.net

Membership Chair  
Brett Dodd, RN, CEN, CCRN, CFRN
brettdodd@msn.com

Corresponding Secretary
Dorothy Belkoski, RN, CCRN
dorothy.belkoski@inova.org

Education Director
Marianne E. Hess MSN, RN, CCRN
marianne.hess@gwu-hospital.com

Newsletter
Vicki Lindgren, RN, MSN, CNS, CCRN, CCNS
Vicki.Lindgren@inova.org

Dinner Meeting Coordinator  
Pat McCabe, RN, MSN
patricia.mccabe@medstar.net

Northern Consortium
Barbara Cilento, RN, M.Ed., MSN, CCRN
Barbara.cilento@med.navy.mil

Military Liaison
CPT Andrea Jacobs, RN
Andrea.jacobs@usarec.army.mil

Spotlight Conference
Minnie Raju, RN, MS
rajum@cc.nih.gov

Community Service
Kelly McNeil-Jones, RN, BSN, MBA, RCIS
kelly.mcneiljones@gmail.com

Spring Conference
Karen Mack, RN, MSN, ACNP
Karen.M.Mack@Medstar.net

Region IV Advisor
Mary Zellinger, RN, MN, ANP-BC, CCRN-CSC
mary.zellinger@emory.edu