05/04/2026
AZINA President Dr. Lakshmi Nair, Ph.D, PMHNP-BC, was joined by Mr. Mathews Jacob Puthuppally, our highly valued AZINA member and a wonderful VA Nurse and the most amazing young volunteer of AZINA Master Sidharth Nair attending the Nurses Day tabling event at VA Carl T Hayden Center in Pheonix.
We were invited by Dr. Thomas Thomas Ballan-Duràn, DNP, RN, Nurse Manager, Ancillary Care Clinics, Recruitment & Retention Chair of Phoenix VA Healthcare System, who is also the President-elect of NAHN Phoenix, National Association of Hispanic Nurses-Phoenix Chapter. We got to interact with THE Dr. Marla Weston, the former CEO of the American Nurses Association Enterprise, Dr. Lynette E. Dorsey, Associate Director of Patient Services at VA, Maj. Chad Lester, Deputy Associate Director of Patient Services. We got to hear so many amazing stories and experiences throughout our conversations. It was an amazing time of networking.
We also got to network with the Arizona Nurse Honor Guard, University of Arizona, AzNA, ASU, NAHN, Black Nurses Association, Men in Nursing and many others who had joined us! Loved our time there.
A huge shout out to @Mary Minu Joji AZINA Leader for coming and hanging out with us at our table and giving us breaks, Boby Jose, Rajesh, Meera, Sindhu Thomas and many other nurses of Indian origin and AZINA who came to see us at the table and clicked a pic with us!