San Diego, CA – At its 20th Anniversary Annual Conference, the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) today presented its prestigious President’s Award to a woman and a nursing organization that were instrumental to the founding of the association. Patricia Bielecki, MS, APN/CNS, RNC-OB, and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) were honored with the Award, which recognizes an individual or entity for extraordinary service to NACNS. It was established in 2013 to honor individuals or groups that make significant contributions toward the accomplishment of the NACNS mission.
Patricia Bielecki received the Award posthumously. She was the Founding President of NACNS in 1995 and helped steer the fledgling association in its early years. AACN was honored for its role in helping to establish NACNS as an association by providing management assistance to run the association in its founding year.
Bielecki’s daughters Amanda Austin and Elizabeth Godziak accepted the President’s Award on their mother’s behalf, and Connie Barden, RN, MSN, CCRN-E, CCNS accepted the Award for AACN as its Chief Clinical Officer.
“In this our 20th year, it is a particular pleasure to honor our Founding President and the sister organization that stepped up and offered help when we needed it most,” said NACNS 2014 President Les Rodriguez, MSN, MPH, RN, ACNS-BC, APRN. “Their combined vision for and dedication to an organization that would preserve and promote the role of the CNS was crucial in those early years. They, along with a group of impressive CNS leaders, built the foundation that made NACNS the association it is today.”