Congratulations to the recipients of the 2023 OAAPN Leadership Awards! We were proud to recognize three outstanding individuals as this year’s Preceptor of the Year and Advocate of the Year, as well as the President’s Award. Learn more about our winners now.
2023 OAAPN Preceptor of the Year Award Recipient
The OAAPN Preceptor of the Year Award is given to an APRN who exemplifies professionalism, service to others, and a commitment to lifelong learning and the future of our practice. This year we bestowed this award to Kathy Praisler-Wood for her passion in sharing her time, knowledge, and experience with the students she mentors on their paths to becoming professional APRNs.
Kathy is a role model of the characteristics of a great APRN. She is thorough in her assessment of patients and applies best practices in all situations. She is self-motivated, seeking out learning opportunities to follow evidence-based medicine and increasing her knowledge as a preceptor. She helps orient and train new employees as well as students in the profession. She has developed learning modules to help in this training, power points for Suturing, and minor office procedures for the OAAPN Conference. Kathy is incredibly positive and supportive of the new employee or student. She develops an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. She tailors the training to help the new employee/student areas for growth and improvement and finds resources to foster this development.
2023 Advocate of the Year Award Recipient
The OAAPN Advocate of the Year Award is bestowed upon an individual who supports and promotes the role of Advanced Practice Nurses. We are honored to present this year’s award to Jonithon LaCross for his commitment to professional development, research, education, advocacy, and better access to care for all Ohioans.
Jonithon is a government affairs lobbyist and attorney for Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP. He is an experienced public policy analyst and strategist advocating on behalf of the firm’s clients in legislative and agency matters. Jonithon works closely with clients to strategize and implement their public policy agendas and keep them aware of legislative developments that affect their legislative initiatives.
Through Jonithon’s role as part of the OAAPN lobbying team, over the past six months behind the scenes he has been paving a strong framework and structure for our upcoming legislative agendas. Jonithon has been instrumental in our grassroots building not only with our Ohio legislators in the House and Senate but also with other professional organizations throughout Ohio, helping us build stronger relationships and highly valuable conversations. The way he has developed and strengthened key relationships with members of both the House and Senate has been impeccable. He has truly put in a lot of challenging work and hours to support our legislative priorities with the building of these relationships in a different fashion than we have had before, making for strong impact for our future here in Ohio for all our APRNs (Advance Practice Registered Nurses).
2023 OAAPN President’s Award Recipient
The OAAPN President’s Award is bestowed upon an OAAPN Board Member who consistently exceeds expectations in the areas of leadership, advocacy, and collegiality and who demonstrates the OAAPN Mission and Vision in their clinical practice and leadership role. This year we present the award to OAAPN Reimbursement Director, Bethany Parsell, for her leadership, service, mentorship, and advocacy of APRN practice and her commitment to better access to care for all Ohioans.
“Bethany has been a member of the OAAPN board of directors for several years. She has served as the Central Regional Director, Director of Full Practice Authority, and is now our Director of Reimbursement. In that role, she has developed and updated the insurance matrix and reviews all legislation, rules, and regulations that impact APRN reimbursement in Ohio. She works with insurance companies to ensure APRNs are credentialed and credentialed correctly to ensure optimal reimbursement. Due to Bethany’s hard work, and the work of her committee, Ohio Medicaid and the Ohio Department of Health are now coming directory to OAAPN with rule changes for our input before filing rule changes. This is a meaningful change and directly impacts practice in Ohio. Bethany continues working with workers’ compensation to ensure APRNs have parity. In addition, she recently authored a white paper addressing the need for 100% reimbursement from Medicaid for APRNs in Ohio and is working to make this a reality. If you are an APRN in Ohio, there is a good chance that Bethany has had a direct impact on your reimbursement or credentialing. Please join me in thanking Bethany for her work in advocating for us all!”
– OAAPN President, Kelly Shank