After four decades in the business, she’s finally made it to the
top.
Carol Ann Snow, president of the Central Coast Visiting Nurse
Association (VNA) was elected to the national board of the Visiting
Nurse Associations of America at the organization’s meeting late
last month.
After four decades in the business, she’s finally made it to the top.
Carol Ann Snow, president of the Central Coast Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) was elected to the national board of the Visiting Nurse Associations of America at the organization’s meeting late last month.
“You could have blown me over with a feather when I heard I was elected,” Snow said. “I was running against top notch people from large organizations across the country and it’s just an awesome feeling right now.”
Snow, who has led the local VNA since 2000, was one of three new directors elected at the national meeting in New Orleans on April 26.
She has been a nurse for 40 years and has lived with her husband in San Juan Bautista for the past 30, she said.
Having a local representative on a national board means excellent representation at a time when major health decisions are being made in the country, said Marguerite McCurry, director of communications with VNA.
“They’re changing laws and taking away care for those who need health care the most,” McCurry said. “This gives an added voice for the Central Coast.”
Snow was asked to put her name on the ballot by the president of the Visiting Nurse Association of America, which in of itself was a huge honor, she said.
Snow has been a long-time advocate for home health care and hospice, and this advancement is just an extension of what she has been doing her entire career, she said.
“I’m very proud to be at this stage,” she said. “Now I get first-hand information and I’m right on the cutting edge… of how laws and the budget will affect the ring of organizations back home.”
Before deciding to run, Snow made sure her new responsibility wouldn’t take too much time away from her main duties running the four organizations that comprise the Central Coast VNA, she said.
Most of her work will be spent teleconferencing and she will only have to spend two days per quarter at meetings away from home, she said.
Snow, who also founded San Benito County Home Care based in Hollister, will serve a three-year term on the national board.
She is unsure whether she will run again after her term is up, she said.
“Ask me that again at the end of my third year,” she said. “But for now I’m still going strong – like the Energizer battery bunny.”
