Alabama Emergency Nurses Association-ALENA

05/15/2026

This week, we recognize the men and women of EMS who answer the call without hesitation.

Every shift brings the unknown. Every call demands skill, speed, and trust.

From roadside emergencies to critical patient handoffs, EMS professionals are the first link in the chain of survival.

The Alabama Emergency Nurses Association is proud to support our EMS colleagues.

Thank you for your commitment, and the care you provide across our communities.

05/14/2026

Violence against nurses is not part of the job.
Across Alabama, nurses report for every shift ready to care for people on their hardest days. They deserve to finish those shifts safely. Yet far too many are harmed and far too often it goes unreported, because it has been quietly accepted as something nurses are simply expected to endure.
The Alabama Emergency Nurses Association says clearly: that ends now.
An assault on a nurse is not a workplace hazard to be “ managed” via a social media statement and recorded video. It is a crime. It leaves real injuries and it drives skilled, compassionate nurses away from the bedside at a time when Alabama cannot afford to lose them.
And accountability does not stop at the people who commit these assaults. Facilities must be held accountable for the conditions they create. Safe working conditions are not optional, and they do not end at the unit doors they extend to adequately staffed security, enforced workplace violence policies, prosecution when assaults occur, and safe, well-lit parking for the nurses walking to their cars after a long shift. A nurse should never feel unsafe coming to work or leaving it.
Protecting nurses takes more than gratitude during Nurses Week. It takes leadership that invests in safety and stands behind its staff. It takes a culture where reporting an assault is met with support, not silence.

Ada Doss, 27, was walking to her car during shift change when police said she was shot and killed. 💔

05/06/2026

From the Alabama Emergency Nurses Association to every ER nurse in our state….Happy National Nurses Week.

The 2026 theme is The Power of Nurses — and nowhere is that power more visible than in the
ER.

You walk into chaos and bring order. You meet people on the worst day of their life and treat them like the only patient in the room. You triage, resuscitate, console, advocate, document, and then turn around and do it all again for the next one. You catch the things no one else caught. You stay calm when everyone else cannot.

05/02/2026

Shape the Future of the ENA Foundation

The call for the 2027 ENA Foundation Board of Trustees is now open through May 29, as the ENA Foundation seeks a passionate leader to fill one member-at-large position.

This is your chance to develop and present fresh ideas that will help shape the Foundation’s future. As a trustee, you'll guide a 35-year legacy of impact and serve as a key resource for ENA members.

Link to apply https://www.abstractscorecard.com/cfp/submit/login.asp?EventKey=ZQCYJGII

For any additional questions, please contact governance@ena.org or 847.460.4095

05/01/2026

🚨 Fast Five with Eric McCraney 🚨

May 2026 Member Spotlight is here — and this one's a good one.

From the ICU in Mobile, to ED nights on an Air Force base in Mississippi, to running a critical access ED solo and shaping the next generation of FNPs — Eric has done it all. Now he's heading to Phoenix to talk rural-to-tertiary transfers and the bias that gets in the way of patient care.

Swipe ➡️ to hear what drew Eric to emergency nursing, what he's bringing to the stage in Phoenix for EN 26 and where he wants to see Alabama's emergency nursing community grow next.

04/30/2026

Alabama ENA went to Washington.

This week, members of the Alabama Emergency Nurses Association under the extraordinary leadership of ALENA Government Affairs Chair Tammy Mathews joined nearly 200 emergency nurses from across the country at ENA Day on the Hill 2026 — walking the halls of the Capitol to bring the realities of the emergency department directly to our federal lawmakers.

They were there because Alabama emergency nurses deserve a seat at the table. The bills they championed are not abstract policy. They are the difference between a safer shift and another assault, between a nurse who stays at the bedside and one who walks away.

Our priorities this year:
• The Save Healthcare Workers Act — making it a federal crime to assault hospital personnel, with enhanced penalties when a deadly weapon is used. Healthcare workers are 10 percent of the U.S. workforce but account for nearly half of all missed workdays due to assault. That is not a job description. That is a crisis.

• The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act — directing OSHA to set a national standard requiring hospitals to build and maintain real workplace violence prevention plans.

• Reauthorization of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act — sustaining the federal funding that supports the mental health and well-being of nurses, physicians, and frontline staff who carry the weight of this work home with them.

• Continued investment in Title VIII nursing workforce programs and federal action on emergency department boarding and overcrowding — both of which hit Alabama hospitals hard, especially in our rural communities.

Why does this matter for Alabama? Because what happens on a Tuesday night in a Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville, or Dothan ED is shaped by what does or does not pass in Washington.

Every Alabama ENA member who showed up this week carried the voice of every nurse who could not.

To our Alabama delegation — thank you for representing this state with conviction, professionalism, and heart.

To our members at home — your stories made these meetings possible. Keep telling them.
The work does not stop at the Capitol steps.



Gary Palmer for Alabama Senator April Weaver Senator Tommy Tuberville Senator Katie Boyd Britt Mike Rogers Rep. Shomari Figures

04/26/2026

Did you know?
Alabama is home to not one..but two ENA Lantern Award Emergency Departments-East Alabama Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of Alabama.

04/25/2026

Congrats!

Shea Duerring, M.D., associate professor in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Pediatrics, has been appointed by the Secretary of Transportation to serve on the National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council (NEMSAC).

04/21/2026

We are excited to share the registration link for the third annual Sexual Assault Awareness Month Conference, taking place on April 28th at the University of Alabama Capstone College of Nursing. This event is open to healthcare providers, law enforcement, social workers, community members, and others who are involved in or interested in this important work. It is a free event, with the option for continuing education credits (also free).

Registration:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/third-annual-sexual-assault-awareness-month-conference-tickets-1982906227906

04/19/2026

2026 Alabama ENA Award of Excellence: Lifetime Achievement in Emergency Nursing

It is with profound respect and admiration that the Alabama Emergency Nurses Association recognizes Nancy Shelton, BSN, RN, NRP as the recipient of the 2026 Lifetime Achievement in Emergency Nursing Award.

This is our most prestigious honor — an award that is not about a single moment or a single accomplishment, but about a body of work. It recognizes someone who has shown up for this profession year after year, decade after decade, and has made it better simply by being part of it.

Nancy's recognition this year carries a distinction worth noting. She received not one, not two, but three separate nominations for this honor. If that speaks to anything, it speaks to the profound and lasting impact she has made on the colleagues, patients, and communities she has served throughout her career. Her dual preparation as both a registered nurse and a Nationally Registered Paramedic reflects a lifetime devoted to emergency care in every setting it is delivered — from the field to the bedside and every critical moment in between.

A career like Nancy's is the foundation on which emergency nursing in Alabama stands.

Generations of nurses have been shaped by her example, and countless patients have been served by her skill, her steadiness, and her heart for this work.

Please join ALENA in congratulating Nancy on this extraordinary and deeply deserved honor — a tribute to a career that has defined what it means to serve in emergency nursing.