Linda Torres DNP, CRNA, CCRN, Named Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Health, VHA

📷: Linda Torres DNP, CRNA, CCRN Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Health, Veterans Health Administration

Dr. Linda Torres serves as an advisor to the senior leadership team at the Veterans Health Administration. Among her projects, she is leading VA’s efforts in the White House’s re-launch of the Cancer Moonshot, where service-member environmental exposures are a focus.

Dr. Torres served in the Army as a critical care nurse and deployed in 2012 to Bastion Hospital and Bagram Airfield Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

After her time in service, she earned her doctorate in nursing practice, specializing in nurse anesthesia. She continues to care for patients as a CRNA in North Philadelphia. She earned her doctorate in nursing with a focus on nurse anesthesia from the University of Pennsylvania. There, she enrolled in courses outside of nursing such as non-profit leadership and government relations.

Beyond nursing, Dr. Torres served as the service director and then policy director for the all-volunteer veteran non-profit Action Tank. Her work in this organization focused on the tree canopy, firearm violence, food insecurity, and substance use. She continues to volunteer and plant trees.

Dr. Torres also serves on the board of another veteran non-profit, Team Foster.

PANA Receives Excellence in State Government Relations Advocacy Award at AANA

The Excellence in State Government Relations Advocacy Award, established in 2016, is presented annually to a state association based on the quality of its efforts in the state legislative or regulatory arena for the nurse anesthesiology profession. The recipient is chosen by the AANA Government Relations Committee.

In 2021, the PANA successfully lobbied for a law that includes formal title recognition for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) in statute for the first time, clarifies the CRNA relationship with physicians and dentists, and allows for CRNAs to work with podiatrists.

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AANA Presents Daniel D. Vigness Federal Political Director Award to Laura Wiggins, DNP, CRNA

The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) honored Lt. Col. Laura Wiggins, DNP, CRNA, with the Daniel D. Vigness Federal Political Director Award at its Mid-Year Assembly, held in Washington, D.C. on April 2-6. Wiggins, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), is a staff CRNA with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh and chief nurse for the critical care transport team in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

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Diane Boettger, MHS, CRNA Receives the Challenge Coin from the VHA's Chief Nursing Officer During AANA-MYA

Beth Taylor, DHA, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer, Veterans Health Administration (left) with PANA Board Member Diane Boettger, MHS, CRNA

WHAT'S THE CHALLENGE COIN?

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PANA SITS DOWN WITH 'BEYOND THE MASK' PODCAST!

Diane Boettger, CRNA, PANA Board of Trustees being interviewed on the Beyond the Mask Podcast

Pictured Below:

Left: Beyond the Mask Podcast Co-Host Jeremy Stanley with Diane Boettger, CRNA, Sharon Pearce, DNP, CRNA, and Co-Host, and Sarah Trau, CRNA, PANA Board of Trustees

Middle: Sarah Trau, CRNA, PANA Board of Trustees with Co-Host Sharon Pearce, DNP, CRNA

Right: Beyond the Mask Podcast Co-Hosts Jeremy Stanley and Sharon Pearce, DNP, CRNA

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Diane Boettger, CRNA, PANA Board of Trustees speaking at the Region 6 Breakout Session during #AANAMYA

AANA Presents Daniel D. Vigness Federal Political Director Award to PANA

The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) honored Lt. Col. Laura Wiggins, DNP, CRNA, with the Daniel D. Vigness Federal Political Director Award at its Mid-Year Assembly, held in Washington, D.C. on April 2-6. Wiggins, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), is staff CRNA with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh and chief nurse for the critical care transport team in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

“It is an honor to receive the Federal Political Director Award. Promoting and safeguarding the profession and helping to work towards regulations and legislation that allow CRNAs to practice at their full scope has been both an honor and a privilege,” Wiggins said. “However, all my work could not be accomplished without the support of the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists and my employers. I thank them for providing me with the resources and time to build the relationships that have allowed me to be a successful advocate for all CRNAs.”

Wiggins has been the Federal Political Director (FPD) for the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA) for the past two years and serves on its Board of Trustees. In 2019 she helped lead more than 180 CRNAs and students enrolled in nurse anesthesiology programs to lobby in Harrisburg on behalf of the profession. She is the former Chief Nurse for the 911th Aeromedical Staging Squadron and former Critical Care Air Transport Team member and has been deployed to support numerous international situations throughout her career.

According to her nominator, Wiggins is a natural leader with a passion for nurse anesthesia. “Whether leading a medical team as the anesthesia director for military operations in Kyrgyzstan, or providing obstetric anesthesia in Pittsburgh, Laura carries herself with a sense of dignity and skill that reflects the best of our profession.”

In addition, she was lauded for her hands-on leadership early in the COVID-19 pandemic. According to her nomination, weeks before Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf even issued a formal stay-at-home order for the commonwealth, the PANA board began researching options to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to its members. Wiggins relied on her military expertise to review mask options and determine the best fit for PANA to provide to members to keep them safe.

“Laura knew early on how important it was for PANA to not disrupt the supply chain already working on PPE for local hospitals and other facilities around Pennsylvania,” cited her nomination. “Therefore, she spearheaded a discussion with a small 3D printing company in southwestern Pennsylvania. Wiggins began to work with the co-owner of the company to design a 3D-printed mask that would keep our members safe. Laura Wiggins oversaw all of the details, even recruiting a biochemist and an engineer from Stanley Black & Decker to support the cause. After numerous back-and-forth phone calls, texts, virtual calls, and prototype designs, the mask was ready to offer to members as a complimentary benefit. In the initial two hours of sending the e-mail to alert members about the free product offering, PANA received over 400 requests. When completed, PANA shipped over 1,200 PPE masks around the state within four weeks, and this was largely due to the work of Lt. Col Laura Wiggins.”

She is a clinical instructor at the University of Pittsburgh Nurse Anesthesia Program for various courses, including Difficult Airway Course; Regional Anesthesia; and Obstetrics Anesthesia. As a critical care nurse in the Air Force Reserves, Wiggins directly supervises more than 60 medical military personnel while managing all nursing services and flight member activities. In addition, she is an independent contractor with Anesthesiology Services Network, providing anesthesia services for a Level One Trauma Center with 24 operating rooms and diverse areas, including neurosurgery, vascular, thoracic, orthopedics, general, gynecology, pediatrics, trauma, and obstetrics.

Wiggins received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Pennsylvania State University in State College, and a master’s degree in nursing with a specialization in nurse anesthesia area from Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. She earned a Doctor of Nurse Practice degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

As advanced practice nurses, CRNAs are members of one of the most trusted professions according to Gallup. CRNAs provide anesthesia care across all settings and in all patient populations and are the primary anesthesia providers in rural and underserved areas and on the battlefield in forward surgical teams.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurse anesthetists across the country have been essential in addressing the deadliest part of the disease in addition to providing top-of-the-line anesthesia care. They have served as experts in airway management, hemodynamic monitoring, management of patients on ventilators, and overall management of critically ill patients.

About the Daniel D. Vigness Federal Political Director Award

The Federal Political Director of the Year Award, established in 2001, was renamed the Daniel D. Vigness Federal Political Director Award in 2013 in tribute and memory of its first winner. It is presented annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of the national healthcare agenda of CRNAs by coordinating grassroots CRNA involvement at the state level or through special contributions to the federal political process.