DANBURY, CONN. — This year’s annual Nursing Alumni Reception, hosted by the Western Connecticut State University Alumni Nursing Society, will celebrate both National Nurses Week and the 190th birthday of nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale.

Theresa Vander Vennet, director of clinical excellence, quality and safety at New York Presbyterian Hospital, will be the featured speaker at the reception to be held at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 12, in Warner Hall on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. Admission will be free and open to WestConn nursing alumni, students and faculty.

Lois Crucitti, a founder of the WCSU Nursing Alumni Society and an organizer of the event, said Vennet will speak about the impact of hospital-acquired conditions and other significant adverse events that impact quality, risk, financial and legal aspects of patient care. Vennet is a nurse with 15 years of clinical and managerial experience in obstetrics, and an attorney with an independent practice as a legal nurse consultant for medical malpractice casework.

Crucitti said the reception also will feature a contest exhibition of posters designed by WCSU nursing seniors about issues in community health. The winning group will be awarded a gift certificate. Crucitti, a nurse at Brooklyn Middle School in Waterbury, said that last year’s winners donated helmets to U.S. soldiers serving in the Middle East.

In the fall, the WCSU Nursing Alumni Society will host a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the WestConn nursing department’s founding. The reunion will be Saturday, Oct. 23, in the President’s Reception Room in the Westside Classroom Building on the university’s Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury.

For more information, call Crucitti at (203) 263-5224.

 

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.