Taking Care of the People Who Take Care

Cathy R. Parsa, MA, RN, is in the first year of her term as president of the American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Nurses (AASCIN). She is the education coordinator for the SCI/D Health Care Group an Educator for the SCI Series at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Long Beach Health Care System in Long Beach, California. Recently, she graciously consented to an interview with Action.

How long have you been a member of AASCIN?

I’m reasonably sure this is my twentieth anniversary with AASCIN. Like many members I was initially drawn to the Association by the free conferences, journal, and educational materials and I wasn’t very involved otherwise. Good fortune brought me to the VA Long Beach in 1992. Long time members may remember that this was the home of one of our founding members, Marilyn Wullschleger, whom although I never had the opportunity to meet her. Most significant for me, Mary Lee Lynch, one of our clinical nurse specialist sat Long Beach, had just been elected president. I owe my entire AASCIN “career” to Mary Lee. While at the conference in 1992 she took me by the hand to introduce me to the Program Committee and before I knew what happened, they put me right to work. I stayed on that committee for five years. I suppose after that I was destined to become a director, but never dreamed I would be president and have been very surprised at what a good fit this role is with my skills and personality.

How did you come to be involved in SCI nursing?

I got the idea of going into nursing while working in public housing. I became friendly with a young woman, Margaret Ling, who had multiple sclerosis and, long story short, I entered nursing school knowing that I wanted to specialize in rehabilitation. Naturally I was the only one in my class of 80 who chose this specialty but the faculty went along with it. My first job was at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, on the rehabilitation unit. They had a world class SCI program and that became my specialty.

I’ve always thought of SCI nursing as my profession and much more than a job, so it’s been important to me to be involved in AASCIN, the only nursing association dedicated to supporting nurses who work with people with spinal cord injuries. To be a rehabilitation nurse and make a difference in an individual’s life is an incredible experience. But through AASCIN, I’ve had the opportunity to impact a whole community, and that is really something special.

How do you view the interface between AASCIN and people with SCI?

We have been talking lately about more direct ways to interface with United Spinal members. We are excited about participating in the upcoming consumer conference in Orlando in August and have talked about contributing articles to Action.

What do you hope to accomplish as president?

It’s become obvious to the board of directors that we need to be more independent in managing our association and especially in diversifying our funding sources as United Spinal is expanding in new directions. One thing we are sure about is that our partnerships with United Spinal as well as APS and AASCIPSW make us unique and we can be stronger and more effective together. Dr. Indira Lanig, president of American Paraplegia Society (APS), and Dr. Terrie Price, president of the American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologistsis and Social Workers (AASCIPSW) and I have developed an unprecedented working relationship.

We have to be more inclusive and reach nurses who may only occasionally come into contact with persons with SCI. We’re seriously looking at international memberships as well as reaching out to nursing students to explore ways we can attract new nurses to this specialty.

We also need to expand our definition of SCI to include treatment of persons with spinal cord-related disorders. Fewer and fewer nurses are able to limit their practice to “traditional” SCI care. We want to be their professional association of choice and that means meeting their needs and the needs of their patients by expanding and building on our body of knowledge.