This summer, a great way to support nursing will hit the streets — a new specialty nurse license plate.
“This is a great way to honor nursing, whether you are a nurse, know a nurse, like a nurse or just respect the profession,” said Georgia Barkers, Ed.D., MBA, MHA, BSN, RN-BC, NEA-BC, president of the Georgia Nurses Foundation. “After years of planning, designing and working through the process, we are so excited and can hardly believe that it is finally happening.”
Who knew that a license plate could involve so much red tape? Barkers said the Georgia Nurses Association (GNA) and the Georgia Nurses Foundation (GNF) had been talking about a license plate long before she joined the foundation as director of leadership development four years ago.
The design, which includes a red Florence Nightingale lamp logo (borrowed with permission from the American Nurses Association) and the phrase, “Nurses Save Lives,” was selected by the GNA Convention and Membership Assembly in Athens in 2009.
“This year, the Georgia Legislature passed HB 732, which dedicated a portion of the funds derived from the sale of specialty nurse license plates to the Georgia Nurses Foundation,” Barkers said. “The money will help the foundation do more things for Georgia nurses.”
Barkers noted that the money received from by GNF from specialty license plate sales would go toward nursing scholarships and for workforce planning and development.
The 2013 state budget allocates $27,000 in new funding for the RN Workforce survey. Experts agree that more data on the nursing population is needed in Georgia.
“Once we have more data on the status of nurses in Georgia, we can do a better job of planning health care needs for the state,” Barkers said.
The license plates should be available early next month. The best way to reserve one is to fill out the form on the GNA’s website and send in the $35 one-time, first-year manufacturing fee. The GNF will notify the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles that the fee has been paid, and will then notify you when the plates are available for purchase at auto tag offices.
The specialty tags will cost $80 total for the first year; and $55 ($35 specialty tag fee plus $20 regular tag fee) in subsequent years.
“I’ve already reserved tags for my daughter and son. We hope everyone will support nurses in this way,” Barkers said.
To reserve a nurses license plate, call GNA/GNF director of marketing and communications Jeremy Arieh (404-325-5536) or go to www.georgianurses.org/GNFtag.htm.
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