NP and former RNAO policy analyst Valerie Rzepka (far right) has joined the board of directors of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) Nursing Special Interest Group. In the role, she will collaborate with an international team of nursing experts to improve practice and knowledge around disaster nursing. Rzepka first got involved in disaster nursing in 2004. She co-founded and is now executive director for the Canadian Medical Assistance Teams, a grassroots humanitarian relief organization. Rzepka applied for the position with WADEM because she finds there is too much focus on the medical model in disaster response: “I feel there needs to be a lot more of a nursing presence because nurses are the ones delivering most of the care during a disaster.” The special interest group includes representatives from Botswana, Canada, Israel, Japan, Tanzania and the U.S.