A church-sponsored organization for promoting the ideals and principles of Seventh-day Adventist nursing, to encourage SDA young people to enter the nursing profession, to keep members informed as to the need for SDA nurses in denominational work and other places, to encourage practicing nurses to give spiritual assistance to patients while caring for their physical needs according to the instructions and teachings of the denomination, and to advance the standards of SDA nurses and nursing, the care of the sick, and the honor and character of the nursing profession. The organization is commonly referred to as ASDAN.
On May 7, 1967, 45 registered nurses of the North American Division met at the New York Center, to organize an association of SDA nurses. The following officers were elected for a two-year term: president, Maureen Maxwell; president-elect, Alice E. Smith; secretary-treasurer, Marjorie Cornor; board members at large, Naomi Gowan and Ellen Gibson; executive director, Mazie A. Herin.
ASDAN holds an annual meeting usually preceding or following the meetings of the American Nurses’ Association or the National League for Nursing.
ASDAN awards honors to outstanding SDA nurses through the Nurse of the Year and the Hall of Fame programs. At the 1974 annual meeting the president recognized 18 chapters of ASDAN located in various sections of the North American Division. The secretary reported a total of 1,879 members in the association. ASDAN publishes the Forum four times a year as its official organ.
Other divisions have formed or are planning to organize associations for SDA nurses. The British Adventist Nurses Association (BANA) was organized Apr. 1, 1972. Tabitha Abel was elected the first president; Ruth Balderstone, secretary; Ann Marie Kelly, treasurer. This association publishes the BANA Newsletter several times a year.
The Pan American SDA Nurses Association was organized in November 1972, and the nurses of the Mexican Union organized in 1973. For a number of years SDA nurses in Germany have had an association called Friedensauer Schwesternschaft. The nurses in Brazil and Argentina are working on separate organizations for SDA nurses in these countries.
ASDAN ceased to exist as a membership organization in 1993 and became ASDAN-NAD, an official committee of the North American Division. The mission remains the same.
Chair: R. L. Dale, 1993– .
President: M. Ringer, 1993– .