In September 2025, five nurses from Kaiser Permanente Vallejo including Deryn Milarezi MSN, RN, Hailey Ron-Dorrough MSN, RN, Roseanna Ainsley, BSN, RN, Samantha Avecilla, MSN, RN, and Krystle Javier, RN attended a national session led by Dr. Tim Porter-O’Grady on professional governance. The session served as a pivotal moment to reinforce the foundational accountabilities of nursing: practice, quality, competence, and knowledge management.

Dr. O’Grady emphasized that councils, not committees, are the structures through which authority and accountability are expressed. This message aligned directly with Vallejo’s Voice of Nursing (VON) model, which restructured in 2024 into four councils: Evidence-Based Practice/Research, Professional Development, Quality and Patient Safety, and Care Experience.

The event empowered a new cohort of VON nurses ranging from digital natives under 30 to tenured leaders to recognize their professional identity not as task-oriented workers but as decision-makers and system influencers. Many current VON members have transitioned into leadership roles, demonstrating how governance builds a strong nursing leadership pipeline.

This governance model is more than a structure. It is a cultural shift. It repositions nursing from a historically subordinate role to a profession of purpose and ownership. With frontline nurses holding decision-making power, governance becomes a source of pride, continuity, and innovation.

By investing in professional governance, KP Vallejo nurses are cultivating accountability, raising the standard of care, and building the future of the profession together.