Former WSNA President Donna Poole, a nurse leader, passes
This story appears in the Fall 2024 print issue of The Washington Nurse.
Updated: Service being held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at the Stan Pocock Rowing Center, 281 Brien Drive S.E., Bainbridge Island. All are invited. The facility is within walking distance from the ferry. See link for directions.
Long-time Washington nurse leader Donna Poole, MSN, ARNP, PMHCNS-BC, passed away on Sept. 25, 2024, following a brief illness. Her wife, Terri, and close friends were by her side.
Poole served as president of WSNA from 1985-1989. She was a founding member and leader of the Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses, an affiliate faculty member of the University of Washington School of Nursing, and served on the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission (now the Washington State Board of Nursing known as WABON). She was widely respected as a knowledgeable and ethical leader, teacher, preceptor, and mentor with a reputation as a power broker and a peacemaker.
Poole received her bachelor of science in nursing from American University in Washington, D.C. in 1971. She worked as a psychiatric nurse at Sibley Memorial Hospital in D.C. before earning a master’s in psychiatric nursing from the University of Virginia in 1975.
In 1978, Poole moved to Seattle, working at Providence, the American Lake Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, and the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. Later, she moved into community mental health at Kitsap Mental Health (now Peninsula Community Health Services) and the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe in Kingston. She retired in August 2024.
In 1982, Poole along with other advanced practice psychiatric nurses in Seattle formed the Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses (AAPPN). She helped lead the fight for full prescriptive authority for advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs).
Poole served as president of WSNA during a tumultuous period when it lost many members to raids from other unions. Her steady leadership held the association together. In 1987, WSNA honored Poole with the ANA Honorary Recognition Award.
Poole served as a member and vice-chair of the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission (now WABON). She received the Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses Nurse of the Year Award in 2000 and the Nurse Excellence Award in 2009. In 2010, she was named Clinical Preceptor of the Year by the University of Washington School of Nursing. She was inducted into the WSNA Hall of Fame in 2020.
Poole’s contributions have advanced the practice of nursing in Washington state and will continue to do so far into the future. Her impact has been significant. She will be greatly missed.
Details regarding celebration of her life will be forthcoming.