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Association of Veterans Affairs
Nurse Anesthetists
(AVANA)
2011 - 2012 Board of Directors
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Dave Polner is a graduate of the US Army Anesthesia Program at Fort Sam Houston, TX. He has been a CRNA for over 30 years. Dave retired from the Army in 1991 after 21 years of service. It was in 1992 that Dave began working for the VA as a CRNA. Dave has been a member of AVANA for over 16 years, and has served in the positions of Western Regional Director, Membership Committee, Treasurer, President - Elect and currently is serving as President.
Dave is also active in serving on the Board of Governors for the Salt Lake City Shrine Hospital.
Being part of the anesthesia team that serves our Veterans is one way that Dave can repay and thank all of those who have served in the military. The quality of care provided to the Veterans is "First Class" and well deserved in these tough, economic times. To be the first choice in care to the Veterans is a tribute to all who provide care.
Dave is honored to serve as President of AVANA and hopes to perform as well as those who have preceded him.
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Ms. Swearngin obtained her ADN from Weber State University, in Ogden, Utah and then graduated with a BSN from the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She attended Texas Wesleyan University, School of Nurse Anesthesia, Fort Worth, Texas.
Ms. Swearngin started her anesthesia career at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Long Beach, California. She also worked at a County Hospital in San Bernardino, California. After moving to Idaho in 1998, she worked for Anesthesia Associates in Boise for 4 years before commencing employment with the Boise Veterans’ Administration Hospital. In conjunction with her clinical practice, Sherry is the Clinical Coordinator for nurse anesthesia students who rotate to the Boise VAMC from Westminster University, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Sherry has been an active member in the Idaho Association of Nurse Anesthetists (IDANA). She has served on the Board of Directors (2002), President-Elect (2003), President (2004-2006), GRC (2007), and Secretary (2008-2010). She has also served as Chair of the Education Committee with responsibility for organizing the IDANA spring meeting.
Sherry has been a member of AVANA for many years. In 2010 she served as a Director at Large and currently holds the position of President- Elect (2011-2012).
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Stephanie Corbett, CRNA proudly serves the veteran population through the Anesthesia Department at VA San Diego Health Care System. She has been working as a nurse anesthetist there since graduating from the Department of Defense/US Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing in December 2009. Prior to earning her Master’s Degree in Anesthesia Nursing she worked as an ICU nurse in Reno, Nevada for the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from University of Nevada, Reno and a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego.
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Cyndi began her anesthesia career working for Kaiser in California and for plastic surgery specialists. She made a change and moved to Arizona and began working at the Phoenix VA. She has been with the VA for over 14 years.
Cyndi joined AVANA shortly after starting in the VA system and has served on the AVANA Board of Directors for 4 terms over the years. Cyndi has served as Western Regional Director and currently serves as AVANA Treasurer. She is very happy to be part of an organization dedicated to VA CRNA's and what it has accomplished.
Cyndi thoroughly enjoys caring for those who have borne the battle for us.
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Garrett Peterson, DNP, RN, CRNA is a Staff Nurse Anesthetist at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. He has been with the VA for 15 years. Dr. Peterson is a graduate of the former Nurse Anesthesia Program at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. He is the previous Associate Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the University of Minnesota - School of Nursing and currently precepts nurse anesthesia students in the clinical area.
Dr. Peterson received his Master’s of Science and Doctor in Nursing Practice from the University of Minnesota. He has authored a chapter on the Practice of Nurse Anesthesia in a Doctor of Nursing Practice textbook and contributed to a Case Study in Nurse Anesthesia textbook.
Dr. Peterson has served on state and national levels: AVANA Central Regional Director 2009-2011; AVANA Educational Program Committee; Minnesota Association of Nurse Anesthetists Program Committee 2009-2011; American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Education Committee 2009-2011
The anesthesia care given to the US Veteran population is important to Dr. Peterson in that all Veterans deserve the highest level of care.
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Christopher Uecker, CRNA graduated from his undergrad in nursing from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 1998. He worked in a medical ICU for about a year until he accepted a position at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee where he was in a Trauma- Surgical ICU until 2009.
He attended Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science -School of Nurse Anesthesia in North Chicago, Illinois, and graduated in 2009 with his Masters in Nurse Anesthesia.
After graduation Uecker accepted a position at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Hospital in Milwaukee -where he is currently employed.
He is happily married to Christina Uecker who is a PACU nurse at Froedtert Hospital.
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Olga attended Texas A&I University which is now known as Texas A&M for pre-nursing courses and transferred to St. Mary's School of Nursing in Galveston, TX. She graduated with an RN diploma in 1967 and joined the US Army Nurse Corps. During one of the years that Olga was with the Nurse Corps, she was stationed in Long Binh, Vietnam as part of the 24th Evacuation Hospital.
In 1978, Olga received a B.S. degree in Environmental Health with a concentration in Anesthesia from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.
Olga has worked in community hospitals until 1986 when she returned full time to the VA hospital system. Having enjoyed her previous active duty in the Army, Olga returned as a reservist. In 1991, she was mobilized for Desert Storm and sent to Bahrain, spent half of 2003 in Iraq, and mobilized again in 2006. Olga retired as a Colonel from the Army after 20 years of service.
Through out the years, Olga has been a member of AANA and also AVANA while working for the VA system. She belongs to the Texas and Maine Associations of Nurse Anesthetists. Olga served on the Maine Association of Nurse Anesthetists from 1988-1989. Currently, she serves on the AVANA budgeting and audit committee as well as Southern Regional Director.
Olga thoroughly enjoys her job and taking care of our Veterans.
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Melanie F. Clemens, CRNA, MSN is currently a staff nurse anesthetist at the Brooklyn VAMC. She has acted as the AVANA Eastern Regional Director from 2010 to present. Melanie has been with the VA since 2003 having spent time at the Tampa, FL VAMC, Augusta, GA VAMC, and is presently working at the Brooklyn, NY VAMC.
Melanie earned her Bachelors of Science in Nursing degree from the University of South Florida in 2004. She was then accepted into the Critical Care Internship Program at the Tampa VAMC, training as an ICU nurse. Following several years working in the ICU in FL, she was accepted to the U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing, obtaining her Master’s of Science in Nursing and Certification in Nurse Anesthesia in 2009. Melanie is an active member of AANA and AVANA and serves as adjunct clinical faculty for Columbia University’s Nurse Anesthesia Program.
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A native of West Tennessee, Rita earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and The University of Mississippi, Jackson, respectively. Practicing as a nurse anesthetist for over three decades, her professional pursuits have taken her to New York City (Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), Saint Louis (private practice) and finally to Portland, where she has worked in the VA Hospital for the past eleven years.
In the Portland VA Medical Center, she is Principal Investigator for an ongoing Quality Improvement Project studying the effects of noise pollution in the surgical environment and implementing change. Since 2007, she has supported OHSU’s School of Nursing as a preceptor for trainees in their Nurse Anesthesia Program. Since 2001, she has served Operation Smile on five international missions in three countries.
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Angela Mund, CRNA, DNP is an assistant professor/assistant program director for the Medical University of South Carolina Anesthesia for Nurses Program. She is on staff at the Minneapolis VAMC on a casual basis. Dr Mund is a 1998 graduate of the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the Minneapolis VAMC and has over 10 years within the VA System. She was a member of the US Army Reserve from 1996-2006.
She received both her Master’s of Science in 1999 and a Doctor in Nursing Practice from the University of Minnesota. Dr Mund has lectured nationally on cardiac, health policy, and DNP topics. She authored a chapter on health care advocacy in a DNP textbook and testified at the US House of Representatives on recruitment and retention issues in the VA.
Dr Mund has been active in nurse anesthesia on the state and national levels: AVANA President 2007-2009; Minnesota Association of Nurse Anesthesia Board of Director 2008-2010; South Carolina Association of Nurse Anesthetists Federal Political Director 2010-2011. She has served on multiple national AANA committees including Nominations, Resolutions, National Certification Exam Committee, and the Education Committee.
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