Social worker Paula Wilson was appointed president and CEO of The Joint Commission Resources and Joint Commission International in 2011.

According to a statement from the Joint Commission, JCR is the commission’s official publisher and educator. JCI extends the commission’s goal worldwide by helping to improve the quality of patient care through international accreditation, consultation, publications and education programs.

JCI assists international health care organizations, public health agencies, health ministries and others in more than 60 countries. Wilson was appointed temporary president and CEO of JCR and JCI in June 2010.

Prior to joining JCR, Wilson ran her own consulting practice in New York City and also taught at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Wilson received her MSW from the State University of New York at Albany.

In February, the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths conducted several visits to the Senate to meet with members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee and the House to meet with Education and Workforce Committee members.

The coalition has received confirmation from the office of U.S. Rep. John Tierney, a Massachusetts democrat, that he has signed on to support the Protect Our Kids Act, according to Dina L. Kastner, NASW senior field organizer.

“Prior to our visits, chapter staff contacted the offices to let them know of the local support for the act,” Kastner said.

The coalition also met with Catherine Nolan, head of the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, and Heidi McIntosh, special adviser to Bryan Samuels, commissioner for the Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute, said McIntosh and Nolan were updated on the coalition’s activities, including its involvement with the introduction of the Protect Our Kids Act, media outreach and meeting with the White House Domestic Policy office in 2011.

Karen Bullock, associate professor at North Carolina State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, in the Department of Social Work, is among the expert panelists for the Hospice Foundation of America’s End-of-Life Ethics spring program.

The panel discussion will be available as a DVD beginning April 19 and may be shown on a date chosen by a host site.

Social workers should visit Hospice Foundation of America to learn how to register as a host site or to find a host site nearby. The program is approved by NASW for three continuing education credits.

The Open World Program, sponsored by the U.S. Congress, invited Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute, to speak to a group of Russian delegates on the role of social workers in America.

The assembly of 55 delegates, who specialize in varying social issues in their country, attended a one-hour discussion presented by Zlotnik — “Overview of Social Work in the United States” — at the Library of Congress on Feb. 2.

With the aid of a Russian interpreter, Zlotnik introduced the group to a generalized idea of the inner workings of the social work field within the U.S.

“An interesting discussion took place about how social workers in Russia and those who run social programs face some of the same challenges that we do in the U.S.,” Zlotnik said.

The presentation also provided the Russian delegates with an overview of U.S. social work resources and answered questions about how they can start to apply similar methods in their country.

The Child Welfare League of America, which met Feb. 28, included a joint presentation by Tracy Whitaker, director of the NASW Center for Workforce Studies & Social Work Practice; Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute; and Wendy Blome, associate professor at the National Catholic School of Social Service at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

The presentation, “Testing and Transporting Evidence: The NASW Shift Project for Adolescent Girls,” addressed the issue of suicide among adolescent girls and discussed prevention methods.

Presentation objectives included changing practitioner behavior and moving evidence-based practices into the field. Other highlights from the CWLA conference included CWLA policy associate YaMinco Varner describing the league’s 2012 legislative agenda, which includes support for the Dorothy I. Height/Whitney M. Young Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1106/S. 584) as one of its workforce priorities.

Varner also highlighted the importance of the Congressional Social Work Caucus, which is chaired by Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns, D-N.Y.