Member Spotlight: Armi Earlam
Welcome to the WOCN Society Member Spotlight blog, featuring the inspiring stories behind our members. This month, we’re spotlighting Armi Earlam—a seventeen-year member of the WOCN Society.
About Armi Earlam
Armi Santiago Earlam, DNP, MPA, BSN, RN, CWOCN, is a seventeen-year member of the WOCN Society. She’s a Certified Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurse living in New Braunfels, Texas. Armi was inspired to become a CWOCN by a mentor named Mary Lynch. Armi witnessed how she cared for an ostomate who had difficulty keeping his pouching system on, describing her as an “ostomy whisperer!” Another inspiration was CWON, Jisibelle Tizon, who mentored her when she was completing her doctoral studies.
Joining the WOCN Society
Armi joined the WOCN Society seventeen years ago at the recommendation of two inspiring people: Dorothy Doughty, a well-known educator in the Emory WOCN program, and Jan Stanfield, a memorable manager to Armi. Both mentors encouraged Armi to join the WOCN Society to advance her career as a WOC nurse. Today, as a long-standing member of the WOCN Society, Armi’s favorite part about being a member is meeting fellow WOC nurses and discussing clinical topics and issues with them.
Meaningful WOC Moments
Armi’s most meaningful moments as a WOC nurse include mentoring new and seasoned nurses advancing their careers. She’s supported former WOC nursing students and CNAs in their career journeys, watching them flourish and become NPs, commenting, “It’s wonderful to see others succeed!”
In addition to mentorship, Armi also provides education to ostomates in ostomy support groups, where she has witnessed the tremendous strength of the human spirit as patients sing, smile, laugh, and have fun despite their difficulties. In one instance, Armi had the opportunity to join a hospice care patient on a walk and gave him some handmade bookmarks that the now-late patient’s wife still has displayed in their home. Armi says, “I feel so fortunate and blessed that I can help patients and their families.”
A Little Look Into Her Life
Armi spends time painting with watercolors, traveling, and doing origami art when she’s not providing care or educating future nurses. She loves learning languages. Beyond speaking fluent English and Tagalog, Armi hopes to gain more knowledge of Nihongo, American Sign Language, and Spanish.
Vision for the Future
Looking to the future, Armi aspires to help more WOC nurses, focusing on minority groups such as Filipino and Black nurses. Already, she collaborates with Black nurses in Colorado to help advance their careers and is active in the Filipino nurses’ group, Philippine Nurses Association In Colorado (PNACO), commenting, “It’s fun to reach out to the different local communities. We help disadvantaged groups, too.”
Armi hopes to see more minority groups like her in leadership positions, noting, “It’s refreshing to see nurse educators who are immigrants or from minority groups speaking at the podium or meeting them as vendors in our WOCN Society conference booths. We need better representation, for sure!”
Thank You, Armi Earlam
On behalf of the WOCN Society, thank you, Armi, for your dedication to the WOCN Society and for the clinical skill, mentorship, and honorable representation you bring to the profession of WOC care.
Want to Nominate a Member?
The WOCN Society’s Member Spotlight Program is a monthly initiative to honor our incredible members. With 5,000+ members dedicated to improving patient outcomes every single day, we have important stories to tell. Submit yourself or a member today!