Healthcare workers spend much of their professional lives taking care of other people. This week, Casper will become a place where many of those caregivers can step back, connect with one another and focus on strengthening the work they do every day.

The 2026 Wyoming Nurses Association and Wyoming Council for Advanced Practice Nursing Annual Convention, themed “Stronger Together,” begins Thursday, September 24, at the Best Western Downtown Casper Hotel, 123 West E Street.

Running through Friday, September 25, the statewide gathering will bring nursing and advanced practice professionals together for education, networking, conversations with exhibitors and opportunities to exchange ideas about the challenges and possibilities facing healthcare in Wyoming.

Two nationally recognized nursing leaders are among the featured speakers. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, and Valerie Fuller, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, will bring their perspectives to a conference focused on strengthening the profession and preparing for what comes next.

One of the most important conversations surrounding healthcare today is not only how patients are cared for, but how the people providing that care are supported.

That theme is woven into this year’s programming, including discussion around burnout prevention and workforce wellbeing. Performance coach Katie Carroll is scheduled to present “From Survival to Celebration: Redefining Burnout Prevention,” offering healthcare professionals an opportunity to consider how healthier approaches to work can help sustain the people behind the care.

The convention will also turn attention toward the changing needs of patients and communities across Wyoming.

Among the featured topics is the University of Wyoming Family Practice team’s work on “Building Wyoming’s Dementia Care,” alongside case studies highlighting experiences from Campbell County Health, Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County and St. Vincent Healthcare.

Those conversations are particularly important in a state where healthcare can look very different from one community to another. Sharing experiences across organizations gives professionals a chance to learn from what is already happening in Wyoming and consider how those lessons can be applied elsewhere.

But the convention is not solely about presentations.

The official program also includes networking opportunities, exhibitors, a membership assembly and an evening awards reception, creating time for professionals to connect outside the formal sessions and recognize the work being done by Wyoming nurses.

That sense of connection fits the conference theme.

“Stronger Together” is more than a slogan for a gathering of healthcare professionals. It reflects the reality that building a stronger healthcare system requires people from different roles, specialties and communities to learn from one another.

A nurse working in one part of Wyoming may encounter challenges that look very different from those faced by a colleague somewhere else. An advanced practice provider may bring a different perspective to the same problem. A new idea shared in a conference room can eventually become a change in a clinic, hospital or community.

Those connections are part of what makes statewide professional gatherings valuable.

For Casper, hosting the convention also brings a statewide healthcare conversation into the community. The people attending are the ones who return to hospitals, clinics, practices and healthcare organizations around Wyoming and continue that work with patients and families.

The convention begins Thursday, September 24, at 8 a.m. and continues through Friday, September 25, at 4 p.m.

For the healthcare professionals gathering in Casper, the hope is not simply to leave with more information.

It is to leave with new connections, new ideas and a stronger sense that the future of Wyoming healthcare is something they can help build together.

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Photo courtesy to Wyoming Nurses Association Facebook Page