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Words from the President
Spring has arrived and so has the first Siouxland Chapter newsletter of 2006. I told myself last year that I will do a much better job of staying on task with my duties as your Chapter President and so far, I'm way ahead of 2005!
This is a very busy time for all both personally and professionally. There are graduations, confirmations, lab inspections, Lab Week, and just the day to day duties each of us is responsible to perform at work and at home. That's life! Things have to be done and we are the type of people that meet these things "head-on".
I attended the National CLMA meeting in Charlotte last month (I want to again thank the Chapter for funding this opportunity for me) and had many opportunities to network with our peers. You know what? I found that everyone has the same issues to deal with in one way or another. One of the biggest issues in front of us at this time is the lack of available employees. As you all are aware, there are fewer and fewer laboratory education programs available in our area as well as nationwide. The reduction in programs leads to a deficit of graduating available employees. What can we do to turn this around?
We need to get the word to the High School students and get them interested in the lab sciences. There are some very intelligent students out there that could fill the oncoming need but there is little interest on their part to pursue a career in the laboratory. Why? Is it because our profession is not as glorified as other medical professionals? Is it the low income compared to these same people? These are just two of the many reasons but I think we can do something to generate more interest. We didn't get into this profession to earn
"big bucks". We are in this profession because we enjoy the work and want to be part of the solution. We are unselfish because we work in the laboratory to help others and forget about ourselves. We love what we do!
Yes, we are all busy but we have a great opportunity in front of us. The High School students are graduating and many of them really don't have a direction or idea as to what they will choose as there future profession. This is our chance to sell ourselves and our profession to these young people. Even if we get one who is not leaning our way to at least give it a chance, we are moving in a positive direction.
I ask you to give this golden opportunity a serious look. CLMA has many tools that we can use to promote this great profession. Check the website and see if there is something there that you could use to stimulate just one uninterested young person to become interested. This is our time. Don't let it slip by because before you know it, it will be gone.
Be a POSITIVE INFLUENCE - promote the laboratory profession!
Rick Pudwill
Siouxland Chapter President
Early 2006:
Rick Pudwill and Karen Jepperson attended the National CLMA meeting in Charlotte, NC, in March. The Chapter Leaders meeting proved to be as valuable as always. Leaders from numerous Chapters were asked to provide the attendees with ideas and ways that their Chapters remain successful and thrive. Topics discussed were the new Chapter Core Requirements such as 1) Leadership/Administrative, 2) Executive Involvement, 3) Membership, 4) Education, 5) Financial Management, & 6) Communication. These Core Requirements have been put into place to allow CLMA Chapters the ability to meet the requirements for Chapter Excellence Awards.
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Rick was asked to discuss the Core Requirement of Executive Involvement which consists of using the CLMA logo and brand on all materials, funding for attendance to the Chapter Leaders meeting as well as funding for other Leadership events.
Karen was the lucky Chapter member selected as the "second" member to go to the National meeting. Attached with this newsletter is Karen's impression of the meeting.
Please check the Siouxland website, www.clma-siouxland.org or the CLMA national website, www.clma.org for pictures of ThinkLab 2006 and other information.
Patty Buus, Siouxland member from Winner, attended the National Legislative Symposium in March. The following is a note from Patty:
"I want to thank the Chapter for allowing me to attend the Legislative Symposium. What a wonderful experience for anyone concerned about laboratory issues! The earliest hours of the conference covered a variety of laboratory issues including reimbursement, medically unbelievable edits, pay for performance, and CLIA, but competitive bidding and the personnel shortage were the focus during the remainder of the conference. I was 1 of 5 representatives from South Dakota with the expertise ranging from reference labs to large and small hospital labs.
We were fortunate to meet with both Senator Johnson and Senator Thune and the healthcare aides. Representative Herseth had a prior commitment but we met with her knowledgeable healthcare aide. All three Congressional offices were very interested in our commentary on competitive bidding and personnel shortage issues and their effects on every South Dakotan's healthcare. Again, thank you the Siouxland Chapter for making this symposium possible for me."
Meeting Notes:
We have had 2 Chapter Board meetings already this year. Meeting minutes can be found on the Siouxland Website.
We currently have 46 members. We had one new member join so far this year. Linda Karel from Sioux Valley Clinical Laboratories joined in March. As a sponsor of Linda's membership, Dee Ann Lovett won a free registration to the 2007 ThinkLab in Houston. Congratulations to both of you!
Thank you to all of the members who have renewed their memberships in 2006.
John Kangas notified Rick that Jill Hanley and Dianne Dell have volunteered to commit 2 years on the Planning Committee. Rick would like to have the Education and Planning committees meet or communicate as soon as possible for the future events.
There will be a Siouxland Chapter business meeting from 11 AM to 1 PM on Friday May 5. Please bring your raffle tickets and money for the drawing.
The 2006 education events will follow a different pattern than in the past.
- The C's of Success, Collaboration & Cooperation on May 5 in Sioux Falls.
- The SDAHO meeting will be held in September in Sioux Falls.
- "Talk About and Evolution... Revolution", October 4-6 at the Ramkota in Sioux Falls.
Thanks for all that you do.!
Rick Pudwill
Siouxland Chapter President
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