Vol. 5, Iss. 1 Dec. 2005 - CLMA Siouxland

Hello and Happy Holidays! I know that my greeting is somewhat late but I want to send my wishes your way anyway. I’m sure that all of you had a very busy Holiday Season but I hope that all of you took some time to reflect on years past.

During each Holiday Season I always try to look back at my life when times seemed much simpler. I reflect on family, friends, faith, and my career path. I still remember the first Christmas that I had to work. What an adjustment for my family as well as me! But I look back at my dedication to the laboratory profession and realize that I have been in this career in one form or another for almost 28 years!

I called it "dedication to the profession" and I define dedication as a commitment or loyalty. Even though I have spent over half of my life in the laboratory business, I’m not sure that I have always been as committed as I could. By joining CLMA I thought that this would be my opportunity to give something back to my profession for all the things my profession has given me.

CLMA is OUR organization that provides us with many avenues to improve our personal career as well as our profession. As I look at our member list I see many of my peers who have been working as long if not longer than myself. We all have to realize that soon our time will come when we need to “pass the baton” and step back and allow our staff to bring this profession through the 21^st century.

By being a member of Siouxland CLMA, we have access to many resources that can aid us in developing staff who are aspiring leaders in the

profession. Through networking, educational events, and websites, we as Siouxland members need to take advantage of these resources so we can better prepare our “young” leaders for the years in front of them.

That is my goal for 2006—to be a mentor and a more vocal member of the laboratory profession. I challenge each of you to make a commitment to yourselves that you will better prepare yourself as well as your staff for the future. Become an “active” member of your local Siouxland Chapter by attending events, providing input and feedback, and volunteering your time when you see the need. In order to keep our chapter thriving in the future it will take all of us to “dedicate” ourselves to the improvement of the profession.

Be a LEADER
leave your stamp on the laboratory profession!
Rick Pudwill
Siouxland Chapter President

2005 at a Glance:

Rick Pudwill, Kari Nornes, and Twila Henning attended the National CLMA meeting in Chicago in March. The Chapter Leaders meeting provided us with information about the new direction of CLMA.

The new CEO, Dana Procsal, was introduced and Mr. Procsal announced 5 strategic initiatives of CLMA. They are as follows:

Member relations
Corporate relations
Legislative and regulations
Education
Collaboration

Please check the Siouxland website, www.clma-siouxland.org or the CLMA national website, www.clma.org for more details about these initiatives and the CLMA direction.

Karen Jepperson was the member selected to attend the Legislative Symposium in Washington DC in March. Karen’s experience was featured in the April 2005 Vantage Point.

The annual ASCLS/CLMA State Laboratory Convention was held in Rapid City in May. There were 17 CLMA members in attendance. The meeting was a success. A Chapter Business meeting was held and numerous members were acknowledged for their years of membership to the Chapter. Thanks to all of you who attended and helped with the event.

In July the Siouxland CLMA board members held a meeting. The selection of the CLMA Leadership Award recipient had to be completed prior to the fall SDAHO meeting.

September brings about the annual SDAHO meeting and this year the event was held in Rapid City. There were 12 members in attendance at the Chapter Business meeting. During the SDAHO Awards Luncheon, CLMA Siouxland past President Kari Nornes, gave the Leadership Award to Owen Bain from Huron Regional Medical Center. Congratulations, Owen!

Also in September, Siouxland members volunteered their time at the SD State Fair Cancer Awareness booth to obtain blood samples for PSA testing. There were a total of 476 PSAs obtained.

The third Siouxland educational event was held in December in Sioux Falls. Wendy Metzgar from the National Office came to give members and non-members an overview of the future of CLMA. There were 13 members in attendance and the third Chapter Business meeting was held.

Mike Dott was re-elected as Board member and Dee Ann Lovett was elected secretary. Thanks for all of your votes! Terry Erickson volunteered to be our Chapter Advocate representative. Thanks, Terry.

Meeting minutes can be found on the Siouxland Website.

Membership

We currently have 46 members. We had one new member join this year. Patrick Bezenek from Queen of Peace in Mitchell joined in May.

Thank you to all of the members who have renewed their memberships in 2005.

New Information:

Siouxland Chapter will again sponsor an attendee to the Legislative Symposium held in Washington DC in late March. If interested, your application must be sent to Rick by January 6.

Siouxland Chapter also decided to sponsor an additional member to attend the National CLMA convention which will be held in Charlotte, NC, March 18-21st. Interested members need to have their applications to Rick by January 10 to take advantage of a discounted registration fee.

Rick asked permission of the members at the December meeting to develop an "Event Planning Committee" to help the Education Committee with the Siouxland sponsored education events in 2006. Rick is looking for volunteers and will be calling members to ask their help.

The 2006 education events will follow a different pattern than in the past.

Due to scheduling conflicts in the spring, there will be a one-day educational event on May 5 in Sioux Falls .
The annual three-day event is scheduled for the fall, October 4-6 at the Ramkota in Sioux Falls .
The SDAHO meeting will be held in September in Sioux Falls in 2006.
The decision was made at the December meeting to not hold the usual December meeting in 2006 due to the changes stated above.

Happy New Year!

Rick Pudwill
Siouxland Chapter President

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