I remember as a child thinking it took forever for Christmas to arrive. And now, it’s almost here. As I was walking my dog, Sammy, around our neighborhood today I saw some people had their Christmas decorations up already. As I’ve grown older, I notice that Christmas comes a lot faster. It seems like I barely get started with the year and it’s over.

Perception shapes our lives and our association. As AHDI-West comes to the end of its first year, I thought I’d take a little time and share some of our highlights and challenges with everyone. It has been one of the most exciting times in my association career to become part of this Board of Governors and begin to shape our destiny. We have developed a structure that emphasizes accomplishing our goals, big and little, long-term and short-term, and while it pays respect to the rules of governance, governance is not our major focus. It has freed up the board members and our volunteers to concentrate on getting established as innovators, goal-oriented focus groups, and has allowed us to accomplish so much in this short period of time.

We had our first regional conference in March 2009 in Sacramento, California. At that meeting we were the first group to do a workshop and simultaneously webcast it. It was a smashing success! We launched our first Advocacy Day in Sacramento – and as a result, two members who had not participated in this arena before got so excited that they agreed to co-chair our focus group on Advocacy. COPPs (Council of Past Presidents) sponsored them to AHDI’s Advocacy Summit 2009 and they are now well on their way to organizing Advocacy Day 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona.

In March we also had a huge response to the Education/Credentialing focus group. Amy Harper, CMT, the chair of that group, swiftly put together a study group and entered us in the AHDI Credentialing Cup. Due to her efforts we have 6 new CMTs/RMTs. Now one of her successful candidates, Robin Mock, CMT, is running our current study group. Many study groups cost hundreds of dollars, but ours are $15 and that affords our members the opportunity to take this online webinar and successfully attain their credential….which moves our industry forward. We are the only allied healthcare profession that does not require licensure or certification. We pay a price for that in wages, compensation, and recognition. We are the only ones who can change that…and we are, one successfully credentialed candidate at a time!

Every association has its ups and downs, just like in our lives. Sadly, our Director of Communication/Delegate and our Secretary/Delegate had to resign for personal reasons. A short time later, our Director of Finance also resigned. It is always hard because it makes members think things are not working as they should. But we all know that there are periods in our lives when we can do extra things and then, unfortunately, sometimes events interfere with our ability to continue down that road. The current Board of Governors has elected another member to our board to replace our Secretary/Delegate position. I am absolutely delighted to let you know that Terri Wakefield, CMT, has been elected to fulfill the one-year term of office remaining in this position, beginning January 1, 2010. Terri has an extensive history with AHDI (formerly AAMT). She was formerly on staff with AAMT and developed our certification program and assisted in the development of our educational materials. After leaving her staff position, Terri served on the AAMT Board of Directors. She currently resides in Arizona and we hope you will make her feel welcome!

We also have had the opportunity to participate in a series of smaller meetings in Oregon and Arizona that have connected with our members in those areas. We continue to support AHDI’s advocacy efforts by sponsoring the Power of 10 webinars where the proceeds go directly to AHDI to help pay for our DC-based lobbying firm, the Dewey Square Group. This has been one of the most exciting events and opportunities we have had the pleasure of participating in!

We are currently planning our 2nd AHDI-West Annual Conference & Advocacy Day  to take place in Phoenix, Arizona, April 15, 2010 (Advocacy Day), and the conference will be April 16-17, 2010. More details of this will be available on our website as soon as the contacts are signed. So mark your calendars for this event

We are exploring some new and interesting opportunities to increase our visibility in the healthcare domain and beyond. I am so impressed that this board is willing to keep an open mind and go where no one else has gone before! Our desire is to serve our members and our profession in meaningful ways. Stay tuned for news of upcoming events and opportunities for those of you who wish to get involved in the focus groups. The beauty of the focus group concept is that you can be involved as much or as little as you like, work it in around your schedule, and still contribute to the success of our regional association.

Thanks to all of you who have jumped on board already…and to those of you who will in the days to come

Have a safe and joyous Christmas everyone! See you in Arizona!