By Susan N. Hanrahan, ASAHP President
I am not sure we had a spring or fall in the Mid-South because we went from winter to summer and now have gone from summer to winter. Climate change has seemed to eliminate two of my favorite seasons. Good grief!
Want to thank everyone who attended our Annual Conference in St Pete. We had some great speakers (plenary, poster and platform), beautiful venue (despite the high humidity during the storm) and good celebrations. Our evaluation feedback supported that. We were also given some ideas for our Charleston conference next year (Oct 16 -18) and planning has already begun.
A couple of things I want to share. We are working to enhance our website so that information on committees and task forces is more robust and that links to our Regional Deans groups are available. Even though the deans groups are not “officially” part of ASAHP, they are an avenue for deans across the US to get together outside of our annual conference to discuss and brainstorm on items of mutual interest.
Our International Task Force has completed some preliminary work in better understanding the need for health workers (predominately rehab) internationally and a desire for education and certification for those individuals. Originally it seemed that a “country by country” approach would be needed but the committee has opted for an ‘economies of scale’ model. We have put together a small group to establish the process for standard setting and to use this conceptual framework to develop a set of standards that defines the expected competencies of a rehab health worker.
Once complete, they can be sent globally for peer review. Individual countries can choose to adopt these standards for certification of their rehab health workers. That will be part one. We are partnering, and have entered into a non-disclosure agreement, with the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) who knows all about process. Rich Oliver (ASAHP) and Julia Dutka (CGFNS) will be co-chairing the group along with ASAHP members Fevzi Akinci, Duquesne University, Katherine Beissner, SUNY Upstate, and David Henzi, UT San Antonio. This is a substantive first step.
One of our most valued assets in the Association is the Journal of Allied Health. We have formed a task force led by Greg Frazer, University of South Alabama, with members Jon Williamson, UT Southwestern, and Bonnie Van Lunen, Old Dominion University, to look at the journal itself for new opportunities while keeping in the back of their minds, succession planning. Our current Editor, Tom Elwood, has been so vital to our operations for so many years. We rely on him heavily and often forget about doing specific planning around the journal itself. If you have thoughts about the journal, please share those with Greg or myself.
Lastly, the Board has selected Phyllis King, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee as its President-Elect for 2019. Phyllis most recently led the Leadership Development Program for ASAHP, currently serves on the Board of Directors and has been an active member of ASAHP for many years. I look forward to my continued work with Phyllis. Many more things to share but please know that if you have ideas about the Association or want us to put you to work, let me know at hanrahan@astate.edu. Happy ALL holidays between now and next year!!!
Susan Hanrahan, President
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