If you were at our Philadelphia APHA Annual APHA Meeting, then you understand what a great networking opportunity this was, and how welcome we felt in our substitute location. It seemed strange to be doing this in December, but the weather cooperated with us quite well allowing for a pleasurable and rewarding experience.
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| Joanne Grossi, Deputy Secretary, Pennsylvani Department of Health with Tom Piper, CHPPD Chair |
We had many highlights this year with wonderful program sessions, interesting business meetings, an exciting awards reception, and terrific speakers throughout. JoAnn Grossi, deputy secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Health, welcomed CHPPD members to the City of Brotherly Love.
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| Walter Tsou, APHA President, speaking at CHPPD reception |
APHA Past-President Walter Tsou helped start the meeting with a memorable presentation that I wish everyone could have heard (we are working on putting it on the APHA Web site), and he returned to us as his home section at the reception to share his experiences and perceptions (what a wonderful man who even shared his glorious presidential suite for many delightful gatherings).
Another "high light" for us this year was the CHPPD exhibit hall which, was well served by many Section members and new student participants. We all shared in the presentation of interesting information, including our "invisible ink" pen that helped us illustrate our annual theme: "CHPPD: Enlightening our Vision for Life" -- the pens were so popular that we ran out halfway through the show. This effort was pretty labor intensive, but it got a lot of people invested and involved in ways that were educational and entertaining (if you believed in the "magic pen").
HIGXYZ21HIGZYXIt is true that you don't learn what the Chair's responsibility is until you've finished your first year of duty, and that is certainly true in my case. I have learned much about expensive food for receptions, electronic scanning of badges, coordination of printing, juggling of candidate presentations, management of business issues, filling in moderator slots, living on four hours sleep daily, and many other things. In particular, I've learned how valuable effective communication is, and how its a continual effort to maintain, not just a goal to achieve. Section relationships are also fragile and need sincere attention and resources in order to benefit as many members as possible./P>
In 2006, we have started to rebuild our Section infrastructure by re-evaluating our mission and committee charges, most of which will require rewriting our Section Manual (aka, bylaws) from the ground up. We want to repopulate our various committee and liaison efforts to accommodate the interests and participation of more members, and to enlarge our size and vitality through increased membership building. This rebuilding effort will capture the energy and resources of our diverse membership into an effective channel of influence on planning and policy development.
If you want to be involved, contact me at moconp@mchsi.com, and visit our Web site at http://www.chppd.org.