Chair's Report, May 2004
May, 2004
Message from the Chair: The “public” in APHA
In the last newsletter, I addressed the issue of membership in HAS and what it means for all of us. I suggested each of us think about how membership can be strengthened in terms of three “Cs”: commitment, collaboration and collective wisdom.
When we think of our involvement in APHA, we should be reminded of the “public” in APHA. The dictionary defines public as “pertaining to or affecting a population or a community as a whole.” In the context of APHA, this term has dual meaning: serving the public in the best way we can and serving one another in the collective body known as HAS. Our day-to-day efforts associated with our professional employment are directed toward improving the public’s health, whether it is by identifying needs and planning programs, managing programs, developing new services, directing initiatives to educate individuals and promote health, or educating future health professionals. Our focus is on the external community. We are serving the community, however large or small we define it, and in whatever other ways we use to characterize it. In addition to serving the external community, our HAS section efforts serve our internal community—you who are members of our section who give of your time, energy and talents to make the section strong. You do this by sharing your experience, knowledge and skills by working with others to benefit HAS and make our internal community strong. The examples are many:
- contributing to the development and implementation of the HAS program at APHA Annual meeting
- identifying and honoring exemplary efforts with awards
- preparing communication vehicles such as HAS newsletter and web site updates
- reviewing policy matters and initiatives that impact the section
- determining appropriate and needed linkages between our section and other sections
- identifying ways to share our expertise, and be a resource to others
- identifying ways to build membership and mentor others –including current members with new interests, new members and students
These activities serve our internal public and reflect those steps that build community within the section. All of your efforts in the above illustrations and others are to be applauded. I urge you to think of ways to continue to build the internal public within HAS.
For those of you members who are not involved, or if you are a new member, or if you are an APHA member who are is considering HAS, please consider how you can put the public into perspective through your involvement in HAS. Please let us know how you would like to get involved. This is your section—together let’s embrace ways to benefit both the internal and external public within APHA in the best ways that we can.
Return to Top
Minutes of the Health Administration Section Council Meeting, Telephone Conference Call, Thursday, April 1, 2004
Times: 1:00-2:30 pm Eastern; Noon-1:30 pm Central; 11:00 am-12:30 pm Mountain; 10:00-11:30 am Pacific
1. Roll Call and Welcome (Jon Thompson)Members were welcomed and the meeting as called to order at 1:05 Eastern time by Jon Thompson. The following members were on the call: Diane Adams, Nelson Adekoya, Ellen Alkon, George Crosthwaite, Laurie Fitts, Vonna Henry, Ibrahim Ibrahim, Laura Larsson, Linda Moore, Bud Nicola, Giorgio Piccagli, Marcia Rosenstein, Audrey Smith, Michael Smylie, Jon Thompson, Polly Turner, and Jorg Westermann/
2. Update on Governing Council slot filled by Michael Smylie (Jon Thompson)Michael Smylie has filled the vacant Governing Council slot due to David Buchanan’s resignation. Michael’s position on the Governing Council will remain effective through the 2004 Annual meeting. The council members on the call concurred with this decision and demonstrated their approval and support.
3. Update and Progress reports from Committeesa. Nominating (Joyce Gaufin) – Jon Thompson indicated that the ballot is finalized with excellent candidates for Chair-elect, Section Council and Governing Council. All members will be sent an email by APHA in the near future with voting directions. Giorgio Piccagli suggested that the future candidate statement requirement be modified to include an indication of their future vision for the section – a “forward looking” statement. It was noted that the lack of a vision statement by candidates was the result of a change by APHA a few years ago. Jon Thompson also noted that nominations for positions appointed by the APHA Board (including Action Board, Newsletter Advisory Board and Education Board) are due to Joyce Gaufin, Nominations Chair, by Monday, April 5, 2004).
b. Annual Meeting Program Planning (Diane Adams/Polly Turner)-Number abstracts received/abstract reviews – Abstracts have been submitted and have been reviewed for inclusion in the meeting. The excellent summary report prepared by Diane Adams on the Annual meeting was acknowledged.
-Business meetings – Diane is working with Donna Wright of APHA regarding room assignments, business meetings, and strategic planning meeting locations.
-Invited sessions – Polly Turner suggested requesting Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee to speak for one of the invited sessions. Members suggested that since her main area of interest is HIV/AIDS we should coordinate with other sections. Also, we should look for high profile individuals with public health infrastructure expertise. It was suggested to expand the panel to include practitioners who demonstrate expertise with best practices. Members were asked to submit ideas and suggestions for invited sessions to Diane Adams and Polly Turner.
c. Continuing Education (Linda Landesman) – Linda was not on the call. No CEI sessions sponsored by HAS are lined up for 2004 Annual meeting. Discussion for session for the 2005 meeting needs to begin early. Laura Larsson noted that she is involved in a CEI at 2004 Annual meeting to be conducted by NLM. The possibility of collaboration between HAS and NLM for this session was raised, which will be considered.
d. Awards and Reception (Marcia Levy Rosenstein) – Marcia has proposed that the awards ceremony be changed from Tuesday night (the night of the APHA celebration) to Monday night at 7pm. This might generate greater participation. Diane Adams will find out if the room can be changed.
e. Newsletter (Laura Larsson) – Laura has newsletter content prepared for publishing, but APHA is moving slowly. As a work-a-around, she will contact APHA to see if they will send a broadcast that will direct members to her personal website until APHA’s process is streamlined.
f. Membership (Audrey Smith/Linda Moore) – Audrey and Linda reported they have begun an initiative to send new or renewing members welcome/welcome back emails when they join the section. APHA will send a quarterly list that has the emails of these individuals.
g. Policy Development (Michael Smylie) – Mike thanked those members who are helping with policy review. The deadline for the reviews is April 14th. Mike also informed us that the HA section has volunteered to review existing policies for APHA that are part of an effort to review the relevance and wording of current APHA policies.
h. Strategic Planning Implementation (Tricia Todd) – Tricia was not on the call, but Jon Thompson referred us to the recently emailed Implementation Team Summary document which describes this section’s current activities in great detail. The Implementation Team serves as an oversight group in focusing the section’s action/work plan now that we have a revised mission, vision and operating principles. Linda and Audrey will strategize with LaTonia Peters on following student members to see how we can get more of them to join our section.
i. Linkages (Bud Nicola) – The Linkages Committee has been targeting and reaching out to a variety of organizations, including the American Management Association and Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine, in order to collaborate and develop mutually beneficial relationships. Other organizations have been targeted as well.
j. Student Involvement (LaTonia Peters) – Not on call. No discussion.
k. IT/Web Committee (Jorg Westermann) – Jorg reported that more information is needed to populate the website, and seeks feedback on the web site. It was suggested that there is a need to explore a commercial company to provide web services, and that maintaining the web site is a large job. Section leaders were encouraged to submit information for web publishing so that web content can be expanded. This will provide greater opportunity for members who could help update and add content to static pages.
l. Minority Access (Andew James) – Not on call. No discussion.
m. HAS 100th Anniversary (Vonna Henry) – Vonna described a proposed work plan for the 2008 celebration. She will use three work groups to accomplish this goal: history committee, event planning committee, and fundraising committee. Vonna requested interested members to participate in planning and carrying out this event.
n. Other reports. Giorgio Piccagli mentioned his role as Chair-Elect of the Committee on Affiliates, and it was noted that Joyce Gaufin is Chair-Elect of the ISC.
4. Budget Update – We are currently operating on a 6 month budget; 12 month budget encompasses FY July 1, 2004 – June 30, 2005. The budget is based on $3 per member for the HA section. Jon Thompson will provide budget information to HAS Leadership.
5. Updates from Governing Council - No discussion.
6. Updates from ISC - No discussion.
7. Set date/time for next meeting. The next telephone conference call meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 1st, 2004. Times: 1:00-2:30 pm Eastern; Noon-1:30 pm Central; 11:00 am-12:30 pm Mountain; 10:00-11:30 am Pacific
8. Other business – No other business was discussed.
9. Adjourn – Jon Thompson adjourned the meeting at 2:30 pm EST
Respectfully submitted,
Return to Top
Section Business: Health Administration Program Committee Turns Up the Heat for the Fall Annual Meeting
The 2004 Health Administration Section's Program Planner Committee has been working diligently to bring you quality scientific sessions for prese