Letter from the Chair: Our Web Site, Our Journal and Four Special People
Medical Care is all about people -- the people (who at times are our “patients,” other times our “populations”) we are trying to better serve, and the people whose energies define and drive the Section.
In thinking about how to craft and convey this personal message from the Chair, my mind kept floating back to four individuals who I have, (only relatively recently) met, and who have inspired and helped me relate to our Section and its future. I single out these folks not to nominate them as the only or best contributors to, or even members of, our Section (since there are so many others who should not be neglected for such an award). Instead, I want to simply share with you how much they have helped and encouraged me about potential progress and greatness for Medical Care. And I guess this is a sneaky way to get you up to date about some of the behind the scenes Section projects and goings-on.
Fran Atkinson is the staff-person whose official title is Director of Component Affairs. Among other duties and responsibilities, she serves as liaison and support for our Section. Initially, just a faceless and voiceless e-mail address from whom I received dreadline (forgive bad pun) notices about what was due and when, and then reminders that I was past due. Later, she evolved into an e-mail recipient who I could beg for an answer to a quick question, or ask to forward a request to the proper staffer in charge of the program or membership, or policy. But finally, she materialized as the live, competent and enthusiastic human who performed magic at several key meetings, especially the Chair-Elect Orientation Session that I attended last year and our Midyear Meeting this past March.
Fran didn’t talk much at these meetings. But, as far as I could observe, she seemed to know and do everything. She had an institutional savvy about APHA and what it would take to get any task done, as well as the interest and skills to make sure it did. The Chair Elect meeting was a magnificent example of dedication of APHA volunteer leaders (such as then Intersectional Council Chair-Elect Susan Radius, who chaired the meeting) being empowered by the institutional support of APHA, all orchestrated and led behind the scenes by Fran. Not only were the meetings well-planned and organized, in large part thanks to Fran, but she seemed to have a sense of what was important, and how to time our discussions to cover topics in just the right depth based on the item’s priority. At the Midyear Medical Care Section meeting where time for discussion was more available, and we had a more of a chance to dilate and debate ideas (which is the reason I commend to any/all Section members our next Midyear Meeting in early 2007), she kept to the sidelines and provided the bumpers for us to bounce off of — as we debated single payer strategies with Dr. Benjamin or struggled with how to reverse the slowly shrinking Section membership number (a trend not unique to Medical Care).
It’s an odd pairing, [and a less long-term one than the pairing of our last two key people Catarina and Jeroan (see below)], but the work of Rishi Rattan in Chicago with Fran in Washington was truly spectacular. While I was busy on my impatient rotation with the new interns at County this July, Rishi worked as the “summer student intern” for our Section.
I first met Rishi when he “appeared” at our house as part of a student gathering. He was a first-year University of Illinois medical student and one of 50 who responded to a invitation for interested progressive students to join us for a dinner (something my wife Mardge and I have been hosting for the past several years and have “seasoned” with Quentin Young and Studs Turkel, who have joined us to share stories and goals). Unlike other students who talked about wanting to do international health or PNHP national health insurance work, the main interest Rishi expressed was organizing other men, and working as a feminist man to raise consciousness and change behaviors vis a vis women’s oppression and violence. It was a half year later in late June when we happened to cross paths again -- it turned out we needed a student to help us with Section work, and he was looking for something to do for the summer. We were also fortunate to secure access to the unspent funds we had saved by our thrifty Section lifestyle (funds that otherwise were about to turn into a pumpkin on June 30, 2006).
What I immediately saw was that Rishi had incredible computer skills and personal work habits, as well as an eagerness to learn about and contribute to the Section. The list of tasks we set out for him is too long to list, and what he accomplished is an even longer list, but to name a few:
a) Researched a comprehensive history and produced a timeline of the Section (largely from previously prepared but now forgotten reviews);
b) Cataloged all of the sessions presented by the Section for the past 10 years and entered these into a database (more on this below)
c) Took our Web site from zero to 60 (actually it was worse than zero, but to continue the car accelerating analogy, it was stuck in the ditch at a “broken link” URL with totally out of date information);
d) Collected and collated lists of various awards and past award winners;
e) Updated our Committee lists, leadership roster, and contacts;
f) Helped Jim Wolleb (with input from others) put together and distribute a survey of our lapsed members (surveyed why they had left and solicited feedback on how we could do a better job);
g) Helped assemble and post on the Web a list of our Section Chairs for the past 57 years (dating back to before I was born!);
h) Assisted the workgroup with revising and updating our Section Brochure;
i) Worked with me to download every Medical Care journal article for the past 10 years, which we are working to cross-reference with our session topics to create a visual map/taxonomy of topics we have covered and analyze where they cluster (in progress),
j) Worked on preparing a