President's Message - June 2011

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Hello ASHHRA Members,
As we near the half-way point of my journey as your ASHHRA 2011 President, I am very pleased to report that we are making great strides toward our goals and in shaping the future of how we can support the most important facet of our organization ...our members. Your board is working diligently on meeting our assigned 2011 goals. Here is a progress report with some of the key items on each of our goals to date:

• AHA (Stephanie Drake, Melissa Kinnaird, and Bob Walters)
  At the AHA Leadership Summit in San Diego, a Thought Leader event has been planned with American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Society for Healthcare Marketing & Development (SHSMD), and ASHHRA to address health care reform engagement. A Workplace Intimidation Session and a Culture of Health Workshop has also been set.
• Chapters/Regions (Tom McCawley and Karmen Reid)
  Monthly meetings are being conducted with the Regional Consultants to ensure better partnering with the Chapters and at the Chapter Leadership Workshop. Affiliation agreements are being revamped for board approval later in the year. All affiliation agreements expire at the end of this year. Working to improve membership numbers from chapter collaborations.
• Concierge Program (Paul Morlock and Irma Pye)
  On hold for arrival of new ASHHRA staff member who will be supporting this initiative.
• Non-Hospital (Marit Brock and John Ostrom) 
  Non Hospital member ListServ is up and running. Exploring more membership lists in order to expand prospects for membership. A Non-Hospital Page has been created on the website.
• Certification (Grace Moffitt and Maureen O’Keefe)
  Efforts are underway to evaluate all aspects of establishing a health care HR certification program and the necessary training and educational components of making this a reality.
• Technology (Joe Micucci and Tom McCawley)
  We are looking at the best practices in the field and taking advantage of what the AHA has to offer. We are also exploring templates for state chapter websites.
• Culture of Health (Jeff Payne, Nicole Morin-Scribner, and Paul Morlock)
  Presenting a workshop at the AHA Leadership Summit and the ASHHRA annual conference.

Our national committees have been extremely busy and their progress against goals to date, include:

• Regional, Chapter, and Member Services Committee (Karmen Reid)
  Monthly meetings are being conducted with the Regional Consultants to ensure better partnering with the Chapters and at the Chapter Leadership Workshop. Affiliation agreements are being revamped for board approval later in the year. All affiliation agreements expire at the end of this year. Also this group is working to improve membership numbers from chapter collaborations.
• Annual Conference Committee (Nancy Dinon)
  ASHHRA has begun a new partnership with The Advisory Board/HR Investment Center and offering an Advisory Board/HR Investment Center learning track during each learning session time. A list of back up speakers has also been prepared for the conference.
• Learning and Education Committee (Debbie Rubens)
  The committee is selling a few courses and programs on the eLearning Network. They also have quite a few upcoming webinars scheduled and are also working on setting up a mentoring call – topic TBD.
• Advocacy Committee (Mike Paruta)
  Merged five new members to the Advocacy team, oriented them, and prepared them for a very successful Hill visit. Continued "relationship building" with the members of the Senate and Congress. Delivered the approved "Position Papers" to the members of Congress and the Senate. Details and results of the Hill Visit will be communicated by the Committee in the near future.

I look forward to continuing progress toward goals and submitting a favorable report to you in Phoenix. Hope to see you all there!

Sincerely,

Robert Walters, SPHR
Corporate Director, HR Operations
Health First, Inc.
3550 North Harbor City Blvd.
Melbourne, FL 32932-0069
(321) 434-1957
bob.walters@health-first.org