As incoming president, I want to thank Sharon for her extraordinary service to AALNC, including being willing to serve an unprecedented second year as president so I could spend a year in the president-elect role, “learning the ropes.”

 I also want to thank our outgoing board members Marianne Hallas and Karen Huff, who both served consecutive terms on ALNCCB and then AALNC’s board of directors, for a combined service of more than 20 years in board roles! Fortunately for us, they have both agreed to remain involved in several AALNC initiatives.

 It is my first hand observation since coming on the board in 2010 that our association has thrived under both Karen and Sharon’s leadership, along with a cohesive, hardworking and dynamic board of directors, and very effective management company.

 As Sharon mentioned in her final blog, our annual forum in Chicago was a great success.  We will be analyzing all the feedback we receive in the coming weeks to make future forums even better, so for those of you who attended the forum, please take the time to submit your evaluations forms.

 Many thanks to the Chicago chapter who hosted this year’s forum. Their president, Dina Morgan, and many of the chapter members worked very hard this past year with our forum committee to plan several aspects of this event and of course, made special efforts to attend the forum and man the host chapter table during the forum. We greatly appreciate your efforts.

 Finally, a special thanks to the multiple former AALNC presidents who attended and/or spoke at the forum. Your continued involvement in AALNC is deeply appreciated and I think, demonstrates your ongoing commitment to AALNC and our specialty practice!

 Over the next few weeks, I plan to use this blog to share with you a bit of detail regarding AALNC’s strategic plan and our priorities this next year.

  I look forward to working with the board and our members this next year, and beyond.

 All for now.

 Beth (elzorn@faraci.com)

A FINAL THANK YOU

It is time as the dust settles from our fantastic Forum of 2013 to turn over the blog reins to your new President, Beth Zorn. It has been an amazing two years as your president. The members have been most gracious with their kind words. I have been especially touch by all of you who reached out to me after my various presentations about my photos and my legacy as an Ursuline graduate. I have tried to share myself to you so you knew my focus and beliefs. As you know, Ursuline's motto is "Serviam" and I have tried my best to serve others for as long as I can remember. I am richer in friendships and experiences as a result of taking those opportunities. The organization is in very good hands and I will remain on the Board one additional year. I hope the business meeting reflected our increased financial vitality and the positive feedback of all of our educational offerings. We will continue to work on other areas we discussed at our meeting: core competencies, membership and chapters. We have had so many positive highpoint this year: ANCC accreditation, increased reserves, excelling in educational offerings and others reflected in my past blogs. I am one person representing the members and a very hard working BOD this last two years. I thank my BOD, our partnership with SmithBucklin and our staff members.  It has been an enriching experience that can be yours IF you chose to accept ..the opportunity. I humbly thank you. Beth the reins are yours and I know the organization will continue to flourish!  Sharon      smcquown@flbranson.com.

FORUM SUCCESS April 2013

To all of those able to attend thank you for making this such a great conference. We were very close to a sell out, which is equivalent to financial success. Our keynote speaker Liz Jazwiec was excellent and attendees were talking about her the next day, yes Liz positively! We had some terrific vendors present who support our organization and we thank them as well. Our optional offerings for CEU's were well received and attended. What are your suggestions for topics for next year?? We need to hear from you-please email me with your thoughts. Chicago is a great city and the historically significant Palmer House was a great location. Our topics covered infection, nerve injury, toxicology, Daubert challenges, product liability litigation, brain injury and correctional medicine all in day one. The ALNCCB reviewed the practice analysis that leads to our creation of the certification testing--very interesting. We completed day two with lectures on demonstrative evidence, school nurse liability, writing a concise report, medicare set asides and nurse practitioner liability. We hope you will calendar next year's Forum in Denver, Colorado on April 4-5, 2014.  Thank you for the Forum's committee hard work this year and we will have another great year as Jeannie Autry turns over the Chair duties to Cyndi Maag. We shared our financial status at our business meeting and I gave my final State of the Association report. I will cover those topics in a separate blog before I sign off and turn this over to Beth Zorn your new President for 2013-2014. Thanks as always for the very kind reception I was given and your support over the last two years from the Forum attendees. 
Sharon      smcquown@flbranson.com.