Post-Conference greetings!
It was wonderful so many ISCHR members were able to attend the AACVPR conference this past September in Milwaukee. From the educational sessions to the networking opportunities, I hope those who attended returned to work with a few ideas that you will be able to implement with your staff and improve your programs for the benefits of our patients.
About 30 members attended our state social on the Wednesday night of the conference at a local restaurant. Thank you to President-Elect Betsy Hart for organizing that event. I enjoyed meeting many of you for the first time. Thank you for taking the time to join us.
Here are some additional ISCHR updates:
Website: Please visit our new and improved website https://ischr.org/! ISCHR has partnered with AACVPR and Higher Logic to provide our members a more functional and useful website. Thank you to Website Co-Chairs Megan Burg and Clair Fron for spearheading this multi-month project. For the benefit of our members, certain areas of the website (Meeting Minutes, Constitution and Bylaws, Strategic Plan) will be password protected. You will sign in with your AACVPR username and password to access those areas. For any questions or suggestions regarding the website, please contact Megan at megan.burg@luhs.org, or Clair at clair.fron@luhs.org.
Leadership Retreat - Last change to register: The Board of Directors welcomes Mollie Corbett, AACVPR Executive Director, as our keynote speaker for the ISCHR annual Leadership Retreat held on November 3-4, 2023, in Springfield Illinois. Her presentation will be on Board Governance - "Board Bootcamp". At this time, there are three spaces still available for any member to attend. ISCHR will cover the cost of the hotel and meals for members. For more information about the retreat go to Leadership Retreat - ISCHR - Illinois Society for Cardiopulmonary Health and Rehabilitation. Deadline to register is Wednesday, October 11. Please email Cindy Hooper at jchooper750@netscape.net to RSVP.
Strategic Plan: In July, the Board of Directors approved a new three-year Strategic Plan, 2023 - 2025. Thank you to Quality and Outcomes Chair Anne Gavic for leading this initiative, and to all those who participated and contributed. The plan can be found at Strategic Plan - ISCHR - Illinois Society for Cardiopulmonary Health and Rehabilitation.
AACVPR Affiliate Leadership Forum: Membership Chair Christine Bryant, President-Elect Betsy Hart, and myself attended the AACVPR Leadership forum June 10-11, 2023 in Chicago IL. AACVPR leaders presented to State Affiliate Leaders from across the country on topics including The Leadership Garden, Volunteer Engagement, Board Bootcamp, Conference Planning, Marketing Best Practices, What Inspires You to Volunteer, Legislative Updates, and Affiliate Best Practices.
Save the Date: Planning for our annual Education Conference began in July, led by President-Elect Betsy Hart and a committee of sixteen. The dates are March 15-16, 2024. Location is Elmhurst Memorial Hospital. Click on ISCHR Conference - ISCHR - Illinois Society for Cardiopulmonary Health and Rehabilitation for more information.
Webinar: Thank you to Education and Professional Development Chair Jeff LaPorte for organizing the webinar "Exercising Hemodialysis Patients: Challenging the Status Quo", which took place Wednesday October 4, 2023 at 4:00pm. Forty-two members registered! Don't forget to complete the survey to obtain your CEUs - MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "attendee.gotowebinar.com" claiming to be Take the survey (gotowebinar.com). Recording will be available at a later date. Stay tuned for future webinars!
AACVPR Conference: For those who attended, don't forget to complete your survey to obtain your CEUs. The On-Demand Access Pass is to be available starting October 16, 2023. For those who are interested in purchasing the pass, please visit MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "www.aacvpr.org" claiming to be Registration (aacvpr.org).
New to the Board of Directors:
Tonna Kary is our new Southern Region Co-Chair with Barb Masters. Tonna is an Exercise Physiologist and the Clinical Coordinator of Cardiopulmonary Rehab at Anderson Hospital in Maryville. Thank you Tonna for volunteering to serve ISCHR, and thanks Barb for making that connection.
Retiring from the Board of Directors:
In July, Donna Serlin retired after 21.5 years working in Cardiopulmonary Rehab at Edward Hospital in Naperville. She also retired from the ISCHR Board of Directors at that time. Donna joined the ISCHR BOD in 2011. She served in several roles: Pulmonary Rehab Coordinator, President-Elect, President (twice), Past-President (twice), Treasurer, and Conference Planning Co-Chair. She attended several AACVPR Affiliate Leadership Forums. She assisted with developing ISCHR's first Strategic Plan, initiated the annual ISCHR Leadership Retreat, and was one of the driving forces facilitating ISCHR to receive the AACVPR Outstanding Affiliate Society Award in 2017. She was also the first Anne Gavic Award winner in 2019 (after Anne). Thank you for your service, Donna, and happy retirement!
Get Involved!
Open Board of Directors Position - Northern Region Chair. If you reside north of I-80 and are interested in becoming more involved in your professional society ISCHR, please visit https://ischr.org/ and select the Get Involved tab.
Committe positions - Visit ISCHR Committee Descriptions - ISCHR - Illinois Society for Cardiopulmonary Health and Rehabilitation for committee descriptions. If you are interested in joining a committee, please visit https://ischr.org/ and select the Get Involved tab.
Finally, on behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you again for your support of ISCHR. Please do not hesitate to contact me or any Board member for any questions, suggestions, or ideas. We look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Cindy R Hooper, MSEd ACSM-RCEP, CEP
ISCHR President