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President’s Message – Establishing Goals for 2018

Dear Members of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter Committee,

It has been three months since I took the reins from Susy Murphy as the new President of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of ALCA. Susy helped make the transition a smooth one. Now that I have my feet on the ground, I would like to update you on current affairs within the Chapter and my goals for the coming year.

The Public Relations Committee, chaired by Joann Ellenberger has been busy mapping out their plan for 2018. Their primary focus is working with Illuminage, the host of our website, to give it a fresh look and bring the members-only section up to date. The process will take about three months and the money is budgeted for it. Another focus is to identify and partner with other businesses with whom we share potential clients either through direct referrals or as resources. In conjunction with National’s goals for this year, we have targeted elder law attorneys. The Chapter sponsored a table at the Pennsylvania Elder Law Conference at the end of February. Bobbi Kolonay, from the Pittsburgh area represented the Chapter. In addition, the same weekend a few care managers from the Northern Virginia area attended the Virginia Elder Law Conference. It was an opportunity to share with other care managers and meet new and familiar elder law attorneys.

The Membership Committee, under the leadership of Mary Beck, is tasked with welcoming new members to the Chapter. All new members will receive a packet of information about the benefits of belonging to the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, information about the mentorship program, an information sheet with the names and contact information for the Board of Directors, Members-at-Large, Committee Chairs and the Unit Leaders and a Spot Light Form to be completed. Members of the committee will be contacting all lapsed members to understand why they dropped their membership and perhaps encourage them to reconsider. Besides aging life care managers, there are corporate sponsors who are members of ALCA. I will be reaching out to those who have dropped their membership to review the benefits of membership for their company.

In other news, in honor of Buckley Fricker who died tragically in December, our Chapter Committee held a wonderful, but sad luncheon at Tall Oaks Assisted Living in Reston to remember her life. The Chapter also contributed $500 in her name to each of two funds requested by her family.

As President, my goals for 2018 include:

1. Streamlining communication between the Units, the Members and the Board;
2. Attending a meeting with each of the 5 units over the course of the year;
3. Reaching out to potential new sponsors and/or partners who help support our client base in important ways;
4. Organizing a conference committee for a Mid-Atlantic Chapter Conference in 2019.

Of course, none of this is possible without the help of the very active Public Relations and Membership Committees, and you, the members of the Aging Life Care Association. I encourage each of you to attend a unit meeting, get to know other care managers in your area and get involved. All ideas are welcome!

Sincerely,

Judy Grumbly, RN, MSN, CCM

President, Mid-Atlantic, ALCA