President's Message, July 2021
Trude Haecker, MD, FAAP
Year in Review
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I took office. I want to thank all of you for your interest, engagement, and support of the PA AAP. The depth of clinical, educational and research talent we have in Pennsylvania is truly remarkable. During this past year, I have gotten to know so many amazing general pediatricians and incredible specialists working in academic health centers, children’s hospitals, and private practices with expertise in urban, suburban, and rural health.
Part of my role as president is to work with the Executive Director on our Chapter Annual Report. This report highlights the work of Chapters from the past year and is used to determine the Outstanding Chapter Awards, given by the AAP. Click here to see the broad scope of great work going on in PA! We are so proud that the PA Chapter was a finalist in the “very large Chapter” category! I had a short virtual interview with the District Vice Chairs from around the country as a part of the selection process. In the end, the award went to our colleagues at the Florida Chapter, and we congratulate them and the other Outstanding Chapters:
One goal of the Chapter's for the past 18 months was to provide timely educational opportunities for members. We had hoped by now, that we would have moved past COVID discussions but, alas, due to the Delta variant, COVID continues to overshadow all we do at the Chapter. To that end, this week’s Let’s Talk presentation on July 28, 2021 will be moderated by the Co-Chairs of the PA AAP new Chapter's School Health Committee: Dr. Christina Master and Dr. Justin Schreiber. The presenter will be Dr. Sara Bode (Chair-Elect of the AAP Council on School Health), who will review the AAP's recently updated COVID-19 Guidance for Schools.
We have also asked Dr. Paul Offit to return to our Let’s Talk series on Aug 18, 2021 to discuss updates on the COVID vaccines and continued suggestions to combat vaccine hesitancy. Please save the date! For the September Let’s Talk webinar, we hope to provide an overview of the newly published NHLBI Asthma guidelines. Please forward your suggestions for future topics for the Let’s Talk series.
To recap some of our recent Chapter progress:
We have 9 direct service programs at the PA Chapter such as the PA Medical Home Program, Breastfeeding Initiatives, Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN), Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS), etc. and each program has a talented Medical Adviser. Be sure to view our program page on our website to view the medical advisors or to learn more about these programs and how to get more involved. As we move forward this year, I’d like to consider engaging more family representation within our programs and committees.
How exciting that the AAP is holding the National Conference and Exhibition (NCE) in Philadelphia on October 8-12, 2021! I really hope to see many of you in person as early bird registration is open and the meeting agenda is now available here. During the NCE, we are planning a time to gather in-person socially as a chapter–details of the date and time will be forthcoming.
We are also excited to host our 2022 Annual Pediatric Conference--the PA AAP’s CME/MOC meeting--in-person at the Gettysburg Hotel! Please save the dates which are March 19 and 20, 2022.
Over the next 18 - 24 months, we will look to develop a strategic plan for the Chapter and build the infrastructure of experts across the state to be a resource for questions that arise from members, the media and parents. We hope to enhance the PA AAP website with a members only section, to foster stronger communication between members, our programs and their medical advisors, committee chairs, etc. We also want to consolidate our archived content/webinars and create quick links to helpful AAP sites including a list of PA AAP members serving on national Committees, Councils and Sections for easy reference.
We will be sending another PA AAP member survey since our last survey was collected in 2019. Given the many effects of COVID, health inequity and racism, we’d really like to understand your concerns and needs for 2021-2022 and how the Chapter can best try to address some of those issues.
As always thank you for everything you do every day on behalf of Pennsylvania’s children. As a gentle reminder, given the new academic year, please check your records to make sure you are up to date on your annual PA AAP and AAP dues.
As always, thank you for everything you do for the children of Pennsylvania and please stay in touch with me (haecker@chop.edu) or Annette Myarick (amyarick@paaap.org).
Sincerely,
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I took office. I want to thank all of you for your interest, engagement, and support of the PA AAP. The depth of clinical, educational and research talent we have in Pennsylvania is truly remarkable. During this past year, I have gotten to know so many amazing general pediatricians and incredible specialists working in academic health centers, children’s hospitals, and private practices with expertise in urban, suburban, and rural health.
Part of my role as president is to work with the Executive Director on our Chapter Annual Report. This report highlights the work of Chapters from the past year and is used to determine the Outstanding Chapter Awards, given by the AAP. Click here to see the broad scope of great work going on in PA! We are so proud that the PA Chapter was a finalist in the “very large Chapter” category! I had a short virtual interview with the District Vice Chairs from around the country as a part of the selection process. In the end, the award went to our colleagues at the Florida Chapter, and we congratulate them and the other Outstanding Chapters:
- Small (1-200 FAAPs) Chapter Category—Montana Chapter
- Medium (201-500 FAAPs) Chapter Category—Arkansas Chapter
- Large (501-1000 FAAPs) Chapter Category—New York State Chapter 2
- Very Large (1001+ FAAPs) Chapter Category—Florida Chapter
One goal of the Chapter's for the past 18 months was to provide timely educational opportunities for members. We had hoped by now, that we would have moved past COVID discussions but, alas, due to the Delta variant, COVID continues to overshadow all we do at the Chapter. To that end, this week’s Let’s Talk presentation on July 28, 2021 will be moderated by the Co-Chairs of the PA AAP new Chapter's School Health Committee: Dr. Christina Master and Dr. Justin Schreiber. The presenter will be Dr. Sara Bode (Chair-Elect of the AAP Council on School Health), who will review the AAP's recently updated COVID-19 Guidance for Schools.
We have also asked Dr. Paul Offit to return to our Let’s Talk series on Aug 18, 2021 to discuss updates on the COVID vaccines and continued suggestions to combat vaccine hesitancy. Please save the date! For the September Let’s Talk webinar, we hope to provide an overview of the newly published NHLBI Asthma guidelines. Please forward your suggestions for future topics for the Let’s Talk series.
To recap some of our recent Chapter progress:
- We have re-established the Early Childhood Committee and the Safe Sleep Committee and established new committees including our Annual CME Program Planning Committee, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Governance and School Health Committees
- We hope to soon launch an Adolescent Health Committee and members have been establishing both a Foster and Kinship Care Subcommittee and a Climate Change/Environmental Health Subcommittee of the Advocacy Committee
We have 9 direct service programs at the PA Chapter such as the PA Medical Home Program, Breastfeeding Initiatives, Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN), Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS), etc. and each program has a talented Medical Adviser. Be sure to view our program page on our website to view the medical advisors or to learn more about these programs and how to get more involved. As we move forward this year, I’d like to consider engaging more family representation within our programs and committees.
How exciting that the AAP is holding the National Conference and Exhibition (NCE) in Philadelphia on October 8-12, 2021! I really hope to see many of you in person as early bird registration is open and the meeting agenda is now available here. During the NCE, we are planning a time to gather in-person socially as a chapter–details of the date and time will be forthcoming.
We are also excited to host our 2022 Annual Pediatric Conference--the PA AAP’s CME/MOC meeting--in-person at the Gettysburg Hotel! Please save the dates which are March 19 and 20, 2022.
Over the next 18 - 24 months, we will look to develop a strategic plan for the Chapter and build the infrastructure of experts across the state to be a resource for questions that arise from members, the media and parents. We hope to enhance the PA AAP website with a members only section, to foster stronger communication between members, our programs and their medical advisors, committee chairs, etc. We also want to consolidate our archived content/webinars and create quick links to helpful AAP sites including a list of PA AAP members serving on national Committees, Councils and Sections for easy reference.
We will be sending another PA AAP member survey since our last survey was collected in 2019. Given the many effects of COVID, health inequity and racism, we’d really like to understand your concerns and needs for 2021-2022 and how the Chapter can best try to address some of those issues.
As always thank you for everything you do every day on behalf of Pennsylvania’s children. As a gentle reminder, given the new academic year, please check your records to make sure you are up to date on your annual PA AAP and AAP dues.
As always, thank you for everything you do for the children of Pennsylvania and please stay in touch with me (haecker@chop.edu) or Annette Myarick (amyarick@paaap.org).
Sincerely,
