September President's Message

9/26/2011

October 6-12 is National Physician Assistant Week. This is an opportunity to celebrate physician assistant practice and promote awareness of our profession. We are fortunate to have a good PA practice environment in Wisconsin.

WAPA continues to work to strengthen our practice environment. Over the next several months take time to discuss PA practice with your clinic staff to help them understand how physician assistants are able to contribute to the demand for health care providers that grows each year. The PA – physician team approach to health care is proven to be effective and should be celebrated and nurtured as we look to address the national shortage of health care providers.

With fall quickly upon us it is time for the WAPA Fall Conference. This year’s fall conference is set for October 12-14 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton. Mark your calendars and send in your registration for what will be an informative conference. The CME committee has again put together a diverse conference. My thanks to Kathy Majewski and the entire CME committee for their work in providing us with two excellent conferences each year.

Speaking of committees, WAPA has been blessed to have excellent committee chairpersons who work behind the scenes doing the ongoing work of the academy. I wish to thank all of the chairs and their members for the work that is done. These committees continue to need help. If you have an interest in any of the WAPA committees, we are always accepting new committee members. See the list of the committees onpage 11 in this Spectator. Any of the chairs will be happy to answer questions about the work of the committee, or to get your call volunteering to join. Over the next couple of months there will be changes to the current committee structure to streamline them to fit better into the structure of the WAPA Board.

I am promoting literacy as my President’s Project this year. Look for my booth at the WAPA conference. I encourage all members to bring books for donation as we plan to contribute to the Next Door Foundation Books for Kids Program that benefits inner city children in Milwaukee. We are not stopping here. I encourage our members to be involved in the March 2, 2012 Read Across America. This is an annual reading motivation and awareness program by the National Education Association.

Enjoy the season. Stay involved. I hope to see you in Appleton.

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