I would like to begin by thanking all of you, my colleagues, for the trust you have placed in me to lead our chapter over the next two years. On behalf of our entire board of directors, I want to thank Dr. Nicole Berwald for her tremendous leadership, mentoring and friendship. Dr. Berwald ensured the success of several NY ACEP initiatives during her tenure including our OWL (Opportunities for Women in Leadership) and ACE (Academy of Clinical Educators) programs and Workplace Violence Prevention Alliance in which we partnered with several nursing organizations such as NY-ENA, ANA-NY and NYSCENA. Additionally, she guided a robust advocacy agenda including successful opposition to PA independent practice, reductions in the excess malpractice coverage and continuing to voice our concerns around NP scope of practice issues. Dr. Berwald will continue to guide our work as she transitions to Immediate Past President. Thank you, Nicole!
We have also just completed a very successful NY ACEP Scientific Assembly at the Sagamore Resort on Lake George. In addition to the opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new ones, we had great CME from our excellent speakers and we heard the latest updates on ACEP from our President, Dr. Aisha Terry. I am also happy to report we have returned to our pre Covid attendance with just under 300 registered attendees and over 30 exhibitors. I want to thank our education committee for putting together another great CME program and they are already at work on reviewing the feedback and planning for the 2025 meeting.
In June, members of the board and committee chairs attended a strategic planning meeting to help set the priorities of the organization over the next two years. We reviewed the data from the membership survey that was sent out and while we only received a small number of responses, it was clear our focus needs to be on the practice environment for emergency physicians in New York. We will continue to advocate in Albany for legislative changes that improve our practice environment and don’t place undue burden or unfunded mandates on our already overtaxed emergency departments. The team also discussed a plan for how we can better communicate what NY ACEP is doing on behalf of you, our members, to make your work environment better and we are hard at work revamping our website which should launch this fall as well as enhancing our methods of communicating both within the organization and externally.
Hopefully everyone enjoys the rest of the summer and gets the opportunity to take some time off with family and friends for some well-deserved rest. I look forward to hearing everyone’s concerns and suggestions.
