LPN Newsletter - Fall 2009

President's Message

And the seasons they go round and round. Here we are, post-Labor Day, autumn in the air, approaching our LPN Fall 2009 Quarterly Meeting. And, as in other parts of our lives, we turn our attention to the challenges at hand.

The purpose of my message this quarter is to share some of what we are working on, hoping to pique your interest and get you involved as we move forward. When everyone pitches in, we get better results faster. To put it simply: we need your help!

Earlier this year, the board did some planning for the next three years. That resulted in a framework of goals, with priorities for this year and next. Here's a quick summary:

1. Look at our name, mission, vision and other elements of our "brand" to make sure they are consistent with the image we want to project as we build a national organization. This work will translate into public relations, marketing and other public outreach efforts.
2. Advance our Praxis (practice excellence) initiative by building and validating our Life Planning Competency Inventory, creating a database of best practices and defining our long-term goals for this important part of our work.
3. Design our second Life Planning Pre-Conference and plan the 2009 Positive Aging Conference in conjunction with other sponsoring organizations (conference to be held December 5-9).
4. Continue to raise our profile nationally by encouraging development of new chapters around the country (we have four underway now), better understanding and addressing the interests of national members, and building a national structure.
5. Support the ongoing growth of our local LPN community. We want to continue to expand membership and programs while preserving the welcoming, supportive culture of our group.
6. Build organizational infrastructure that will assure a high level of member services. These include a new membership database, online enrollment and renewal, referral directories, an improved web site, online meeting registration, etc.

Our committees - Membership, Communications, Programs, Operations & Technology, Praxis, Conference Planning, Finance & Governance, and a branding task force we call Content & Identity - are all hard at work. If you're not already involved, we invite you to join one of these committees. Think about your interests, how you'd like to contribute and what you'd like to learn. By jumping in, you'll connect with others in our community while contributing to our success. And isn't it nice to know you're needed - For the times, they are a-changin'.

If you have questions about the initiatives listed above or the various committees, please contact Doug Dickson, our vice president, at dougdickson17@gmail.com or me at sharonsokoloff@comcast.net .

We look forward to seeing you soon.