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Michigan Chapter Winter Newsletter 2008 Annual Report to Membership - November, 2008 2008 has been a challenging year for the Board of Directors. It is even a challenge to determine what our biggest challenge is. It is certain that the Chapter will need to make some significant changes in our structure and functioning in the coming year. If we are to continue being the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care, we will need to establish a more formal relationship with National and all members will have to pay national dues. Legally it is not appropriate to use the name of an organization and then function completely independent from them. New regulations from IRS for 501c3 organizations also influences this issue. The Board is trying to assess the pros and cons of what would be best for the Michigan Chapter. This raises questions about the chapter and what benefits members value from being members of the chapter. The Board believes that there is an important function to have a Social Work organization of some type that can speak for social workers in health care settings. Social workers play important roles in health care and we need to be represented in the dialogue about the future of health care both at the state and national levels. The Chapter has tried to become more involved in this way. National is expanding its role as well. Education is an important function. What are the best practices? What are the emerging practices? What is the standard of care in different settings? If we do not answer these questions, who will? This can impact law suits against your agency and your license to practice. Except for our annual conference we have done little with education this year. There is a question of how much of a need there is for education. Most of the large agencies are providing CE programs and not supporting staff financially to attend conferences. Attendance has been down for our annual conference. How important is education for the members? Recognizing and honoring our members is another important function. It is important to support new social worker in becoming leaders in our field. Leaders also need recognition. Agencies love to have their staff get recognition. This year we had no nominations for our awards. The biggest challenge may be finding members who have the time and commitment to work to make the chapter a meaningful organization. More and more agencies are not supporting staff, especially clinical staff, in getting involved in professional organizations. If the chapter is going to be a viable organization, we need members who can have time and commitment to make things happen. This year our Social Policy Chair and the President Elect both had to resign. As of today, we have not found replacements. While we are one of the larger chapters in the country, we have not grown. We are not representative of social workers around the state. We especially lack members from western Michigan. Why isn't there more interest in joining the Chapter? In light of these issues, the Board must explore all options for the future of the chapter. This includes: Joining National; Becoming Independent; Closer Affiliation with NASW and/or Other Organizations; Disbanding; or something else. The Board needs your input! Please discuss these issues with a Board Member or email your thoughts to someone. My email is: dneal@umich.edu. In spite of these challenges the Board has made significant accomplishments in an effort to become more relevant to the members. A Web Site through the national organization has been updated and it includes current information about the Chapter's activities. A new independent web site is being developed. It will allow for members to pay dues on line and to have communication with other members about current issues in health care. It is important for Social Workers in health settings to have an opportunity to communicate and learn from each other. The Chapter has developed a stronger relationship with the Michigan Chapter of NASW. Maxine Thome has attended Board meetings and has been eager to have the collaboration with the Board. The Chapter has participation on NASW's Health Policy, Legislative, HIV-AIDS, and Aging Committees. The Chapter will also be responsible for developing a health section for NASW's annual conference in May. Andrea Mullendore and her committee has done an excellent job of organizing our annual conference focusing on understanding and intervening with patients and families who are experiencing pain. Emails have been sent to the membership whenever relevant news in health care is known. This is intended to help the membership to be knowledgeable about relevant issues that may impact their work in health care settings. The Board took on an advocacy role this year. The Board voted to support Parity and joined the coalition of organizations in Michigan working on parity. Letters of support for parity were also sent to our US Senators and Representatives. Parity has passed at the national level. It is important that we continue working with others to have it passed in Michigan. The Board was also active in supporting legislation to prevent serious cuts in Medicaid funding at the national level. This was successful as well. The Board supported the petition drive to require health care for all citizens in Michigan. Other issues were discussed and monitored. The Board believes that it is important for the Chapter to be active in relevant health care policy discussions at the state and national levels. Karen Newman has seen that the Newsletter has continued to be sent out on a regular basis. A major step was taken when the Board contracted with Byron Myer to develop the Web page and to assist in the communication with the membership. Byron is a very competent staff for the Department of Social Work at the UMHS. We are very fortunate to have Byron's assistance. Sincerely, Dave Neal President, SSWLHC - Michigan |