CEO Update, Fall 2020 -Winter 2021

In writing this piece, I tried to find something inspirational to help set the stage. Google helps you find lots of “words to live by.” 2020 has taught us a lot, but perhaps it really is all about taking one step, one day at a time as noted in several of the quotes I came across. Everyone really does deserve something that helps them move forward or at least look forward. We do not have to have it all figured out. Change seems to carry a negative connotation. It is easy to forget that within change comes opportunity.

AAOA has embraced — full bore — the opportunities inherent in 2020.  While there was a lot planned we had no choice but to abandon, rather than be victims,we found new ways to deliver our member services, program, and support. From our Just in Time zoomcast series, where members shared their challenges and solutions, to our phenomenal execution of two fully virtual educational programs with our Core Allergy & Rhinology Concepts: Age of Pandemics and Beyond and the 2020 Annual Meeting.  

We learned a lot by embracing opportunity

We learned….

• Membership brings a community and people like being part of a community
• Peers truly care and want to help
• Members appreciate efforts to find new ways to help them
• Education and adult learning comes in many forms and members like to choose how and when they consume content
• People are more willing to take a chance than we give them credit for

Thanks for taking a chance with AAOA in 2020 and sharing your needs and feedback.  In my efforts to reach out to our members individually we got real insights into what closing and reopening a practice really entailed. The humanity of medicine really shines through. Most were struggling with how to give their patients the care they needed in a safe and reassuring way.  Many were also struggling with how to support their staff and each other with not only safety in the healthcare environment, but new challenges in work-life balance as families were turned upside down with school closures. And then there is business side of trying to figure out telehealth, procedural safety, how and where to start rebuilding, revenue management, and more.

There have been many references to Groundhog’s Day and the hope we all secretly have that we will wake up one morning and all will be right.  Perhaps this is why Christmas music started on the radio in early November. Aristotle did say, “Hope is a waking dream.”   

So while we hope for tomorrow, you AAOA leadership is building a strategy to be there for you.

• Our 2021 Basic Course in Allergy & Immunology will have a virtual component to help assure you and your staff have access
• Annual Meeting 2021 will have a virtual component too.  In fact, we are crowdsourcing now to gain your insights on what would make valuable content
• Our 2020 educational efforts gave us a growing educational content library. We are looking at ways to expand how we offer this content. We know many of you are still rebuilding your staff and may need tools to help train them. Using our 2020 learner data, we are looking at what resonates to help continue to deliver on your educational needs
• There are still topics to be shared and discussed on the practice side of dealing with pandemics and rebuilding. We are looking to augment our Just in Time zoomcast series and podcasts to keep the peer-to-peer dialogue going
• USP continues its efforts to respond to feedback on the pending USP General Chapter <797> Sterile Compounding update. We expect the final version to go into place in 2021. With that, we have our tools are your ready to include the compliance module, as well as the testing kits as an AAOA member special price
• Without access to pharmaceutical, instrument, and antigen supply sales reps, we are looking to expand our live exhibits to a year-round digital marketplace
• And, we will continue to work with ProjectN95 to help gain you access to better pricing for PPE

As we look toward 2021, we appreciate your commitment to the AAOA.  Please share your challenges, or better, some of your solutions we can share with your AAOA community. Because we are all in this together, our strength is in each other and together having the courage to innovate to bring new solutions.

Here is to looking forward with “hope that is our passion for what is possible,” to steal a line from Kierkegaard.

Jami