PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Robert E. Suter, DO, MHA, FACOEP-D, FIFEM
OUR BEST DAYS ARE AHEAD OF US
T
he textbook on an outgoing President’s message is that, among other things, it summarizes the term and provides the foundation for how the organization is positioned for success going forward. While reflecting on these things it is impossible to ignore the cloud that COVID-19 has draped over us individually, on ACOEP and our community. Never could I have imagined when elected four years ago that the focus of my President-Elect term would be stabilizing our financial future, and the focus of my term as President would be our surviving the impacts of COVID-19 on our meetings and governance. Just a few short weeks ago we thought that we would be able to gather in Washington, DC to celebrate surviving the pandemic. But with the surge in the Delta variant among the unvaccinated, your Board made the very painful decision to go virtual with our 2021 Scientific Assembly and cancelled the in-person portion of the meeting. Our decision was based on projections and recommendations of experts. We also realized that even those willing to risk attending an in-person gathering would not have enough control over their clinical schedules to make last-minute decisions about attending when working under employer prohibitions that prevent us from traveling and require us to work extra hours during
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THE PULSE FALL 2021
SOME DAYS YOU WIN, SOME DAYS YOU LOSE, SOME DAYS IT RAINS.” Tim Robbins as “Nuke” Laloosh in the movie Bull Durham
COVID peaks. Though we wanted to provide the opportunity for any sub-group that might have been able to gather in spite of these obstacles, the hotel was not interested in providing us with that option. Cancellation of the in-person Scientific Assembly is only the most recent of the litany of challenges that we must overcome with your loyalty and support. During the past two years we have been challenged by significant financial issues and devastated by the loss of friends, family and colleagues who were close to us. So, what are the positives and what have we accomplished over the past two years? 1. We saved our house and kept our Family together. By making some very difficult decisions we markedly reduced expenses and
insured the viability of ACOEP going forward. There were disagreements and frustrations along the way, but ultimately we found a path that allowed us to do so while keeping our Family intact. Over a period of just a few days we also executed a world class pivot to virtual meetings that enabled us to not cancel a scheduled meeting. Few other associations or societies can make this claim. 2. We published an enduring Strategic Plan for ACOEP. After struggling with the second and third order effects of the decisions made by the AOA concerning residency training, certification and membership we definitively and for all time defined ourselves as a Family and Community of like-minded emergency physicians who share
