I thought the set-up was better this year than last…. The Candidate Forum on Sunday let those who didn’t need the Saturday education sessions arrive late on Saturday and attend the Candidate Forum, then Opening Session on Sunday afternoon… (better than last year’s Monday Opening Ceremony)

The education sessions were the highlight for me this year, especially Dr Atul Gawande’s session on “Check Lists”. I had received his first book Complications as a gift about 10 years ago and thought it was a very honest look into the surgical experience. I wondered, at that time, how this resident would fare after finishing his training……. I found out that he has done pretty well for himself! The session presented by Dr Dan Alam, on the first face transplant was something I wasn’t sure I was interested in, but it turned out to be an exceptional session. Not because of the technical aspect, which ended up being extremely interesting, but because he was fairly down to earth and spoke about the tremendous responsibility he felt as the team ventured into this uncharted territory, and the fact that it was a TEAM effort giving much credit to his associates, and those in the circulator and scrub roles. Since I had spent most of my career at that institution, I knew a lot of the support staff, and so it definitely was more personal for me seeing my friends get deserved credit that isn’t always apparent.

The Forum and the House were definitely interesting this year as a number of controversial topics were discussed and debated. For all the discussion regarding “one member, one vote” and the dues increase, the process went very smoothly and took a lot less time than most of us expected.

Another highlight was the recognition of two eChapter members with special awards… the Award for Excellence in Perioperative Nursing was presented to Ruth Shumaker, and the Jerry G. Peers Distinguished Service Award was presented to Cynthia Spry. All-in-all a great week, even the weather co-operated….for the most part.