image_pdfimage_print

Well, let’s talk about the SFHHA.

Jaime Caldwell, President

2022 is a year of revitalization. We, like you, have learned what does and does not work during a never-ending pandemic. We all thought that virtual meetings would be our future. I know that most non-profit organizations in early 2020 shifted gears and transitioned to virtual meetings in an abundance of caution and a dearth of information, at that time, on this circulating virus.

In the beginning, this was exciting technology time! Using platforms like ZOOM, Teams, etc., our usual face-to-face, family-style meetings turned into technological wonders (at least, for me). We increased our ZOOM subscription to take advantage of more available options and our aggressive schedule of educational programs was underway. Through the first few months of 2020, when more people than not were working from home, attendance at our virtual events was amazing. Depending on the subject of the programs, attendance was routinely in the 50+ range.

We further pivoted our annual healthcare summit conference to a virtual event bringing in international speakers to talk about the challenges being presented by the COVID-19 response and attendance continued to exceed expectations. Then, realities set in.

Our usual sponsors began to question whether their value expectations were being met when our events were virtual versus face-to-face. At the same time, our Board of Directors, consisting mostly of healthcare professionals, and our medical director were all advising that in the interest of public safety and consistent with the experiences that all our chief executives were having at their hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and medical clinics, we needed to remain virtual. Moreover, our attendance began to decline as our members and friends began to suffer the “too much on my plate,” reality as many had to return to work after having worked from home and staffing realities left little time, or desire, to participate in one more virtual event.

Well, we are two years down the road and are now seeing the Omicron variant, hopefully, burning itself out. What we also know is that over the last two years, we have gained much more knowledge about the many faces of COVID-19 and how to protect ourselves from being infected (masking and distancing) or, if infected, what we need to do individually (vaccination and booster) to minimize the chance that we might require hospitalization.

Yes, 2022, will be a year of revitalization. With advice and counsel from our Board of Directors and our medical director, we will be pivoting yet again to offer more face-to-face opportunities this year. In several planning sessions with our Board, we have identified an exciting array of programs that we believe will hit the mark for our entire membership.

In the coming weeks, look forward to receiving a survey from us asking for your input. What we have also discovered over this last two years is that what seem to be important topics to us, do not necessarily resonate with our members and friends.

2022 will be an exciting year. Cheers!