Board Meeting – October 19, 2008
Attendance: L. Pelletier, S. Barth, C. Young, J. Courtois, R.
Gels-Birch, L. Gordon, Fleming, B. Smith, T. Allen, K. Beers
1) New Officers to be announced tonight: assume position on January 1,
2009.
Sandra Barth – president
Sheryl Bouchard – President- Elect
Wendy Drew – Treasurer
Kathy Jacques – Secretary
Louise Pelletier – Past President
2) Finance – need to look into fundraising – to help educators. A
lot of the vendors can only give monies towards educational needs.
3) Networking – Regional reps is a great idea – but due to large size
of state and increasing costs of fuel – it is important to find other
ways to get people in touch with each other ?? Teleconferencing. Or
journal club – which would be great – but once again, would limit who
would be likely to attend. Another suggestion made by L. Pelletier is to
see if a sponsor (ie: Lilly, Novo, BD) would consider sponsoring a
dinner/ educational meeting for a region. After 3 years of existence –
not a lot has been done with the regional networking --- so will discuss
at meeting with members tonight to see if other ideas are out there –
how to make this work. Possibility of a news letter in the future –
would allow members to keep in touch with what is going on. Needs to be
brief or bulletin points – would allow for members that are not able to
travel and/or missed a meeting to keep up with what is going on in MeADE.
4) Voting in future – can this be done via e-mail versus regular mail?
It would be “greener” to send things by e-mail and reduce cost of paper,
envelop and postage. How important is it to be anonymous versus with
e-mail which would mean that the vote is traceable. Decision not going
to be made today but will be discussed. Need to check on AADE bylaws –
but if able to do e-mail – will need to change the MeADE Bylaws.
5) Maine Dietetic Association currently holds their meeting every
other year. Suggestion is made that it might benefit us to work with
them to hold our annual meetings together; a lot of our “interests” are
the same --- combining would make for a stronger body at the meetings.
Concerns would be getting logistics set up for such a large number of
people, and focusing on topics that would interest both groups and
clarifying division of expenses/ costs. The thought is to have the 2009
MeADE meeting at Point Lookout (on the coast of Maine; just outside of
Camden) – which does sound like it would be large enough to accommodate
both groups.
6) Administrative Assistant – we may need a paid administrative
assistant in the future to help keep this organizations going. B. Smith
suggests that this person have experience in book keeping so that she/he
could be a help to the next Treasurer. Web Master – Lou has also
suggested that we consider making this a paid position. B. Smith has
agreed to continue being the webmaster – but declines payment.
7) Saving Chapter Information – what needs to be kept for historical
facts and where should it be stored.
8) Scholarships for Meeting Attendance (students) – Have one NP
student at this conference. C. Young would like to see this go to
someone who was working in the field or had a specific interest in diabetes.
9) AADE (Cindy Young) – suggestions on how to increase committee
membership and involvement – ‘what works for National might work for us’
10) Nomination Committee– results listed above.
11) Communication and Publics Relationship – B. Smith has renewed
website/ domain and has done a great job maintaining and updating the
current website. MeADE brochures have been completed and R. Gels-Birch
will give each member 10 copies with the remaining brochures being left
at the registration table. Cost was $15 for 100 brochures. R. Gels-Birch
will set something up so members can order additional flyers – either
something on website and/or order form. The brochures have a location
for the CDE’s card to be attached and brochures are going to be put in
offices, pharmacies or anywhere the CDE feels that it would be picked up
by patients. Cost for additional copies will be $20 per 100 copies plus
shipping and handling.
12) Finance – B. Smith feels that proposed monies for 2009 need to be
changed: global conferencing (currently set for $600 per year but
proposed to be increased to $1000 per year) and website should be
increased ($350 per year – and additional for extra work on website, and
Officer/ Committee gifts/ mileage to $600. Guess is that we have an
estimated 85 members paying dues – (this is just an estimate due to the
fact that it is an unusual year – due to change in yearly membership to
coincide with AADE’s annual membership).
14) Thank notes to Hannaford (R Gels-Birch has offered to write this
note, BD (T. Allen will write note to M. Downing from BD) and other
companies that have made donations.
15) Strategic Planning committee – may have to pay hotel $6,000 for
attrition room fees. Recommendation that whoever goes to the National
Meeting be involved in the MeADE conference planning committee – to help
provide inspiration and hot topics for future conferences.
Submitted by,
Tracy Allen, Secretary MeADE