On January 12 and 13th of this year, I had the honor of attending the 2018 State Coordinating Body Training Program in Chicago. This was my first time attending this training and to say that I was inspired is an understatement. The fact that I sat down right next to Donna Ryan, 2018 AADE President, was a sign that everyone there was equal and there to achieve the same goals. The information presented was engaging and very informative. Before attending I could not see myself serving on AADE BOD but now I feel one day that is possible. I realized that everyone has the potential to be a great leader and this program was the first step.
The first presentation, AADE’s Goals for Today and Tomorrow was presented by Donna Ryan, 2018 AADE President and Chuck Macfarlene, AADE CEO. They discussed AADEs focus for 2018 which included: Current Practice of Diabetes Educators, New Models of Health Care=New Models of Diabetes Care and Education, Advances in Technology and Diabetes Educators: The Vision. They discussed how Population Health is designed to improve health for all, lower cost for health care and help provide better care overall.
This was soon followed by Marcie Stern our keynote speaker, who presented on: The Art of Delegation and Inspiration. She shared with us the secrets on the qualities and characteristics of great leaders, how to inspire others, how to delegate and take action to get the job done and at the same time had us look at ourselves and see what inspires us, what brings us joy and energizes us, and encourages us to share our AADE story with other members to get them inspired.
As the next two days continued, we also heard about:
- Project Management Tips
- Getting Members Input
- Managing Your CB’s Finances
- Strategic Content Planning for Your CB: A Practical Approach
- Planning your On-line Strategy for Your CB
- AADE Hot Topics
- AADE Advocacy and Your CB
- Strategic Planning and Your CB
- Building Your Volunteer Team
- Keeping LNGs Engaged
We heard about the National AADE Content Priorities for 2018 which included: Hypoglycemia-soon to be released by AADE, Technology Integration - DANA, Diabetes Management and Cardiovascular Disease, Obesity, Pediatrics-manual for school nurses, Diversity, and Vision for the Professional. Kurt Anderson, Director of Federal and State Advocacy for AADE shared the importance of advocating for the future of diabetes education and why we must have a state Grassroots Coordinator. We all need to get involved in state policy because government is “devolving” to states and states are making more important decisions relative to healthcare like coverage of DDP, DSME and MNT. He states “Laws touch on every aspect of our lives”. Everyone needs to get involved, get out there and learn who your representatives are and talk to them. They work for us.
We learned about DANA – Diabetes Advanced Network Access, exclusively for AADE members. The website will provide information on product clearing house, educational courses, innovation like polls and focus groups, resources with articles and discussions and App review.
Overall, it was an amazing weekend, meeting new people and making new friends. As I looked around the room, I could see new leaders being created, moving a body of volunteers forward and expanding our areas of influence. Two take away quotes I would like to share:
Volunteer means giving one’s time and talent to drive missions
“Good leaders lead and great leaders inspire”
Let us all get out there and inspire!