President's Message

By Al Stammers, MSA, CCP
AmSECT President

As far back as I can remember, at some time during the year, the comments written in the President’s Mes­sage have contained statements on what the benefits of membership in a professional organization entail. This was usually followed by a listing of what a member received from belonging to an organization such as AmSECT. Those of us reading this column may think that it is redundant since, more than likely, you are reading this as a member. However, of the estimated 3,300 practicing perfusionists in America, over 1,000 do not belong to AmSECT. There are several reasons for this, with one recurring point being that value of membership is questionable.

AmSECT has always been aware of this and has addressed these concerns on several fronts. Most recently, Susan Englert and the membership committee have revisited the benefits of belonging to AmSECT and have been doing an outstanding job in restructuring these into a concise and in­formative list. Perhaps the most obvious devotion that AmSECT has to its membership is the conduct of continuing education events such as the four national meetings held each year: International Con­ference, Pediatric Perfusion meeting, New Advances in Blood Management, and most recently, the addition of the Best Practices in Perfusion meeting. No other organization has this degree of commitment to its members. Continuing in this vein is the addition of a new venue for continuing education called Perfusion Safety.

Carla Maul, AmSECT’s Secretary, is organizing a meeting devoted to the study and application of techniques to improve perfusion safety. This meet­ing will be held June 13-17, 2007 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with a unique benefit to AmSECT members. If you are an AmSECT member, the meeting registra­tion fee will be waived. If you are anticipating joining AmSECT, and you do so prior to this meeting, your meeting registration fee will be waived.

The Perfusion Safety meeting will offer a full CEU meeting in a half-day format, so perfusionists can learn all of the new techniques in safety while allowing time to enjoy all that Puerto Vallarta has to offer. The Perfusion Safety meeting will be posted soon on our AmSECT’s website.

AmSECT would like to say “Thank you” to The Wood Insurance Group, who has helped to underwrite some of the expenses associated with this meeting in order for AmSECT to offer this benefit to our members.

During the past several years, the chang­ing case mix for perfusionists has resulted in significant economic challenges that will more than likely continue in the future. A meeting such as this one offers a unique opportunity to combine continuing education with profes­sional identification, through membership with a society of colleagues all working toward a common goal. As perfusionists, it is our desire to continuously improve, and as a Society of perfusionists, to offer benefits in ways hereto­fore untapped.