WSHMMA is busy planning the Annual Spring Conference, which will take place in Seaside, Oregon on April 21-23, 2010.

The 2010 theme will be "Leading through the NW Materials Passage".

As we gather educational sessions, we are motivated by the knowledge that WSHMMA members will get exceptional education and be able to take back new and renewed knowledge to their staff and coworkers.

We encourage everyone to attend the conference. It is an affordable opportunity to get education and continuing educations units.

WSHMMA has embraced the profession this past November by offering a reduced membership rate when 3 persons join or renew at the same time during a that time period. This offer generated 9 new members and 9 renewals with membership good through December 31, 2010. A big thank you to all!

WSHMMA is transitioning membership renewals to a calendar year schedule and will process renewals beginning in January of each year. Memberships will no longer be renewed on an anniversary basis requiring tracking on a monthly basis.

This year our own home-grown Ray Moore began his term as President of AHRMM. We are, to say the least, very proud of his accomplishment. Best Wishes Ray!

At the spring conference I will pass on the reigns to Donna Bean as President. It has been my extreme pleasure to hold this position and watch our chapter flourish. It is my belief that Donna will take this chapter to another level with her expert leadership.

Be engaged, look to your profession to help you grow and be the best you can be!

Regards,
Roberta Wilson
President, WSHMMA

Best Practices – The Power of AHRMM’s Website & Membership
Kathi Jellicoe-Pressley
MScHA, CMRP, FAHRMM, Past-President WSHMMA

Best Practices begin at Home, in this case with you and me. Best Practices are not limited to daily operation, performance improvement, service excellence or reserved to the Top 10 Healthcare Facilities. Best Practice is the Skill of drawing upon available Resources to create more effective links, rather than kinks, in the supply chain. I am speaking of the resources available on the ARHMM website, particular those accessible to AHRMM members. As supply chain professionals we can apply knowledge gleaned at www.ahrmm.org.

Valuable information references:

Annual Conference & Exhibition and Scholarships
Current educational sessions and a comprehensive exhibition provide a year’s education in just three days. Members receive discounted rates on registration fees, events, and materials − the savings alone cover the cost of membership dues. Education scholarships are also offered to members so they may pursue their undergraduate and graduate studies, as well as attend AHRMM’s Annual Conference & Exhibition in Denver, CO, August 1-4, 2010.

Certified Materials & Resource Professional (CMRP) & Fellow Recognition
A nationally recognized prestigious credential, CMRP Certification gives the recognition well deserved for professional achievements. AHRMM members receive discounts on the examination and preparation materials. The AHRMM Fellow Program represents the highest level of achievement in the Association and the healthcare resource and materials management field. Information regarding the updated version of the CMRP certification gives you a hand up one of the rungs on your professional ladder.

Special Reports & Updates – Disaster/Pandemic Preparedness, Healthcare Environmental Purchasing Tools
Included are special email notifications from AHRMM about the latest Association activities as well as developments in disaster preparedness, electronic standardization, information technology, and other hot topics. Members may access “white papers”, RFPs, and best practices papers written by peers and experts in our profession.

AHRMM Chapter Handbook
This section is not only valuable for forming a regional supply chain professional network and chapter, but provides insights into forming any professional association. Elements regarding chapter governance and membership, finances, conference planning and revenue can be tailored to regional cultures.

I highly recommend the Best Practice of regularly visiting the www.ahrmm.org website to see what insights are available to enhance your professional supply chain skills. I invite you to become a member of AHRMM in addition to WSHMMA so that you may draw upon the timely and relevant expertise created by our peers and mentors.

Registration for our WSHMMA Annual Conference
Donna Bean
MBA, CMRP, President-elect WSHMMA

Our 46th annual conference will be at the Best Western Ocean View Resort in Seaside, Oregon beginning on April 21st and concluding on April 23rd. Your board is working hard to put together another exciting conference where we can network and learn from each other as well as from our excellent speakers and sponsors.

The theme this year is “Leading through the Northwest Materials Passage.”

This year you will be able to become a member, renew your membership and register for the conference by going to our WSHMMA website www.wshmma.org and opening the Conference & Events Tab and clicking on the link to Acteva our on-line registration service. We have added an additional feature that was requested last year that allows our Vendors and attendees that don’t have or can’t pay by credit card to pay by check. Just follow the instructions on the Acteva site which includes making your checks payable to Acteva. This feature will help us electronically track our membership, registrations and payments.

Please encourage your vendor representatives to visit the website to register for the vendor fair.

Membership News

It looks like we are off to a good start for the New Year for our WSHMMA membership.

We have 14 new members, welcome to all of you!

Our new members hail from all over. We have 9 new members from various areas in Washington, 2 from Ontario, Oregon, and 3 from Sandpoint, Idaho.

We have 32 paid members in all at this point …5 were complimentary for those of you that received your CMRP this year. Congratulations!!

Let’s keep those memberships coming in. We need your support to continue.

Remember, your membership benefits include:

• Regional Education conference
• Networking opportunities
• Professional forum for Solutions
• Access to National AHRMM/AHA Services
• Promotion of the Materials Management Profession
• Newsletters and Membership Communication

More info about Seaside, Oregon

Our 2010 Annual WSHMMA Spring Conference will be held at the Best Western Ocean View Resort. www.oceanviewresort.com.

Room Rates $102 - $135 per night, call toll free 800-234-8439 and be sure to ask for the WSHMMA conference group rate.

This is a great place to bring the family.

For more information on things to do in Seaside, visit their website at: www.seasideor.com.

Member Profile — Barbara Stogsdill
Donna Bean
MBA, CMRP, FAHRMM, President-Elect WSHMMA

FBarbara Stogsdill is a Regional Supply Chain Manager for Healthtrust Custom for Catholic Health Initiatives. She has responsibility for compliance to the GPO and custom contracts for 10 CHI northwest hospitals in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

She loves to travel and her favorite place to go is the Ocean. She is a walker and also bowls in a league. She also loves to spend time with her three grandchildren. They keep her young and can also make her feel old at the same time!!

Barbara’s dream trip is taking a Caribbean cruise.

Barbara has been a member of WSHMMA for Seven years now. The reason she became a member was due to a colleague of hers who was very involved with WSHMMA and inspired her to join. Barbara found that the speakers at the conferences she attended presented material that was very relevant to her current challenges and she always left inspired. Barbara has been in Healthcare for over 30 years but in the last seven years, connected to the WSHMMA organization, she has grown immensely.

Barbara was so impressed that she wanted to become more involved in WSHMMA herself. She became a Board member at large last year. Becoming a Board member meant she could directly help to influence the type of education provided at the conferences and help with providing a meaningful experience for other new members who come to learn more about their profession.

One of Barbara’s biggest challenges, is one most of us are facing today, how to control supply costs in today’s economic downswing. She believes that WSHMMA offers the opportunity to partner with suppliers and others of her profession to help find better ways to control her costs. She also feels the experience and knowledge of the members of WSHMMA is so vast and that the networking within the organization provides many perspectives to draw from.

The Board Members at WSHMMA feel very fortunate that Barbara was inspired to join us. She is a wonderful addition to our team.