As we start the new CAHU year, I am
encouraged by the status of our state and local chapters. We accomplished many things on the state
level during the year ending in June. To highlight our activities, our
legislative effort, with the advice and support of our legislative advisors
CalAdvocates, continues to improve our relationships with legislators and
regulators, and has expanded our activities in delivering our message. Membership has increased, PAC contributions
jumped nearly 50% in May and June and our new Website is up and running.
This year promises to continue that
activity with new additions to the CAHU Executive Board. Pat Burns is taking over newly created
Corporate Relations, Professional Development welcomes Leslie Williams,
Membership is now headed by John Evangelista, Past NAHU President Bruce Benton
brings his considerable experience to Public Relations, and Wayne Guzman is
Vice President of Community Outreach. In
addition, there are three Ad Hoc Committees. Yolanda Webb continues as Medicare Chair and
we have added a Vanguard Committee chaired by Christina Marzec and an Awards Committee chaired
by Pat Stiffler. These new Board members are great additions to a very strong
team which will continue to move our state chapter forward.
At the local chapter level, we see
chapters with strong boards. They are taking
the initiative to partner with other chapters for regional meetings, such as
Medicare, and holding well attended membership meetings on a variety of topics. But some chapters are struggling in
membership, PAC contributions, finances, Adopt-a-Leg activity or other areas.
I am developing a chapter assistance
program, designed to find ways that the CAHU Board can assist local
chapters. An important issue that both
State and local Boards face is leadership, and a key aspect of the chapter
assistance program is to create and initiate methods to increase our leadership
participation. Even with the current
excellent leaders of today, many chapters have difficulty finding members to be
presidents and presidents-elect and for key Board positions, and all chapters
have difficulty developing a longer line of succession for those positions and
chapter chairs. Chapters are fortunate that
many past leaders have continued or have returned to assist their chapters, but
the continued health of our association depends upon the recruitment and
development of new leaders.
Here are some of the things the CAHU
Board has done in the past month regarding leadership development or
assistance: we moved a CAHU Board
meeting to coincide with the Region VIII meeting in August in Orange County,
and CAHU is paying the cost of 2 members to attend the regional meeting to
encourage chapter members to develop leadership skills. CAHU is
absorbing some of the cost for leaders to attend the HealthCare Summit in September
in LA. I am working with Christina on ideas to have
the Vanguard committee help in developing future leaders.
We need to look for new ideas, new best
practices; any suggestions that you have to help chapters in this area are
welcome and I will communicate these to all chapters.
Future leadership is important, but nothing
is more important to an association than the continuing effort to deliver value
to its members. The value to each member
is determined by that member’s needs and desires, so it is important for the
association to maintain programs that address the widest combination of
activities so that each member can feel that the association offers value to
him or her. On the State level we evaluate all of our activities with this
concept in mind, translating that vision into action items. An area where we have made good progress is
the implementation of the new Website.
Another is the expanded effort in the regulatory area, to protect and
enhance the agent’s role as consumer advocates. The effort is led by Past President Michael
Lujan, and we have contracted with David Panush, an expert in California regulatory
agencies, to assist our efforts. A
third is the new Executive Board position of Vice President of Corporate
Affairs, tasked with working with our sponsors.
In our upcoming Healthcare Summit, look for another Tech Summit to keep
you current on innovation, new CE classes,
and a Town Hall for members to ask questions of our CAHU Executive
Board.
In the coming months, I will keep you
informed about CAHU Board and local Board activities that are providing more
value, and I look forward to hearing from you with suggestions on how to
increase the value of our association for you.
Thank you for your membership.