October 22, 2014
It was a very special Fall Conference at Crystal Mountain. The Resort was spread out over a huge area and contained all sorts of accommodations from motel rooms to bungalows to condos all providing luxurious rooms and suites. Because it was so spread out they provided 24/7 shuttles. The food was delicious and the chef worked with everyone that I know of. The meeting rooms were spacious and contained everything we needed to have our meetings. As always the members and board of MAHA were/are so friendly and helpful causing registration to go so well. I don’t know when I have found a friendlier group of people that is a joy to work with everyone. The workshops had been so well planned and went so well. The first one was “Indispensable: Best Practices for Hospital Gift Shops” by Miriam Works. The second was “Thriving During Non-Stop Changes” with Kathleen Osta; the third was “Volunteer Retention” by Karen Van Cura and the final was “Hip and Knee Pain: Current treatments and Options” with Sonia Nesbitt. The one I attended was the one on Retention and it was excellent and everyone else seemed to think so as well according to the evaluations. If you were unable to be there you really missed a good one. I have heard that the others were also very good and appropriate to our cause. The opening speaker was Kathleen Osta on “Surviving Change” So many people responded to this talk and it seemed so important and so applicable to so many.
David Finkbeiner was scheduled to bring us up to date on Legislative issues as well as the candidates who will be on the ballots in November. David was unable to be there and his replacement was excellent and responded to questions.
The Morning speaker was Sue Omdahl on “Saying the ‘D’ Word! Moving Beyond Our Fears in Response to Death, Grief and Loss” This went over so well and the response was encouraging. Actually, I think I must have been the most often offender [saying the wrong thing to persons who are in grief] and I hope I was often a positive responder [saying something positive] as well. A major offender is “I know just what you are feeling/going through” You mustn’t say this.
After a delicious dinner at the Banquette, we celebrated the “Volunteer of the Year”. Upper Peninsula District chose Debbie Bussone from Bell Hospital as 2014 winner and she was honored by a pin from MAHA. Debbie was there in attendance and was shining. There were several members from Bell there as well to share in her honor, including Julie Solka who nominated her. We were very proud.
Also making us very proud was at the distribution of Baskets. I counted six baskets provided by the UPD. There was one left on my doorstep and I think it was from Schoolcraft. Please correct me if I am wrong. Thank you Schoolcraft if I am correct. All of them were lovely and the recipients were so thrilled.
My hope is that all who were unable to attend the Fall Conference will have the opportunity next time to enjoy the company of all these dedicated people who work so hard to bring this conference to us. Perhaps different persons could attend instead of the same ones. I understand this isn’t the absolute answer so I hope you will work on trying to get more folks to be able to attend and thereby employ more eligible persons to become active overall. Thank you for alal that you do!
Ray Berg
UPD President