Chair’s Welcome
As I prepare to conduct my first board meeting of the IARP Life Care Planning Section (IALCP) Board of Directors next week, I wanted to introduce myself. I am Tracy Albee. I have served as Chair-Elect for the past year in preparation for this new role. I have been a self-employed Life Care Planner-Certified since 1997 and a FIALCP since 2005.
Debbe Marcinko’ s Role
It’s a humbling experience into step in the shoes of Debbe Marcinko, who not only has chaired our section for the past year, but is also currently the Co-Chair of the IARP/ISLCP 1st Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, being held on October 20-22, 2016. Debbe played a key role on the IARP Education Committee and IARP Finance Committees for the past year. We are blessed that she will continue to serve on the Section Board as the Representative to the IARP Board of Directors. She will serve out the remaining term of Steve Yuhas, who has now become President-Elect for IARP…another gift of our Section to IARP. Steve is a champion of both IARP’s strategic plan and the enhanced plan for our Section.
You have a particularly strong board and supporting group for the Life Care Planning Section. Let me summarize the key players on the board and their roles.
Laura Woodard
As our Chair-Elect, Laura Woodard has distinguished herself during the past year in the revitalization of our section’s part of Rehabpro.org. Click on this link to see the transformation of the website. If this is your first visit, welcome. If you have suggestions for further changes to our section of the IARP website, please convey them to me or directly to Laura. We see great interest on the part of our section members for the Life Care Planning Discussion Group, but I also remind you that there is a wealth of information for newcomers and prospective members on Laura’s corner… the website.
I look forward to working with my co-mate Laura Woodard, your Chair-Elect. Laura will bring her considerable skills to the Education Committee, where she will be responsible for new live webinars. She will enhance both life care planning and the total efforts of the Education Committee in the area of core competencies. She will be a welcoming member of the Education Committee to its Chair and IARP Director, Toni McFarland.
Liz Holakiewicz
One of the highlights of the past year was the introduction of the Fair Health cost savings program for IARP members. We are very pleased with the initial reaction to the program. There are a number of active users and many members in the process of signing up for the program. I anticipate during the immediate future we will create special discussion groups of experienced users with the Fair Health program. We will also continue to offer training in the basic tool itself and how to use it effectively. Complete information on the program is available at this tab. One of the newest members of the section Board of Directors is Liz Holakiewicz. She has the basic responsibility to represent the interests of all of you who are interested in the Fair Health program directly with the principals at Fair Health. Liz reports at every board meeting about joint activities with Fair Heath to enhance the program. It should be remembered that there was a year of research and development by the IARP staff, Section Board, and with Jeff Newbauer at Fair Health, before the Section undertook this valuable membership benefit program. Hat’s off to Liz for her work in the past several months. She and Laura Woodard have also worked to enhance the descriptions and promotion of the program within IARP. Shortly we will introduce the program to nonmembers and encourage them to become members of IARP and the Life Care Planning Section, so that they can enjoy the benefits of the Fair Health program.
Bob Gisclair
During the past year Bob Gisclair, as Member at Large on the board, has again shown his personal commitment to welcoming new members to our section and to IARP in general. Bob has served on the Mentoring Committee and recently has embarked on a program of contacting all section members whose dues are about to expire. His personal touch, personal phone calls, and personal emails have made a great deal of difference in the welcoming process for new members. I’ve encouraged Bob to continue this program and to extol the benefits of the program to the other sections. Bob won a decisive victory in the re-election as Member at Large last month and we are very happy to have him for a second term.
Nancy Mitchell
During the past 10 years, IARP has strengthened its financial position from near bankruptcy in 2007 to its current financial reserves and strong financial footings today. It’s entirely appropriate that the Life Care Planning Section be represented on the IARP Finance Committee. Our newest board member, Nancy Mitchell, is known to many of you as a veteran of our business. She has been actively involved in the symposium and has provided valuable contributions to our Journal of Life Care Planning. She is our new appointee to the Finance Committee. She had a baptism under fire this past week as the Finance Committee debated the fiscal year budget for IARP. I am particularly pleased to have Nancy onboard.
Steve Yuhas
Good things continue to happen. Steve Yuhas, our current section representative to the IARP Board of Directors, was elected President-Elect of IARP last month and we could not be more thrilled. The Life Care Planning IALCP Section Board recommended to IARP President Rick Robinson that his Board of Directors approve Debbe Marcinko to fill the balance of Steve’s term as Representative to the Board. I know that Debbe will do an excellent job representing us on the IARP board.
Karen Preston
Debbe’s move caused a vacancy in the Past Chair position for our Section Board. I am delighted to report that Karen Preston, who has earned more honors and distinctions than virtually any other member of our section, has agreed to serve as Past Chair on the Section Board for the coming year. Fortunately for us, Karen is a Past Chair of the Section Board and I am so excited to have her at my side. Karen will be serve as the Liaison with the very able editor of the Journal of Life Care Planning, Diane Simmons Grab, as well as be available for any special projects that may come up in this next year.
Tiffany Cologne
For the past two years Tiffany has acted as student advisor to our board. Tiffany is now a IARP Professional Candidate Member, gathering real life experience at Gisclair Associates in Baton Rouge. Tiffany is a licensed professional counselor in Louisiana. She is also active in special projects for the IARP Marketing and Membership Committee.
Journal of Life Care Planning
What a pleasure it is to have the Journal of Life Care Planning published on time by the wonderfully resourceful veteran, Diane Simmons-Grab, who has served the association with distinction for many years. Diane will continue to serve as the Editor of the Journal. I might add that many of you have asked whether you could receive hard copies of the Journal, as there are still a number of folks who like the tactile sense of holding the Journal, rather than simply looking at the electronic version. You can purchase an annual subscription to the Journal, to be mailed out to you in hard copy, for $50.00 per year. I’ll ask our staff to post the order form again on the Life Care Planning Discussion Group
The IARP/IALCP Fellow Designation
One of my most significant benefits of involvement in IARP and IALCP has been the opportunity to become a Fellow. For the past year, I have been responsible for revamping and modernizing the Fellow Program, including a much easier application process. We are also undertaking a major marketing effort to explain the values and benefits of the program to all of your experienced life care planners. Based upon this promotion program, I am convinced that we will have a significant increase in those of you who elect to apply for the designation, FIALCP.
ISLCP…the Symposium
One of the strongest aspects of the Life Care Planning Section has been the leadership of the International Symposium of Life Care Planning, ever since its inception. We continue to provide a key role today and with the Symposium, under the umbrella of IARP. We will continue to preserve the unique quality of the ISLCP and take advantage of the combined power of IARP as a total rehab-organization. For those of you that attended the Symposium in the past, you’ll be delighted at the program the Pittsburgh Leaders and the IARP Pennsylvania Chapter have developed. I’m also impressed with the strength of the planning committee that Debbe Marcinko assembled, to produce the excellent program in store for us. I have seen the final draft and the opportunity to register for the ISLCP in Pittsburgh will begin next week.
Conclusion
During the past year there has been an increase in the number of IARP members who have selected our LCP Section Discussion Group. One of the principal strengths of all the discussion groups in IARP is the mutual assistance that we render to each in the answering of questions. I’m confident that the use of the discussion groups will continue to grow, as more members see the value of expressing their opinions and asking for assistance through the discussion group.
I have listed below the names and contact information for all the members of the IARP Life Care Planning IALCP Section Board of Directors. I encourage you to contact us if you want to ask a question, express an opinion, or give feedback.
Tracy Albee tracy@medilegalinc.com
Laura Woodard lwoodard@reentry.com
Karen Preston RNSconsult@aol.com
Bob Gisclair boba@gisclair.com
Liz Holakiewicz liz@lcpnurse.com
Nancy Mitchell nancymitchell4574@yahoo.com
Tiffany Cologne tcologne12@gmail.com
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Tracy Albee
tracy@medilegalinc.comTracy, CA United States
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