AAWC Update

‘Tis the Season to Rejoice: Membership and Association Success

  The AAWC sincerely thanks members, board members, staff, volunteers, organizational partners, and corporate sponsors for a prosperous 2014.

  As a year in review, AAWC’s has:
    • Planned a new AAWC Clinical Practice Track to be held at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care/Wound Healing Society (SAWC/WHS) Spring 2015
    • Partnered with the European Wound Management Association and the American Wound Management Association on a joint manuscript, “Managing Wounds as a Team”
    • Enhanced its website and social media with videos, education for the generalist, and a newsroom
    • Provided opportunities and funding for members to volunteer overseas through the AAWC Global Volunteers Program
    • Created an educational patient-focused poster for waiting rooms and offices
    • Continued the Speaker’s Bureau Program
    • Awarded grants for education and travel, as well as the Dr. Robert Warriner III Memorial Award, through our Annual Scholarship Program
    • Launched a YouTube effort to educate the public — submission of videos is a members-only benefit.

  Plans continue in the new year to:
    • Work as host association, along with other organizations, to develop new clinical end points that are meaningful to our patients and submit them to the US Food and Drug Administration for consideration
    • Develop evidence-based wound infection and diabetic foot guidelines while working to keep venous ulcer and pressure ulcer guidelines up-to-date
    • Pursue the consolidation clinical guidelines among societies
    • Create additional patient education brochures
    • Plan our 20th anniversary activities for 2015.

Recent Events and Related News

  SAWC Fall was a great success for the Association. The AAWC Board of Directors met to discuss, among many Association matters, the progress of the 2014–2018 Strategic Plan created in fall 2013.

  AAWC President, Vickie R. Driver, MS, DPM, FACFAS, welcomed members, volunteers, sponsors, and other SAWC attendees at the AAWC Celebration of Membership Meeting at SAWC Fall. Dr. Driver reported the AAWC’s membership has grown 65% over the last 10 years and attributed this success to more than 110 dedicated volunteers, several past and present Board Members, an efficient staff, careful financial and strategic planning, and an abundance of membership benefits. Heather Hettrick, PT, PhD, CWS, CLT, CLWT, provided a finance report, noting a strong total fund balance. The importance of membership dues and donations in sustaining the AAWC also was noted, and many thanks were given for all past, current, and future support.

  In addition, Board Members and Corporate Sponsors attended a quarterly AAWC Corporate Advisory Panel (CAP) meeting at SAWC Fall. The CAP facilitates collaboration on mutual concerns and development of joint projects related to education and public policy. CAP members are stakeholders with a common purpose: helping patients. The campaign for 2015 Corporate Sponsorship is underway. Please contact Karen Strauss at kstrauss@aawconline.org for information about sponsorship and inclusion in the CAP.

  The AAWC’s SAWC Fall sessions were well attended; they included the AAWC Research Poster Grand Rounds and AAWC Global Volunteers and AAWC Speaker Training. In addition, the AAWC welcomed nearly 30 new members who joined onsite at the conference.

  Two AAWC members were selected by the Association to receive the SAWC Fall Physician and Nursing Scholarships. The SAWC Nursing Scholarship winner was Matthew Davis BSN, RN, CWOCN, CFCN, Program Director, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine/Restorix Health, Dearborn, MI; the SAWC Physician Scholarship winner was Cherison Cuffy, DPM, CWS, Associate Professor, Barry University SPM, Tamarac, FL. Please check the AAWC website for future SAWC Scholarship submission dates, which are typically from the start of conference registration through a few weeks before the first early registration cut-off date. You also may contact kstrauss@aawconline.org for more information.

There’s no better time to give than now.

  As the AAWC enters a brand new year, please consider a donation to our organization. You can apply the donation to the program of your choice and/or donate in honor of a colleague, supervisor, mentor, friend, patient, or family member. We can notify your honoree of your donation or it can be anonymous. To learn more, visit www.aawconline.org/donate.

  AAWC is the largest, not-for-profit membership organization in the United States dedicated to interprofessional wound healing and tissue preservation. AAWC’s mission is to advance the care of people with and at risk for wounds. The Association’s focus is on education, public policy, and the application of evidence-based wound care practice. AAWC offers membership and associated benefits to everyone involved in wound care, including clinicians and other healthcare professionals, patients, lay-caregivers, clinics/facilities, corporations, students, retirees, and advocates. Learn more about our benefits, activities, and programs, and/or join at www.aawconline.org.

  This articles was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.