From the Top: The AAWC Already Considers You a Member of Our Community. Why Not Make It Official?
If you asked me to equate the feeling associated with the AAWC to a tangible object, I would tell you to imagine an enormous and magical welcome sign held by nearly 1,700 members — a sign that seems to grow a little larger each time someone joins.
The AAWC has taken great strides recently to deliver on its promise to build the wound care community. The AAWC offers various member benefits, such as conference discounts, journal subscriptions, scholarships, and leadership and networking opportunities. Of equal importance, the AAWC also continues to reach out to the broader wound care community through careful planning and application of finances. Proudly positioned in the wound care community as a non-exclusive organization, the AAWC is seen by many as giving and selfless. While we exist to serve our members’ needs first, we realize the distinct advantages of expanding our reach beyond the membership to grow the wound care profession.
We believe so much in community that we are 1) leading a national campaign that provides free information in order to advance your profession (www.advancingthepractice.org), 2) cultivating plans for a global initiative that will allow multidisciplinary teams to bring the basic science of wound care to the underprivileged areas of our world, 3) creating much-needed products to help you educate yourself and train your staff and others, and 4) working internally as well as with various outside organizations to help elevate standards and knowledge across our country. We also welcome anyone who needs help to contact us, regardless of membership status. We are not interested in creating a silo — our goal is to build the wound care community by unselfishly sharing what we know and have with our nation and the world.
We could not manage to do all of this without member support. If you are not currently a member, consider this: the AAWC will not only help you with your personal and professional goals through a wealth of free or reduced price products, scholarships, and mentoring and leadership opportunities, as well as many other intangible benefits, but also you will help AAWC in our mission to build the wound care community — your community. Through your modest, tax-deductible dues alone, you can help advance your practice of wound care. Just as each moment in your professional career is important, every day of your AAWC membership is valuable to this field.
You may wonder what our members think of all of this selfless giving. Do they stay? In any organization, there are some members who join for a certain benefit and leave before they have a chance to participate further. Participation can mean gathering and sharing information. It also can mean collaborating on committees and task forces to reach a common goal. Or it can simply mean giving a monetary donation to support a worthy cause. When members don’t see the value of participation and leave, most Associations conduct surveys to assess why. The results can provide extremely valuable information that can be used when developing membership recruitment/retention strategies and revising strategic plans. Concerned directors should know where the problems exist between members’ expectations and the organization’s deliverables.
The AAWC is no exception when it comes to conducting surveys of this type. However, over the years, I have started to perceive the need for surveys a bit differently. The AAWC has grown to an impressive size. As the wound care field grows, AAWC members are increasingly settling in for the long haul. At this point, the most valuable information to know is not why disinterested members leave, but why our engaged members stay — what are their best AAWC experiences? From there, we strive to build on those positive experiences. That is the key to member retention. As for recruitment, it really is true that word of mouth will do the rest. In fact, word of mouth continues to be our Number One source of membership. So what are our members saying?
Recently, the AAWC took the initiative to find out about the “AAWC Experience” from the members’ perspective. The question was simply, “What makes membership in the AAWC so attractive and valuable to you?” The answers from our Members were as unique as they are, but each shared a common thread: the feeling of belonging and making a difference. One thing is for sure: AAWC Membership is diverse, which makes AAWC not only unique, but also allows our constituents to achieve broader, more valuable membership experiences. Our mission to build a collaborative community through our open, inclusive atmosphere is the key to our success. Our members stay because they know they belong. They feel the difference they make by just being a part of it all and we don’t hide the fact that AAWC needs each and every one of them.
You can make a greater difference in your field through your support of the AAWC. Are you a student, a donor, a mentor, a leader, a patient, a worker, a caregiver, a teacher, a volunteer, or an advisor? Do you believe in the AAWC’s mission to build community in order to provide the best care for patients in our country and the world? If so, we hope you will support us. Please see the accompanying application for information on how to join the AAWC. No matter how you choose to participate, you will immediately become one of nearly 1,700 “helping hands” — you know, the ones holding up our enormous and magical welcome sign. Although our sign is ever-growing, your support will keep it light. Welcome.
This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.
