AANA Issues
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AANA Issues
AANA Transparency, Confidentiality, Reimbursement,Groupthink and the myriad of issues facing our association... Share your insights and concerns.
What is involved with running for AANA office...
The musings of Dan Simonson:
As you all hopefully know, I am running for Region 5 Director. As part of that effort, I thought I would post my experiences to these listservs so that others out there can get a feel for what it requires. I started out last October asking what the time commitment is involved- if you are interested in that, search the archives here using the key words "aana election musings" and you will see the discussion. Both Larry Stump and Steve Alves posted some helpful comments.
So now I will acquaint those of you who are interested (hopefully if you are not interested you have hit the "delete" key by now) with what has happened since October, when I last posted. I am hoping that these posts will become a bit more frequent as things heat up a bit. I will appreciate all the comments you have.
First of all, I was nominated by my state, (Washington) last September at our state business meeting. According to the "Overview of Nomination and Electoral Processes" (this document is available somewhere on the website or by sending an email to Luis Rivera <lrivera@aana.com>) , "Nominations are made by state association members at state meetings or by mailed ballot". So if you are planning on running next year, now would not be too soon to begin planning how you are going to be nominated by your state at the appropriate business meeting.
Then, I had to submit my consent form via the AANA website by Dec. 1, and I had to complete a "Candidate Packet" (also via the website) by January 31, to include a photo, biographical sketch, CV, and position statement. Which I have done.
I have enlisted the aid of my daughter, Margaret, a recently laid off Microsoft contract-worker, to help me with my campaign. She has set up my website,
using some very cool web tools like PHP and Joomla and Blogspot and all of this great stuff. The tools are free, I just have to pay Margaret to put them into the website. I will be pushing the site soon, but we still have a bit of tweaking to do. Feel free to visit, however- my plan is to upload a lot of resources there not only related to my campaign, but stuff on OB anesthesia outcomes, Ophthalmic Anesthesia, leadership for State Association Presidents, how to search PubMed, etc.
I also had Margaret create a "deluxe postcard" for my campaign. This is a 2-sided print piece that I plan on mailing out to individuals, sending out to State Presidents for posting at state meetings, etc. She did a great job! I am recommending her to any of you out there who want some help with your Campaigns. Her familiarity with the whole process can help you out, and she can do the whole thing, from website to print design to database management. You can contact her at <msimonson@mac.com> (Ok, fatherly plug over).
So here are my expenses so far:
1. Portrait Photo: $200 2. Postcard Design: $393.30 3. Deluxe 6" x 8.5" Postcard Printing, 2000 copies: $442.63 4. Website design (20 hours at $30 per hour): $600 Total: $1635.90
My state has given me a budget, which was determined at last years WANA Finance Committee meeting and approved by the Board, to assist me in my campaign. We have been assisting our members for AANA campaigns for some time now, and I am trying to be judicious and get the most bang for our dollars. I have some big expenses coming up, such as the print advertisement in the NewsBulletin, and my trip to DC for the MidYear. Stay tuned!
Dan Simonson CRNA, MHPA e-mail: dsimonson@mac.com Nurse Anesthetist Phone: (509) 456-8150 Fax: (707) 897-1486 Cell: (509) 981-6274 The Spokane Eye Surgery Center, W. 208 Fifth, Spokane, WA 99204
