Welcome to another exciting year with the Louisiana Chapter of HIMSS! We have an amazing and ambitious agenda, lots of new talent on our board, and a tremendous amount of momentum as move into the 2017 fiscal year!
The 2016 fiscal year closed with our inaugural LAHIMSS Chapter Awards Dinner at Chef John Folse’s White Oak Plantation in Baton Rouge. It was a day of firsts as we also hosted our first meeting of the new HIT Advisory Committee (more on that later), followed by a wonderful evening that provided us with the opportunity to relax, share ideas as well as great food, and honor four outstanding individuals who have contributed to the improvement of healthcare and healthcare IT. Congratulations to Governor Jon Bel Edwards, Public Servant of the Year; Bernie Clement, LAHIMSS Member of the Year; Dr. Lynn Witherspoon, LAHIMSS Clinician Member of the Year and John Walter, LAHIMSS Champion of the Year.
Thank you to all of those who supported the work of the chapter during the 2016 fiscal year, to our outgoing Board of Directors, and to Hank Fanberg for his service as chapter president last year and for his continued work with the chapter for FY17.
We begin FY17 by welcoming in our new Board of Directors and Committee Chairs. I am honored to serve as President again after my first term five years ago and look forward to making this our best year ever. Working with me in that endeavor is our new President Elect, Errol Labat. Errol is one of our chapter’s founders and has served as a mentor to many of us on the board, so we are certainly in good hands going forward. Hank Fanberg, our Past President, has been hard at work in his new role as Chair of the HIT Advisory Committee to the Louisiana Department of Health. Hank will also serve as co-chair of our Advocacy committee along with Ayame Dinkler. Claudia Miller, also one of our founders, will reprise her role as chapter Secretary. We have a new Treasurer this year as Alan Thriffiley has moved from Member At Large to fill the role vacated by Michelle Martin, who has agreed to run with our newly formed Professional Development Committee, which she will Co-Chair with Jan Fuller. Nadine Robin will be our Member at Large this year where she will continue to help in multiple areas to make the chapter great! Rob Moerland joins us from LPHI and is already doing an amazing job as Chair of the Communications Committee. Brittany Royal has hit the ground running and will serve as our Membership Chair. Our most recent addition, Paul Douglas, joins us as our new Programs Chair, and we are excited to have him on the team. Profiles and contact information for each of us will be available on our website within the next few days. Please feel free to reach out to any of us!
As mentioned, we have an incredible year planned, beginning with a packed Fall agenda. A full listing of all events follows this message. To all of our fellow HIMSS members who have chosen to be a part of our chapter, thank you for your support! If you are not yet a member of the chapter, there has never been a better time to become involved.
Thank you!
Chad Cothern, RN, BSN, CPHIMSS, FHIMSS
Chapter President