Board Reports

Executive Director's Report

Roger Sherwood, CAE

Another year, another report. It’s tough when you’ve been around as long as I have to come up with a creative way of describing what has happened in the last year. I’ve thought about delivering the report in verse, but what could be worse? Or how about chronologically? Nah, it would be difficult to fill in the slow months. How about by category (membership, meetings, legislative advocacy, etc)? I’ve done that before. . .

John Frey, an STFM president and good friend, has convinced me of the power of stories, but I don’t have a single story to tell. I have many—as many as the dedicated volunteers I get to work with every year.

For instance . . .
• Sharing pizza at a Chicago sidewalk café with Laconia Therrio, a master story teller, who had “discovered” the Behavioral Science Forum, and then proceeded to hold impromptu storytelling sessions for the next two evenings, which became a highlight for the many attendees.
• Hiking in Joshua Tree National Park in February on an afternoon off at a meeting of the HEADACHE Project Advisory Committee in Palm Springs with Bob Baldor, vice chair at the University of Massachusetts.
• Helping in February with a birthday party for underprivileged kids at the Heart House in Austin, Texas, an inspiration of Deborah Taylor, chair of the STFM Group on Family, to give back to the community where our meeting was held.
• Listening to President Bill Mygdal deliver greetings in flawless French (I think) in December to the Board of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and receive a rousing ovation.
• Participating in Indianapolis in December in a superb fund-raising workshop conceived by Larry Bauer to help us learn the art of asking for money for our programs.
• Brainstorming in November with the Advisory Committee of the Patient Education Conference to come up with a new identity and mission—the Conference on Practice Improvement: Health Information and Patient Education.
• Spending an afternoon in February on the golf course with three talented department chairs at the ADFM meeting in Albuquerque and learning more about the joys and woes of being a family medicine department chair.
• Spending a week in August backpacking in the Sierras with past presidents Jack Rodnick and Joe Scherger, and other family physicians and friends, where the discussions around the campfire at night were about our broken health care system and how to fix it.
• Joining the STFM Marathonaki runners and walkers at the 2005 New Orleans Annual Spring Conference in May and 4 months later reflecting on the fate of that unique city.
• Spending 5 hours traveling to Detroit in a van on a Saturday night in August with AFMRD leaders Sam Jones and Penny Tenzer and Annals of Family Medicine editor Kurt Stange after our flight from Pellston, Michigan, to Detroit was cancelled.
• Attending a luncheon at the AAFP annual meeting in San Francisco in September where the ABFM introduced its Pisacano Scholars and marveling at the accomplishments of this outstanding group of future leaders.
• Having lunch with John Frey, a barbecue aficionado, at Arthur Bryants in July in Kansas City (John’s mecca for barbeque) and having a fascinating conversation on humanism in medical education and John’s current favorite booklist.

After reflecting on these and other events over the past year, I again realize that I’m in a really enviable position. I get to work daily with a talented and committed staff. I get to witness the dedication of our Board and volunteers as they strive to make STFM meaningful for the members. I get to see and interact with many of you at meetings around the country. I get to witness the fascinating work of our 40 groups through listserves, reports, and presentations at meetings. It is indeed a blessing to be affiliated with STFM as executive director.

But then again, it’s not all roses. We’ve been on the road to recovering from financial downturns for the past 3 years. We’ve been engaged in mortal combat with the federal government for the past several years and took a serious wound in our Title VII grants in 2005. We’ve witnessed many of you struggle with tightened budgets and fear for the days ahead. We’ve been working hard to identify new sources of revenue to move the work of the Society forward without placing a bigger burden on the backs of our departments, residencies, and members—and it’s tough.

But, we’ll persevere, because that’s what family medicine is all about—taking the bad with the good, working to make a difference—you in the lives of your patients, we in the lives of our members. It’s comforting to know that we’re in this together.