Program Committee Works Overtime During Recent Meeting

March 9, 2004
After a three-day review of a record number of proposals, the AARC Program Committee has narrowed the topics for this year's Summer Forum and International Respiratory Congress.

“There were hundreds of proposals this year,” said Committee Chair Tom Kallstrom, RRT, AE-C, FAARC. According to Kallstrom, each member of the committee reviewed all the ideas submitted by the membership prior to the meeting, then spent three long days going over the proposals as a group to arrive at a consensus on which will best meet the needs of the membership.

“We went over each and every proposal at least two more times, discussing its merits and value as a potential presentation at one of the meetings,” said Kallstrom, who was joined by fellow committee members Patrick Dunne, MEd, RRT, FAARC; Mari Jones, FNP, RRT, AE-C; Colleen Schabacker, BA, RRT;   Judy Michener, RRT; Richard Kallet, MS, RRT, FAARC; and Bill Galvin, MSEd, RRT, CPFT. “All of the proposals are given equal consideration,” he added.

The thoroughness of the review is complemented by the committee's ongoing relationship with the AARC's nine Specialty Sections. “The committee works with all of the section chairs,” Kallstrom emphasized. Specific members are also assigned to become members of specific sections. “It is really essential that we are (collaborating with section chairs) so that we can understand the issues for each section.”

How are this year's meetings shaping up? “Very well,” said Kallstrom. The Summer Forum program is ready online and is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of AARC Times and on the AARC web site. Development of the Congress program is well underway as well, and will have a special focus on the meeting's 50 th anniversary.

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