December 8, 2010 Gran Melia
Puerto Rico
The meeting was called to order by President Mike Gallagher at 0812 hours.
Officers in attendance included: Mike Gallagher, President, Miguel Valdez President-Elect, Gino Gianola, Secretary/Treasurer; Sharon Hanley, Office Manager, Bruce Cunningham, and Rock Munsee, Directors-at-Large.
Board Member Absent: Mark McKinnon and Dallas Lipscomb.
Members Present: Fred Brace Chair Website, Robert Cipro Lifetime Member, Tim Egan Lifetime Member, Linda Famiglio new Honorary Lifetime Member, Thomas Hume Lifetime Member, Kelly Munsee Chair Newsletter Committee, and Stephen Ruggles Guest.
Motion for Honorary Lifetime Membership: President Mike Gallagher made a motion to bestow Honorary Veterans Caucus Lifetime Membership to Linda Famiglio MD for her ten plus years of support of the Veterans Caucus and her continued financial and academic support for Topics in the Tropics. The motion was seconded by Gino Gianola and the motion passed unanimously.
Committee Reports
I. Review and Approval of Minutes from May, 2010 Meeting
Mike Gallagher gave a welcome. Previous meeting minutes were delayed in review and
President Mike Gallagher recommended a motion to accept the minutes be made by e-mail
after final Board review. Please see attached minutes. Minutes approved by e-mail 3-8-2011.
II. Newsletter Committee Report – Kelly Munsee
We have published one newsletter since the last report. It was noted that Kelly Munsee,
wife of Board of Director Rock Munsee, has taken over the position as Editor. There was a
general concern about lack of submission of articles by Board members. Mike Gallagher suggested with great vigor for Board Members to submit articles. Please see accompanying report for goals and purpose of the newsletter. Motion to accept the Newsletter Committee report by Mike Gallagher and was seconded by Mike Valdez. The motion passed unanimously. Please see it is printed report attached.
III. Web Site Committee Report – Fred Brace
Fred has submitted a detailed report which shows 26,000 visits to the new updated site since July 2010 and 5000 visits per month in the last two months. This indicates a very busy site. No Caucus member profile is available to nonmembers and members can make private all data and not available to anyone but Webmaster and Office Manager. Fred has asked for more photos to place in the Gallery. Fred has doubled the number of links on our Website. There is now messaging for member to member on site this is not an e-mail message. There was a discussion of job posting and the fee for posting. Motion for $200.00 fee to post jobs was made by Mike Valdez and was seconded by Rock Munsee. The motion passed unanimously. Fred will have this up and running January 2011.
Motion to accept the Web Site Report was made by Rock Munsee and seconded by Mike Valdez. Please see it is printed report attached.
IV.Scholarship Committee Report – Rock Munsee
The Scholarship Committee Report was given by Rock Munsee. A very lively discussion
ensued concerning eligibility of active duty, Ready Reserve or National Guard scholarship applications. It was the feeling of the body honorable discharged veterans is eligible with DD214 or Statement of Service – Further discussions on which dependents are eligible for specific scholarship needs to be clarified by donor. A concern of 1:1 match for dependents was also presented. President Mike Gallagher tabled continued discussion until May 2011 Board meeting after Mike has clarified the intent with donors. Motion to accept the Scholarship Committee report was made by Mike Valdez and was seconded by Gino Gianola. The motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report enclosed.
V. Diversity Committee Report – Rock Munsee
There was nothing to report at this time.
VI.Veterans Health Affairs Committee Reports – Rock Munsee
Veterans Health Care Committee report was given by Rock Munsee and he will continue to update website. Article submitted for next two Newsletters. Motion to accept the Committee report was made by Mike Valdez and was seconded by Gino Gianola. The motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report enclosed.
VII. Secretary/Treasurer’s Report – Gino Gianola
We will continue to have our taxes handled by our current accountant, T. Robert Ward. Our finances remain stable. Copies of current balances were distributed to the Board members and they included categories of Income and Expenses broken down. Motion to accept the report was made by Mike Valdez and seconded by Rocky Munsee. The motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report enclosed
VIII. Finance Committee Report
This is an oversight committee. There were no issues this year with the books. Finances
look stable. Motion to accept the report was made by Bruce Cunningham seconded by
Mike Valdez and the motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report enclosed.
IX.Continuing Medical Education Report – Mike Gallagher
Mike Gallagher and Sharon Hanley gave the Continuing Medical Education Committee report. 164 packets were mailed out detailing the schedule to those people signed up for the meeting. The audience response system for audience participation will be used for some lectures. The 2011 meeting will be held in Mexico at The Dreams All-inclusive Resort. Sharon is still negotiating the exact costs of rooms. Motion to accept was made by Mike Valdez and was seconded by Rock Munsee. The motion passed unanimously. Please see attached printed report.
X. Office Manager’s Report – Sharon Hanley
Discussion was held on how the current Topics in the Tropics would be handled on site, as well as, status of the raffle ticket collection and general office operations. Also discussed was the Website accepting credit cards. Topics in Tropics at The Dream Resort are in final negotiations. A Dinner Dance is being planned for our 20th Topics event. Discussion was carried out about Memorial Day; audiovisual costs should be similar in support from AAPA as last year. Motion to accept her report was made by Rock Munsee and was seconded by Mike Valdez. The motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report enclosed
XI.Awards Committee Report – Mike Valdez
Mike asked for nominations to be submitted by January 15. We are seeking a Military and
Civilian PA of the Year.
XII. Elections Committee Report – Mike Valdez
Mike asked for nominations to be submitted by January 15. We are seeking a President-
Elect and two Board members.
XIII. Memorial Day Committee Report – Mike Valdez
Memorial Day Committee plans for the 2011 Memorial Day Ceremony in Las Vegas were discussed. It was decided to hold Memorial Day ceremonies on Memorial Day, Monday May 30th even thought the official start of the conference is not until Tuesday,
May 31st. Some duties and responsibilities during the Memorial Day Service were given out. Still looking for one major speaker hopefully Afghan or Iraq veteran. Discussion was held on whether there would be a cash bar at the Memorial Day reception, or should Caucus host. Motion to accept the report was made by Mike Gallagher and seconded by Mike Valdez. The motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report enclosed.
XIV. Ethics & Grievance Committee Report – Dallas Lipscomb
There were none to report.
XV.Marketing Committee Report – Dallas Lipscomb
No report was submitted.
XVI. Marketing Professional Report – Bruce Cunningham, Tim Egan
The report noted a number of corporations who donate to Veterans Organizations. Each program or company has specific criteria and application process. It was suggested the Caucus President or designee contact these corporations and programs with a preliminary inquiry. Motion to accept the report was made by Mike Gallagher and seconded by Mike Valdez. The motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report enclosed.
XVII. Charity Committee Report – Bruce Cunningham, Tim Egan
The amount of the $500 was given to Veterans Homeless Organization in Puerto Rico. A motion to accept the Charity report and donate $500 was requested by Rock Munsee and seconded by Mike Valdez. The motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report enclosed.
XVIII. Professional Wellness Committee Report – Mark McKinnon
There were no Professional Wellness problems reported at this time.
XIX. Membership Committee Report – Mike McKinnon
The Executive Committee decided to reinstate Lifetime Membership. To date we have 4
new Lifetime members.114 paying members. 23 free members. 51 previous members were
dropped from the roles. Motion to accept report was made by Rock Munsee and
seconded by Mike Valdez. The motion passed unanimously. Please see printed report
enclosed.
New Business
I. Geisinger’s Joint Sponsorship Agreement – Dr Famiglio
Dr. Famiglio discussed the current cme climate and joint sponsorship of cme activities. She also reviewed how cme activities must be based on the provider’s practice gaps and documentation. Some of the gaps the group discussed were: “When to refer the Vet and to whom?”; “PTSD”; “Domestic Violence”; just to name a few. She explained that Geisinger is being audited this year and is currently rewriting some of its CME policies to meet all the requirements. She did state however that support for the Caucus can be expected to continue.
II. Lifetime Membership – Mike Gallagher
Mike Gallagher informed the group, that an e-mail was sent out to the Board asking for a
vote to open up the Lifetime Membership due to numerous requests. The vote was
positive and Lifetime Membership is back on the books for a limited time. We have had
quite a few take advantage. He feels that we are getting 10 years worth of dues at one
time and it will save us overall.
III. Future of the Caucus – Mike Gallagher
Committee members should be sending in quarterly reports for some continued dialogue. We also need new younger member recruited into the Caucus.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 1215 hours. Our next meeting will be at the Las Vegas Tuesday, May 31, 2011 0800 at the Hilton.
Respectfully submitted,
FJ Gino Gianola, PA, DFAAPA
Secretary/Treasurer
December 2010
