It is that time again for another update from our society, and most certainly to wish you all a happy summer.  I know we are all eager to see the warmer weather and hopefully more time on the lake, golf course, concert series, or perhaps the baseball field.  For all of you that I was able to catch up with Tampa, so thankful for your presence and continued support.  For those that couldn’t make the trip, you were missed.  Our annual ACFAS West Penn party in Tampa was another success.  We enjoyed fantastic weather in February and indulged in fantastic food/drink.  Once again, we had alumni and family from all generations attend, including some faces we haven’t seen in quite a while.  It never ceases to amaze me the massive footprint our society and residency family has within our profession, but also across the country. 

As you all know, our immediate past President Jordan Grossman passed the baton onto me in Tampa this year.  It has been a whirlwind with drastic and much-needed changes over the past few months and I likely have not shown my appreciation for his service. Therefore, I will take this opportunity.  I first want to tip my hat to Jordan Grossman for once again proving why he is such an asset to our profession, but more importantly an integral piece to our society. He will be missed as President, but certainly abundantly utilized in his current role still on the board as Past President.  Jordan, I want to thank you personally for your guidance and assistance throughout, and always appreciate your willingness to answer the phone when I call for help or just confirmation.  This society would not be where it is without you. 

I would also like to give many thanks to Debbie Hoffman for her interim role in keeping the WPFAS afloat after Beth Sheedy’s retirement.  Debbie has selfishly devoted so much of her free time in keeping us moving, all along functioning primarily as the West Penn Residency Directory.  Debbie continues to excel in this role, and it clearly has a symbiotic relationship with the society.   Debbie, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your work with the Society and praise your continued dedication to keeping us moving. 

I also want to announce another major change to our society that has recently been finalized.  I would like to introduce and be the first one to welcome Kelsey Lee as our new Executive Director of the Western Pennsylvania Foot & Ankle Society.  Kelsey has played a vital role as our director of marketing over the past two years.  She has single-handedly brought us into the 21st century by designing and managing our outstanding website.  She has also brought us into a more up-to-date digital world of communication and correspondence, including a social media footprint.  There are too many duties to list that she has accomplished, but I can assure you she has had her stamp on most everything.  With that said, I again want to announce that Kelsey has accepted the additional responsibility of becoming our Executive Director beyond just our marketing expert.  She will be directly involved in our board duties and helping us with developing a highly functional society with more predictable financial stability.  You will likely witness these changes at our upcoming fall retreat.  More to come later.  Kelsey, we welcome you and can’t wait for your skills to be utilized to their fullest. 

Along those lines, I want to once again utilize this platform to discuss the ongoing and never-ending concern that our society faces year in and year out…Money.  As I hope you are all aware, our society is 100% non-profit with the sole purpose to support and acknowledge our past residents, as well as provide a palpable foundation for future residents and alumni.  Our society is integral in providing ongoing continued medical education through local lecture series at West Penn Hospital, Journal club, and radiology rounds.  The society also puts together a yearly party to celebrate our alumni at the ACFAS meeting.  Lasty, and of course most notably, our society puts on a yearly Fall retreat where 20 CME hours are provided through keynote speaker lectures and alumni case review. This is free of charge to alumni.   It is also a great opportunity to get together, recreate and catch up.  However, the reality is these events and tasks cost a lot of money.  Frankly, it often costs money that the society does not have.  The society relies almost 100% on alumni donations.  Your generous donations every year keep our society functioning on your behalf. As such, I am here to humbly ask for your continued support through tax-deductible donations and strongly consider giving back to our alumni society. It is extremely easy to donate. Simply, you click on the red “DONATE” tab in the upper right corner.  I would also strongly recommend you choose the “annually recurring” donation option.  This helps the society better budget if we have some sense of what we can expect each year.  It is a win-win for all involved to have a successful and highly functional society that can continue to serve you, its alumni.  

In addition to supporting our alumni society financially, I would also encourage everyone to consider attending our annual events.  It is a great way to engage with your alumni and earn some CME credits as well. This year, we will be returning to Fort Lauderdale, FL at the Westin Beach Resort.  Please refer to the website above to get additional details and booking links.  The room rates and links were emailed recently and can also be referenced on the website.  We have a great lineup for typical alumni lectures series and can’t hold back my excitement to announce our keynote lecturer/speaker as the renowned Dr. Jack Schuberth.  It will be a great retreat!  I certainly hope you all can make it this year.  We hope to continue our trend of more and more attendees each and every year.  If you have not yet attended a Fall retreat, I challenge you to come once…I guarantee you will be back. 
 
Again, I hope you all have a blessed summer and look forward to catching up once again soon. 

All the best,
Dan Shadrick, DPM, FACFAS
President, WPFAS