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ACRM to celebrate bright future and rich history at 75th Annual Meeting in Seattle
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ORGANIZATION NEWS--ACRM A Risky Journey The present can sometimes seem like more fun when it is coupled with adventure from the past and events that are already famous. So, return with me now to those days gone by and imagine this picture. You are member of a group involved in a journey of exploration. It is midsummer and your group is temporarily encamped on the banks of an unexplored wild river that you have been following for what seems like forever. Several members of the party are scouting ahead upstream foraging for information about what lies ahead. You and most of the others have stayed back to maintain the camp site by laying more stones, repairing canoes, trying to map out the place you now occupy, watching out for enemies, and generally preparing the entire group both physically and emotionally to push further up the river. Everyone knows risks lie ahead. There has been uncertainty all along the way. But the party is fit and well trained to succeed in this adventure. Everyone feels a sense of excitement mixed with apprehension. Now, from a bend in the river upstream, you can see the scouting party's canoe returning with news that will help the entire group plan wisely for the rest of its journey, which most are certain will come to a successful conclusion. Your fellow explorers serve as representatives for a community of health care workers and people with disabilities and their families. The canoes represent the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM). The paddlers are the ACRM Board of Governors and other ACRM leaders who have been planning a gathering in Seattle in the fall. The wild fiver represents the flow of uncertainty, and the wilderness is the health care system. Dangers include the beasts of competition and impending cold winds from the winter of reimbursement. The challenge is the need to find new information to help the group cope with these dangers. Only by acquiring new information can the group realistically expect to cope with the unknown and fashion the tools they will certainly need to prevail. This corps of discovery has already absorbed many difficulties: the loss of many companions, sudden and drastic changes in the climate and terrain, uncharted mountains and rivers to cross, and sudden storms that have caused the party to seek shelter, regroup, then create new marching orders. The party's vision for the future has carried all of you this far. Its purpose is Arch Phys Med Rehabil Vol 79, June 1998
noble and everyone believes that they can and will do whatever is necessary to turn the circumstances they face into success. Everyone understands that the demands of adversity are the wings of opportunity and that the risks taken today will transform into the strengths of tomorrow. Let's listen to the scouts. They have found an excellent site for encampment between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean in a place called Seattle. It has an abundance of friendly people and good quarters, neither too gracious so as to encourage overconfidence nor too austere so as to diminish enthusiasm. It's a location that is well suited to our fellow explorers, and as our leaders had hoped, there is room to hold new kinds of gatherings to discuss and plan the group's future. The mild and welcoming environment will attract people like ourselves as well as new people who have never traveled with us before. Our lead scouts report that this gathering will be unlike any we have had before. In fact, they are already planning a gala party to celebrate the many years our predecessors had been joined together before we set out on a new adventure. The scouts are full of ideas on how to make this party one of the best in the group's 75 years together. Our fellow scouts will be meeting and collaborating in ways that we have not seen before. Some of our scouts, who have been probing the nearby countryside, have found others who are similar to us, yet who use different tools and have different ideas on how to gain success. Most important, our group's new plan, which is to seek new information by which not only to cope with our current circumstances but to thrive in them, will be laid out for all of us to examine fully during this gathering in Seattle. The scouts also report that one of them was asked to make a side trip back east to Washington, DC, during the last days of March 1998, to report to the country's health funders on the recent changes the group has implemented. The scout told the health funders about how we came to be embraced by these changes, and the funders greatly encouraged us to continue pursuing our new direction. This encouragement has buoyed all of us tremendously. Ultimately, our group knows that it must attract new explorers to join us as we search for the success we must have and strive to make an important impact on the nation's system of health care for people with disabilities. We also must succeed in convincing explorers in other groups to
follow us and to come to us for guidance and direction along the way. Explorers in all different groups know that some day soon one of us will find the promised passage, and all explorers want their group to be favored. For years, our group has pioneered the early explorations that led to this final great push into the unknown and risky. It would be a shame at this juncture if some other exploring party were the one to find the passage, and perhaps with it, the mother of all gold mines of gains for our companions with disabilities who have remained at home. Yet we must remember that the overall reason for this and all similar journeys remains the continued discovery of new information from which to build a community that will be friendly to our citizens who have disabilities now and to those who may acquire them in the future. Okay. Now you can wake up. All fight, so I am enamored by the exploits of Lewis and Clark. But like Lewis and Clark, ACRM is trying to make a parallel trip up the metaphorical stream of unknown waters to a place of unknown challenges. Wouldn't you like to be part of that corps of discovery? I would. For those of you who feel as I do, I'll see you in Seattle November 8-10, 1998
Theodore M. Cole, MD ACRM President 1997-1998
ACRM to Celebrate Bright Future and Rich History at 75th Annual Meeting in Seattle ACRM's 75th Annual Meeting, "Evidence-Based Rehabilitation: Building Bridges Between Payers, Providers, and Consumers," will take place November 8-10, 1998, at The M a d i s o n - - A Renaissance Hotel, in Seattle, WA. The theme and content of the meeting reflect the core elements of the organization's recently implemented strategic plan. Addressing the needs and common concerns of those who generate, use, and fund rehabilitation research, the meeting is organized into three tracks--research technology, management/administration application, and clinical practice application. By choosing a relevant track and participating in highly interactive sessions, conference attendees will gain knowledge that meets their specific needs and interests as they network with some of the most influential individuals in the world of rehabilitation research. Of special interest to all participants will
ORGANIZATION NEWS-ACRM
be the Mentor Meeting, which will be held Sunday, November 8, 1998, from 11:30 am to 12:45 pm. Denise Tare, PhD, Rehabilitation Research Development Committee Chair, and L a r r y Cervelli, BS, OTR, 1998 Program Committee Chair, will facilitate this special meeting that is intended to bring together established and emerging researchers to discuss the latest topics and
to build lasting ties to positively influence the future of rehabilitation research. ACRM also extends an invitation to all meeting participants to attend its 75th anniversary gala on Sunday, November 8, at 7:30 pm. This historic milestone for ACRM, the oldest multidisciplinary rehabilitation organization in the world, will be celebrated during an evening that will
727
include a champagne toast, dinner, and dancing. For the latest details on the conference, visit ACRM's Web site at http://www. acrm.org/. A conference brochure detailing the content and objectives for each track and session will be available in July 1998. To request a brochure, contact ACRM at 847/375-4725 or at info @acrm.org.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil Vol 79, June 1998
ORGANIZATION NEWS--ACRM A Risky Journey The present can sometimes seem like more fun when it is coupled with adventure from the past and events that are already famous. So, return with me now to those days gone by and imagine this picture. You are member of a group involved in a journey of exploration. It is midsummer and your group is temporarily encamped on the banks of an unexplored wild river that you have been following for what seems like forever. Several members of the party are scouting ahead upstream foraging for information about what lies ahead. You and most of the others have stayed back to maintain the camp site by laying more stones, repairing canoes, trying to map out the place you now occupy, watching out for enemies, and generally preparing the entire group both physically and emotionally to push further up the river. Everyone knows risks lie ahead. There has been uncertainty all along the way. But the party is fit and well trained to succeed in this adventure. Everyone feels a sense of excitement mixed with apprehension. Now, from a bend in the river upstream, you can see the scouting party's canoe returning with news that will help the entire group plan wisely for the rest of its journey, which most are certain will come to a successful conclusion. Your fellow explorers serve as representatives for a community of health care workers and people with disabilities and their families. The canoes represent the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM). The paddlers are the ACRM Board of Governors and other ACRM leaders who have been planning a gathering in Seattle in the fall. The wild fiver represents the flow of uncertainty, and the wilderness is the health care system. Dangers include the beasts of competition and impending cold winds from the winter of reimbursement. The challenge is the need to find new information to help the group cope with these dangers. Only by acquiring new information can the group realistically expect to cope with the unknown and fashion the tools they will certainly need to prevail. This corps of discovery has already absorbed many difficulties: the loss of many companions, sudden and drastic changes in the climate and terrain, uncharted mountains and rivers to cross, and sudden storms that have caused the party to seek shelter, regroup, then create new marching orders. The party's vision for the future has carried all of you this far. Its purpose is Arch Phys Med Rehabil Vol 79, June 1998
noble and everyone believes that they can and will do whatever is necessary to turn the circumstances they face into success. Everyone understands that the demands of adversity are the wings of opportunity and that the risks taken today will transform into the strengths of tomorrow. Let's listen to the scouts. They have found an excellent site for encampment between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean in a place called Seattle. It has an abundance of friendly people and good quarters, neither too gracious so as to encourage overconfidence nor too austere so as to diminish enthusiasm. It's a location that is well suited to our fellow explorers, and as our leaders had hoped, there is room to hold new kinds of gatherings to discuss and plan the group's future. The mild and welcoming environment will attract people like ourselves as well as new people who have never traveled with us before. Our lead scouts report that this gathering will be unlike any we have had before. In fact, they are already planning a gala party to celebrate the many years our predecessors had been joined together before we set out on a new adventure. The scouts are full of ideas on how to make this party one of the best in the group's 75 years together. Our fellow scouts will be meeting and collaborating in ways that we have not seen before. Some of our scouts, who have been probing the nearby countryside, have found others who are similar to us, yet who use different tools and have different ideas on how to gain success. Most important, our group's new plan, which is to seek new information by which not only to cope with our current circumstances but to thrive in them, will be laid out for all of us to examine fully during this gathering in Seattle. The scouts also report that one of them was asked to make a side trip back east to Washington, DC, during the last days of March 1998, to report to the country's health funders on the recent changes the group has implemented. The scout told the health funders about how we came to be embraced by these changes, and the funders greatly encouraged us to continue pursuing our new direction. This encouragement has buoyed all of us tremendously. Ultimately, our group knows that it must attract new explorers to join us as we search for the success we must have and strive to make an important impact on the nation's system of health care for people with disabilities. We also must succeed in convincing explorers in other groups to
follow us and to come to us for guidance and direction along the way. Explorers in all different groups know that some day soon one of us will find the promised passage, and all explorers want their group to be favored. For years, our group has pioneered the early explorations that led to this final great push into the unknown and risky. It would be a shame at this juncture if some other exploring party were the one to find the passage, and perhaps with it, the mother of all gold mines of gains for our companions with disabilities who have remained at home. Yet we must remember that the overall reason for this and all similar journeys remains the continued discovery of new information from which to build a community that will be friendly to our citizens who have disabilities now and to those who may acquire them in the future. Okay. Now you can wake up. All fight, so I am enamored by the exploits of Lewis and Clark. But like Lewis and Clark, ACRM is trying to make a parallel trip up the metaphorical stream of unknown waters to a place of unknown challenges. Wouldn't you like to be part of that corps of discovery? I would. For those of you who feel as I do, I'll see you in Seattle November 8-10, 1998
Theodore M. Cole, MD ACRM President 1997-1998
ACRM to Celebrate Bright Future and Rich History at 75th Annual Meeting in Seattle ACRM's 75th Annual Meeting, "Evidence-Based Rehabilitation: Building Bridges Between Payers, Providers, and Consumers," will take place November 8-10, 1998, at The M a d i s o n - - A Renaissance Hotel, in Seattle, WA. The theme and content of the meeting reflect the core elements of the organization's recently implemented strategic plan. Addressing the needs and common concerns of those who generate, use, and fund rehabilitation research, the meeting is organized into three tracks--research technology, management/administration application, and clinical practice application. By choosing a relevant track and participating in highly interactive sessions, conference attendees will gain knowledge that meets their specific needs and interests as they network with some of the most influential individuals in the world of rehabilitation research. Of special interest to all participants will
ORGANIZATION NEWS-ACRM
be the Mentor Meeting, which will be held Sunday, November 8, 1998, from 11:30 am to 12:45 pm. Denise Tare, PhD, Rehabilitation Research Development Committee Chair, and L a r r y Cervelli, BS, OTR, 1998 Program Committee Chair, will facilitate this special meeting that is intended to bring together established and emerging researchers to discuss the latest topics and
to build lasting ties to positively influence the future of rehabilitation research. ACRM also extends an invitation to all meeting participants to attend its 75th anniversary gala on Sunday, November 8, at 7:30 pm. This historic milestone for ACRM, the oldest multidisciplinary rehabilitation organization in the world, will be celebrated during an evening that will
727
include a champagne toast, dinner, and dancing. For the latest details on the conference, visit ACRM's Web site at http://www. acrm.org/. A conference brochure detailing the content and objectives for each track and session will be available in July 1998. To request a brochure, contact ACRM at 847/375-4725 or at info @acrm.org.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil Vol 79, June 1998