July 2006 | Vol. 24, No. 7

Chapter News

By Shelly Burns, RVT LPN
Chair, Chapters Committee
Tel. 330-375-3288; Email: burns@summa-health.org

2006 Chapters Awards

The Outstanding Chapter Award went to the North Jersey Vascular Association (NJVA) for the second year in a row. President Jeanette Flannery and the other NJVA Board members have done a wonderful job in increasing membership this year to 160 members, communicating chapter news effectively through SVU’s e-Spectrum online newsletter, offering 10 CMEs per year to the membership, incorporating local students in their monthly meetings, and making $1,250 in contributions to SVU’s Government Relations Fund to support our GR effort. Congratulations to NJVA.

The Outstanding Chapter Individual Award went to Kathleen Garcia, President of the Houston Society of Noninvasive Vascular Technology (HSNIVT). She works at NASA performing vascular research. Kathleen incorporates not only vascular technologists, but also students, other practitioners and scientists in her chapter meetings. She promotes SVU and is an active speaker in the community. Congratulations Kathleen.

The Silent Auction was a success by raising $1,179 for the SVU Government Relations Fund. We would like to thank the following chapters for their support of the 2006 Silent Auction by donating a prize: CVVT, EVVT, GBVT, GPVT, HSNIVT, KVS, MVTA, NJVT, NOVA, NWVT, and ONKIVT.

Highlights from the Annual Chapters Meeting in Philadelphia

Ten chapters were represented at this year’s chapter meeting in Philadelphia during the SVU Annual Conference. Discussions included:

• Need for all chapters to recognize and acknowledge that they are an extension of SVU and as such the importance of promoting SVU in logos, newsletters and at all chapter meetings.
• Also the importance of Chapter members also being members of SVU.
• Developing chapter websites with the assistance of SVU is still in the works and is important for improving chapter communications to their membership. Until the websites become available, a broadcast e-mail system is available to all chapters. To use this free service, simply send Missi McLean, SVU Director of Meetings and Membership, at mmclean@svunet.org the names, full mailing address, and e-mail address of your chapter members that you want to reach. This information is required by the SVU database software to be able to process broadcast emails. Attach a copy of the chapter information to be sent by the broadcast e-mail to your chapter members and provide at least 48 hours notice.
• Student membership, the importance of mentoring and bringing these members into the chapters. We were fortunate to have Bruce Mashburn, the 2006 SVU Student Board Representative, at our meeting to give us feedback from a student point of view.