I received a phone call from a lovely young lady the other day. She told me how much she loves her profession and, after achieving her professional goals of earning her RRT, ACCS, and AE-C, she is ready to contribute to the community at large. She and I chatted for awhile and made plans to introduce ourselves face-to-face at the AARC Congress 2013 in Anaheim this November.
I related the conversation to a few of my colleagues and we had some interesting discussions about what it means to "get involved" or "be more active" in a professional organization. For some, this means running for district/chapter/state offices, working through "the ranks" and eventually becoming an AARC board member. For others, this means promoting the profession to members of the community. It all boils down to the passion of the individual: patient care, government affairs, state society development, policy development, research, education, etc. There is a wealth of opportunity out there for the motivated respiratory therapist but many don't know where to begin.
Below are some of our ideas about where a respiratory therapist might begin to volunteer. If you have an idea not on this list, please add it!
- Send your resume/CV to the AARC executive office with some bullet points on what you are passionate about
- Attend a state society board meeting
- Attend a specialty section meeting or roundtable meeting at the AARC Congress
- Subscribe to AARConnect posts (help line, roundtables, specialty sections, blogs, etc)
- Contact a member of the AARC Board of Directors or AARC House of Delegates
- Attend state society conferences and talk to the state society board members
- Check out your state society's webpage (they might have a call for volunteers)
- Check out the Drive4COPD website for community screenings