Region IX

Director's 2010 Annual Report (submitted by former RD, Heather Nymeyer)

Activities:
• May 2010 Region IX hosted a two day Education event in Vancouver, BC. Although the attendance was down,
the quality of speakers and feedback from those attending was encouraging that this format should be continued for future events.
• Participated (and voted as required) in all BOD teleconferences and e-mail discussions.

Accomplishments:
• Region IX held its annual two day Education session in Vancouver BC on May 27 & 28th. The number of attendees was down from previous years and it is possible the decrease could be contributed to many hospitals and facilities facing financial restraint and education requests are being reduced. It is also possible another contributing factor was that the 2010 S/C was being held on the west coast and many attendees could be wishing to attend this event rather. A spontaneous question and answer session held during the Education event allowed not only a great exchange of ideas but the opportunity to provide the Education committee for future topics.
• Notification and encourage membership to return their 2010 NSH electronic ballots prior to the set deadline.
• The vendor support for our Education session, newsletter and award continues to be outstanding and without their assistance we could not accomplish some of our tasks.
• Electronic Registration was used for this years educations session and the feedback from the attendees indicated that it was a success with some minor adjustments for future use.
• Successfully recruited new members for 2007-2008.
• Region IX continues to have a hard working Awards Committee. All Region IX members have the opportunity to apply for the available awards either electronically or with a paper application. Visit www.nshregionix.org for a
complete list and criteria of all Region IX awards.
• The Region IX’s newsletter The Cutting Edge has continues to be distributed to the membership. Costs have been reduced considerable with the ability to have membership to receive the newsletter in an electronic format. Over 85% of total membership is receiving their newsletter electronically. The challenges faced by producing the newsletter is the contribution of articles by the membership. Copies of The Cutting Edge can be viewed by visiting our website at www.nshregionix.org.

Future Goals
• To present to Region IX members a draft revision of the Region IX Bylaws – voting to take place at the 2010 Region IX members meeting in Seattle.
• Continue to use electronic registration for Education sessions and the printing of speakers handouts.
• Continue to solicit vendor sponsorship for award
• To promote the benefits of NSH membership and recruit new members with our newsletter and at educational sessions.
• Recruit new membership and retain current membership