Local chapter update: Gather more friends for your chapter meetings

Whether your local chapter has been around for five years or five minutes, finding new members to participate in networking events can be difficult. To help you find some new CDI friends, ACDIS assembled a few tips:

1. Let ACDIS know your interests. ACDIS wants to facilitate networking opportunities for its members and expand education opportunities for CDI professionals nationwide. Letting the national association know you’re interested in getting a group started or growing your existing group is the first step. Email ACDIS Association Editorial Director Melissa Varnavas (mvarnavas@acdis.org) and ACDIS Editor Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org) and they’ll help spread the word about your events to national members from your state or region. 
2. Call your friends and neighbors. Look to the other hospitals and healthcare facilities in your state. Call the main number and ask to speak to the CDI department. You may be surprised by the energy and enthusiasm you receive.
3. Reach out to case management and HIM. Some facility operators may not know about their hospital’s CDI program or the facility may not have a program started yet. Ask to speak to the HIM and/or case management director, even if the facility doesn’t have a CDI program. You may make some valuable and fierce friends.
4. Collect contact information. As you begin making connections, don’t forget to collect your new friends’ contact information and file it in a convenient central location. It’s easy to misplace emails or lose that scrap of paper with someone’s phone number. Ask those you connect with to share your information with other CDI professionals in their organizations or outside, too. And don’t forget to use the online membership roster to collect chapter members’ demographic information.

Editor’s note: The tips in this article were adapted from the document “How to gather networking participants” under the Local Chapter Leadership Toolkit on the local chapter landing page.

The following is a list of upcoming events for ACDIS local chapters. If you have an upcoming event you would like to include, please email Melissa Varnavas (mvarnavas@acdis.org) and Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org).

January:

• The Illinois ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, January 17, 12-1 p.m. CST, via webinar. For information, contact Colleen Stukenberg (cstukenberg@fhn.org).
• The Westchester/Hudson Valley ACDIS chapter meets on Thursday, January 18, 2-4 p.m. For information, contact Kerry Seekircher (kseekircher@northwell.edu).
• The Michigan ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, January 24, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., via webinar. For information, contact Patricia Vitasinski (pvitasi2@hfhs.org).
• The California ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, January 24, 12 p.m., pacific, via webinar. For information, contact Rani Stoddard (stoddardrv@henrymayo.com).
• The Washington Evergreen ACDIS chapter meets on Friday, January 26, 10-11 a.m., via webinar. For information, contact (evergreenACDIS@gmail.com).

February:

• The Kentucky ACDIS chapter meets on Thursday, February 1, 1-4 p.m., at Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown. For information, contact Leah Savage (leah.savage@nortonhealthcare.org).
• The South Carolina ACDIS chapter meets Friday, February 2, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Palmetto Baptist Health in Columbia. For information, contact Mary Hopkins (mary.hopkins@hcahealthcare.com).
• The Suffolk County Long Island ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, February 7, 2-5 p.m., at Brookhaven Memorial Medical Center in Patchogue. Please RSVP to scacdis@gmail.com by February 2. For information, contact Patti McKenna (pmckenna@bmhmc.org).
• The CDI Educator ACDIS networking group meets on Thursday, February 22, 12-1 p.m., pacific, via webinar to discuss the topic of CDI educators and data. For information, contact M.E. VanGelder (me.vangelder@honorhealth.com).
• The North Carolina ACDIS chapter meets Friday, February 23, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington. Please RSVP by Friday, February 16. For information, contact ncacdis@gmail.com.

Save-the-date:

• The Massachusetts ACDIS Chapter meets Friday, March 2, at Baystate Health in Springfield. More details, including times and agenda, to follow. For information, contact Aimee Van Balen (avanbalen@lifespan.org).
• The Arizona ACDIS chapter meets on Wednesday, March 21, at HonorHealth-Shea Medical Center in Scottsdale. More details for follow. For information, contact Alma Yap (rnalmay@gmail.com).
• The Washington Evergreen ACDIS chapter and the Oregon ACDIS Chapter are tentatively planning to meet on Friday, April 6, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at PeaceHealth in Vancouver. For information, contact the chapter leadership (evergreenACDIS@gmail.com).
• The South Carolina ACDIS chapter tentatively plans to meet Friday, June 8, at MUSC in Charleston. For information, contact Mary Hopkins (mary.hopkins@hcahealthcare.com).