I am happy to announce that the 2020 Virtual Fall Meeting was a tremendous success. The format allowed our Academy members to remain safe while still gaining the valued education required by us all. A total of 1,131 members of all types registered for the meeting! The Academy is resourceful and continues to adjust in order to complete our mission of providing quality continuing education.
The Academy leadership continues to make contingency plans to go forward with the 61st Annual Post Graduate meeting in Salt Lake City Utah, April 15-17, 2021. We are closely following the COVID-19 restrictions and will keep you appraised of the anticipated format of the upcoming meeting. I assure you it will be successful, highly educational and consider all safety precautions.
The initial action required of the incoming President is to appoint committee chairs for our various groups and committees. I have personally reached out to those leaders and thanked them for their willingness to give their time and talents to the Academy. Exciting programs are in the works. The Academy is working hard and dedicated to re-new the Virtual library. We are further honing the Ambassador Program as an outreach to our Resident Members. I urge the residents to take up positions on the committees and help mold the future of the AOAO. If any of the physician members desire to be a part of the Academy Committees, we welcome your valued support. Please, reach out to us and we will make every effort to grant your request.
The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly brought about the most challenging years that health care providers have seen. We have all been touched in some fashion by this virus. I am experiencing the fears personally while my 96-year- old mother is fighting off COVID from her nursing home in Maryland. I have heard the concerns of my patients wondering if pursuing their surgery can be done safely. I have heard the concerns of my staff as they care for our patients and want to maintain the safety of their own families. As leaders of our practices, we are navigating in new areas and are expected to have solutions to new and challenging problems.
We are fortunate to have The Academy to help us navigate through these most trying times. The AOAO has always stepped up to defend and support the Osteopathic Orthopedic Community. It offers a bridge of communication between its fellow member enabling us to share advice and strategies to overcome this pandemic and emerge on the other side with our health and practices intact. The terrible destruction of the pandemic has shown me like nothing else, the incredible unique value of the family that the AOAO offers to us all. These times have made me proud and thankful to be apart of the AOAO. I similarly, urge you to hold the Academy in high esteem. Please become involved and help us continue to make the American Osteopathic Academy Of Orthopedics the driving force of education to the Osteopathic Orthopedic community.
I hope to see you at the Spring Meeting and wish you and your families a safe and healthy new year.