By Dinah Miller, M.D.
[Winter 2003; Vol. 29, No. 2; Pg 14]
On November 8, 2002, Jennifer Gajewski was elected Chair of the APA District Branch and State Association Executives. The group consists of 77 district branch and state associations that make up the American Psychiatric Association. They meet in person twice during the year, once in conjunction with the November Assembly Meeting in Washington DC and during the annual APA meeting. Most of the work and communication is conducted through a listserve for the DB/SA executives. Some plans discussed at the November meeting that Jennifer will follow through on include implementing a web site specifically for the DB/SA executives to share information. Many DB/SA’s perform the same functions and provide the same services and advocacy activities for their membership. By sharing ideas, templates, and tactics these small-staffed organizations will be able to provide better benefits for their membership and the community at large. Other issues the group plans to address this year include:
- Working with the APA to increase membership recruitment efforts,
- Offering input on the integrated membership management system for the APA central office,
- Working with the APA to see if each state can obtain the online legislative advocacy system through the APA, and
- Continuing to solve conflicts surrounding centralized membership dues billing and payments to the DB/SA’s.
In addition to chairing the DB/SA’s group, Ms. Gajewski has been appointed by Dr. Paul Appelbaum to the APA Ad Hoc Work Group on Information Systems. This work group is overseeing the implementation of the APA membership management system. Ms. Gajewski has served on this committee for the past two years.