Region 2 is just now seeing some respite from having been the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic for many months. We want to sincerely thank all our members for your efforts in safeguarding the health of children and adults in the region during this challenging time. We hope that you and your families are safe and well, and we look forward to the time we can all be together again.
Right before the coronavirus pandemic took hold, we had a very exciting combined Region 2 and 3 Meeting at New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY on February 27th and 28th, 2020. For the first time in recent memory, we had a 2-day meeting. This allowed us to have a reception on the first night, more time for socializing and networking, and a true focus on our amazing poster presentations. The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive.
On the second day, we began with breakfast and a meet-the-professor session. This was followed by our timely and inspiring keynote by Dr. Rhonda G. Acholonu on “A QI Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”. We also had three incredibly helpful and interactive workshops on building health equity QI capacity, trauma informed care, and active learning techniques. We were able to separate our platform presentations into 2 sections so that the audience could better concentrate on the amazing work. Both our keynote and workshops were so pertinent given our country’s recent racial justice reckoning and immediately useful in our changing healthcare and academic environment. As healthcare practitioners, we must recognize and fight against the pandemic of racism. We hope the meeting enhanced participants knowledge and skills in improving our collective efforts to create a more just and equitable healthcare system.
We have already started planning for what will most certainly be a virtual regional meeting in 2021. We hope that this will still be a wonderful opportunity to network, share our work, and learn. Due to the pandemic, we have not yet been able to hold elections for 2 open spots for Region 2 co-chairs. This is a wonderful opportunity to get more involved with the APA, network with leadership throughout the country, and give back to this amazing organization and academic home for so many. If you are interested, please contact one of the current co-chairs and we will be happy to discuss with you further.
Once again, thank you for all that you do! If you have any feedback or suggestions on things Region 2 could be doing to better serve the members, please let us know.
