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Good evening,

The SCSRC Executive Committee and Board of Directors met on Friday morning, April 22nd, 2022 via Zoom. Some highlights from this board meeting are noted below:

Report from President Tracy Cook:

Even though I am fairly new to this profession I find it hard to believe that the AARC is celebrating 75-years. I am proud to say that the program committee and many regional directors are working, planning, and strategizing to present quality educational and networking events. If your region has not had an event in the last year, I strongly encourage you to please plan an event. To gather support, you can start with a networking event such as a Dutch-treat dinner. Just get started…. You will be surprised if you set a date, find a venue and advertise the speakers and vendors will respond and fill your agenda. If you feel you do not have the skills and contacts, please, please reach out to me as I am here to help and guide. I also really want to encourage and challenge everyone to think of ways to increase membership in your area. We need to think of all the things we accomplished and did in 2021 and send that information to Wayne Barfield before May 1, 2022 so we can submit our Summit Award Application.

SCSRC goals are:

• Advocacy: My challenge this quarter is that we all advocate and speak up to support our scope of practice. Hill Day is coming in May and we need to write those letters, send those emails, and make the phone calls in support of legislature that supports us and/or our patients. Never be afraid to write your senators or congress.
• Communication/Marketing: Please, post to the SCSRC community on AARConnect. I would love for committee members and regional directors to share a little about themselves utilizing AARConnect posts. Please use that forum to share information or to respond to each other.
• Education/Professional Development: Encourage others to seek educational opportunities and specialty credentials. AARC has several programs to assist members who are seeking specialty credentials.
• Events/Meetings: Each region needs to sponsor a minimal of (1) educational and/or membership event in 2022.
• Membership: We still need to focus on increasing our statewide membership. Less than 20% of the RCP licensed in SC are members of the SCSRC. We need to be deliberate in our encouragement of others to support the SCSRC.
• Revenue and Finance: I am so thankful for our Treasurer and Committee members who are thoughtful in how they spend our money. I appreciate the committees being good financial stewards which allows SCSRC to continue to have a sound financial foundation.

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Ann Gilchrist Whitmire, a longtime SC respiratory therapist, passed away on Saturday, March 12, 2022 at the age of 88. Ann worked for many years as an RT at Providence Hospital, and also worked at Blue Choice Health Plan until her retirement in September 2017.

Ann was president of the SCSRC in 1986, which was the year the SC legislature passed the Title Protection Act for Respiratory Care Practitioners, which later became what we know now as our RCP licensure act. Ann played a pivotal role in the process of getting the original bill written and passed.

She was the recipient of the SCSRC Practitioner of the Year award as well.

Services for Ann will be held on Saturday, April 2nd, 2022, at 11 am, at The Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal), 1512 Blanding Street, Columbia, SC 29201. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service in the Church Parish Hall. Dunbar Funeral Home is assisting the family, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family.

On a personal note, Ann was the first therapist that I rounded with on my very first day in clinic as a fourth quarter RT student at Midlands Tech; she was amazing to work with, a day I will never forget and will always be grateful for….

In keeping with guidance from the AARC, the SCSRC Executive Committee and Board of Directors has unanimously decided to update the name of the “Entry Level Student Scholarship” that is awarded annually to associate degree seeking students to be “Early Professional Student Scholarship”. This is a new, fresh name for the scholarship and is in line with the AARC’s “Early Professional Membership” level that is available to students prior to graduation.

The Early Professional Student Scholarship application is now available on the SCSRC website; if you are a student that would like to apply, please carefully read and follow all instructions contained in the application.

The members of the Scholarship Committee include: Allan Dunphy, MEd, RRT-NPS, RRT-CPFT, RCP; Amanda Coffey, BS, RRT; Selma Watson, BA, RRT, CPFT. If you have any questions, please reach out to scholarships@scsrc.org. We look forward to reviewing the applications and awarding these four scholarships!!