When I look in my backyard, it’s clear that Spring is nearly here. The t
ree has bright green buds so it won’t be long. And it won’t be long until our chapter has a new president. This is my last letter as president to you, the members of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
A lot has happened in these two years! Our work groups have been very energetic and a lot of activities have moved forward. You’ll be hearing more about this at our annual meeting, coming up May 20. We will be focusing on ways that we can take concrete steps to reduce health disparities for the kids that we care for. We will be talking about access to mental health services.
Our immunization work group has been front and center in creating MOC materials for pediatricians to increase HPV vaccination. This project is impacting not only our Minnesota children, but also increasing immunization in the upper Midwest through partnerships with multiple states. Leadership from our chapter has been influential in accomplishing this collaboration.
We are fortunate that it’s been a relatively quiet year in the legislature, giving us time to anticipate and plan how we can best support children’s health at the Capitol. Anticipate work on improving Minnesota’s relatively weak… immunization laws that have insufficient rigor in expecting immunization in next year’s session. Our Pediatricians’ Day at the Capitol was very successful with an eager and vigorous crowd of people that “the kids sent.” You can see how much fun everyone had looking at the Twitter feed from this: #PedsDay2016.
Some of you know that when I started my time as president, I was a new grandmother. My little granddaughter “Sprout” is now more than 18 months old and a happy, very tall, active toddler that loves books and her puppy. I count myself as extremely fortunate in her health and promise for the future.
Let’s do everything we can to make opportunities better for all of Minnesota’s children!
