1. 2006 SDMS Student Conclave Presentations Available
   
2. 2006 SDMS Annual Report Now Available
   
3. Want to Earn a RBI?
4. More Than Meets the Eye: Joan Brock to Speak at the 2007 SDMS Annual Conference
5. Call for SDMS Committee Volunteers
   
6. Exhibitors, Supporters and Advertisers: Join Us in Las Vegas!
7. Impact of Federal-Level Cuts to Imaging Reimbursement: Member Feedback Requested
   
8. New OSHA "It's the Law" Poster Available
   
9. SDMS Welcomes New Staff Member
   
10. Call for Educational Foundation Board Members
    
11. News & Notes
    
12. Important Dates
    

Several presentations from the 2006 SDMS Student Conclave held in Denver, Colorado are now available in the Members Only area of the SDMS website. These topics will be of interest to future students (and sonographers) as they prepare for the exciting field of Diagnostic Medical Sonography. SDMS members can earn 1.0 CME credit for each of the five lectures by viewing the presentation and successfully completing an online post-test. The available presentations include:

• Career Pathways Panel Discussion (Beicke, Shepherd, Vance)
• Financing Your Future With Sonography Credentials (Amatore, Baker)
• Essential Interviewing/Negotiating Skills (Shepherd, Van Kampen)
• Getting the Most Out of Your Clinical Experience (Desmond, Rienzo, Sutherland)
• Managing Risk: Your Career Depends On It! (Obergfell)

To View the Presentations:

SDMS Members (CME credit available - requires SDMS member login):
http://www.sdms.org/members/3455/default.asp

A tutorial on using the online presentation interface available at:
http://www.sdms.org/seminar/tutorial/tutorial.htm

2006 was again a successful year for the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography and its members. The Society’s strategic plan continues to guide the Society as it again reached a membership record. SDMS continues to be a recognized leader in the field of sonography.

Each SDMS member should be proud of the accomplishments of the Society and its volunteers and staff.

As a SDMS member you’re our “ace” hitter. With the SDMS Referral Bonus Incentive (RBI), you can get a $30 discount on your membership dues! Do you have co-workers and colleagues who may have been members, or have been thinking about joining? The application included with your membership renewal form is your ticket to an exclusive discount, and an opportunity for your colleague to “hit one out of the park!”

Have you made your plans to come to the 2007 SDMS Annual Conference yet? While three days in exciting Las Vegas, up to 28 CME credits, and new cardiac and abdominal tutorials are very enticing, we want to invite you to join us for a truly inspirational story.

The SDMS is proud to announce Joan Brock as the opening session keynote speaker on Friday, October 11 at the 2007 SDMS Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. In keeping with this year’s Conference theme: Rest, Relax, Rejuvenate & Learn, Joan’s story will move you to a realization of what is important in your life, and how to best appreciate it. Come listen to Joan use her own life’s ups and downs to motivate and encourage you “to see the beautiful, funny and remarkable adventures that happen in our lives everyday.”

At the age of 32, while teaching the blind at The Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, Joan lost her sight to a rare eye disease—in a matter of only three weeks. Five years later she lost her husband to a rare form of cancer and was left to raise their 8-year-old daughter as a blind, single parent. Instead of giving up, Joan chose to put her life back together.

Since then she has presented to the insurance industry’s “Million Dollar Round Table,” appeared on the NBC TODAY show, co-authored More Than Meets The Eye, which has been translated into several languages, and inspired her own Lifetime Original Movie More Than Meets the Eye: The Joan Brock Story. In 2000, Joan was the national spokesperson for Prevent Blindness America, a non-profit organization dedicated to eye health safety training and research. She was also featured in Believing in Ourselves, a collection of essays and photographs that profile America’s 35 “Most Inspirational Women”—women who have achieved extraordinary personal goals or overcome significant hardships in their lives.

In her presentations, Joan draws parallels between the challenges she has faced and those that members of the audience face everyday. As Joan says, “Life is full of irreversible opportunities, and you have a choice to see them as assets or obstacles.” Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to be inspired to greatness — sign up for the 2007 SDMS Annual Conference. Registration opens in May!

SDMS members who may be interested in volunteering for an SDMS Committee for the 2007-2009 program years are asked to complete the 2007-2009 SDMS Committee Volunteer Interest Survey. The survey can be accessed and completed online by going to http://www.sdms.org/survey/volunteerprofile.asp. Please complete the survey by March 16, 2007.

The new Exhibitor Prospectus for the 2007 SDMS Annual Conference has just been mailed out. The Exhibitor Prospectus contains information about exhibiting, sponsorship and advertising opportunities designed to boost your visibility and provide you with priceless brand exposure. Taking advantage of these sponsorship and advertising opportunities will help you achieve the greatest return on your exhibit investment and provide year-round visibility and awareness in the sonographer’s workplace.

SDMS is the largest and fastest-growing association in the world dedicated to all sonography specialties! Our 2007 SDMS Annual Conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada October 11–14 at the Red Rock Casino Resort Spa. Last year in Denver, Colorado SDMS had record-breaking attendance. Fifty percent of our attendees are first-time attendees so each year brings many new prospective customers. Your target audience will be there...so you should be too!

There are plenty of opportunities to choose from, but many are exclusive, and it’s first-come, first-served. Look for your Exhibitor Prospectus in the mail, or go to http://www.sdms.org/meetings/resources/ac2007ep.pdf for the online version.

The SDMS was a member of the national Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) , a collaborative effort by 40 organizations representing over 75,000 patients, physicians, and medical providers, that attempted to educate congressional decision-makers on the impact of the dramatic federal cuts to medical imaging reimbursement. In the case of vascular sonography, the Deficit Reduction Act' (DRA) cuts averaged over 30%, with some cuts exceeding 50%. Despite an aggressive information campaign launched by AMIC, the DRA cuts went into effect on January 1 of this year. AMIC has created a online-based survey to collect information from AMIC organization members on how the DRA cuts have affected them and the patients they serve. As part of our effort to support AMIC activities, SDMS is requesting that its membership consider responding to the AMIC DRA Imaging Cuts Survey.

The AMIC survey may be accessed online at: http://64.78.60.33/advocacy/dra_survey.cfm

Tierney Epstein, Education and Meetings Coordinator

Tierney is a recent graduate of Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor of Arts in Corporate Communications and Public Affairs with a Non-Profit specialization. She minored in Latin American Studies and Spanish. She has held internships with non-profits in the Dallas area including Friends of the Katy Trail and The Family Place where she gained experience writing press releases, organizing meetings, selling corporate sponsorships and writing membership letters. Tierney will help with the Annual Conference as well as with CME processes.

Would you like to be more involved with YOUR association? Would you like to participate in the development of programs to assist sonographers?

If you would, resumes or CVs are now being accepted for two positions on the SDMS Educational Foundation Board of Directors, which must be comprised of at least four registered sonographers. The term of office is three years and begins at the conclusion of this year’s SDMS Annual Conference in Las Vegas. If you are an SDMS member in good standing and would like to be considered for one of these positions, please mail or fax (214-473-8563) your resume or CV with a cover letter to SDMS headquarters by June 30, 2007.

The News & Notes column includes links to web-based news articles of interest to sonographers. To submit articles, send the URL to webmaster@sdms.org.