Last year has been filled with many uncertainties with ongoing acts of violence around the world and global economic difficulties. In many parts of the world healthcare is in crisis because of extreme poverty, famine, and war. In Canada, we are facing increasing demands on our healthcare systems brought on, in part, by an increasing aging population, with cardiovascular disease remaining extremely prevalent. Although the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation are widely recognized, many cardiac rehabilitation programs are facing cutbacks in government healthcare financial support and must find creative ways to continue providing cardiac rehabilitation for all who could benefit from it. We need ongoing strong and committed advocates for cardiac rehabilitation in our communities, within the medical profession, and at all levels of our government healthcare systems. For CACR to be positioned in such an advocacy capacity, despite being surrounded by change and disarray, we must have a committed plan for the future.
To continue building CACR into an enduring organization that will be effective in an ever-changing landscape, the Board of Directors is creating a 3-year strategic plan. This work began at our 2001 annual board meeting with the facilitating help of Coleen Plumpton. CACR's Association Manager, Marilyn Thomas, Board and committee members have dedicated many, many hours of work to this project over the last year. This ongoing project will ultimately be brought to our membership for approval.
Working successfully as a multidisciplinary association of professionals begins with a clear mission and vision for CACR's future. To exist as an organization, a clear mission statement is paramount. A mission statement states the fundamental reason that the organization exists and establishes the scope for its major activity. CACR&'s Mission Statement is: The Canadian Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary association of professionals dedicated to providing leadership in clinical practice, research and advocacy in cardiovascular disease prevention, and rehabilitation for the enhancement and maintenance of the cardiovascular health of Canadians.
One of the first steps in compiling our strategic plan was to identify CACR's values. Values are belief statements that remain constant over time and identify what is important to the organization and what makes it unique. These values were identified as follows:Inclusiveness: embracing of diversity;National Perspective: encompass the needs and interests of members across Canada;Trust and Respect: honest and transparency in our interactions;Accessibility: promotes access to prevention and rehabilitation;Collaboration: working in cooperation with the greater cardiovascular community;Professional Credibility: strive for the highest level of scientific and clinical practice;Leadership: lead by example in all things important to our organization.
When building an organization and planning for its future, it is important to have a clear concept of the desired end result of the organization or where it wants to be 5 or 10 years from now. Accordingly, the next step was to define the vision of CACR: CACR will be recognized as the national voice for, and a leader in, cardiovascular disease prevention and rehabilitation.
The next questions the Board faced included what needs to be done, who will do it, and where to start to achieve CACR's vision for the future. During the 2001 annual Board meeting, the following priorities for CACR's future development were identified: (1) promote awareness and advocacy; (2) organizational structure and process; (3) guidelines of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention; (4) research; (5) membership; (6) communication; (7) finance/marketing; (8) professional and career development. Committees consisting of Board and organization members have been assigned to work on each of these priorities. A Policy and Procedures Manual is being compiled for use by the administrative staff. The various committees are composing their terms of reference, goals, objectives, and time lines. In turn, the Board of Directors will review these to ensure that all the committees work in concert to complete the plan.
No matter how effectively an organization is structured, it will not survive, let alone be effective, without members. The strength of any organization lies in its membership. During our recent Annual Scientific Symposium, Dr Linda Hall focused on "Hardiness in Hard Times." She encouraged us to draw on our positives and be undaunted when seeking solutions to problems or facing challenges, both personally and in the settings of our cardiac rehabilitation programs. As an organization, CACR needs to continue drawing on the many positive attributes, abilities, extensive professional experience, and imagination of its members to achieve and maintain itself as a vital growing organization. We also need our members to advocate for CACR, to "spread the word" to their colleagues to recruit new members.
Part of the real satisfaction in working in cardiac rehabilitation is seeing firsthand how the various health professionals contribute their part to each patient's rehabilitation process; however, by "graduation" time, the results for the patients and their families often appear much greater than the sum of the parts. Similarly, as an organization composed of diverse disciplines, but with members and committees working together in concert, much can be accomplished. I look forward to a very fruitful and rewarding year as President of CACR.
CACR
Officers
President: Dr Marlyce Friesen
Vice President: Dr Heather Arthur
Past-President: Dr James Stone
Secretary/Treasurer: Ms Leslie Austford
Board Members
Dr Denis Prud'homme
Ms Tiffany Blair
Dr Andrew Ignaszewski
Ms Laura Cupper
Ms Trina Hauer
Dr Helen Stokes
Dr Ilka Lowensteyn
Dr Neville Suskin
Stepping Down
Ms Holly Kennedy-Symonds
Dr Mark Smilovitch
Ms Lynette Pittman
Mr Robin Campbell
Dr Howard Wightman
Conference Highlights 2002
William Daub: CACR Conference Planning Committee
The 12th Annual Canadian Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation Conference took place in Edmonton, Alberta October 25 to 27. The theme for this conference was "Practical Information," which clinicians could take home and use in their practices.
Keynote speakers included Dr William Haskell, Stanford University School of Medicine, who spoke on optimal procedures in the delivery of cardiac rehabilitation services and how an obesity epidemic has been accelerated by modern technology. Dr Linda Hall, Integrated Disease Management, spoke on a number of topics, including patient compliance, chronic disease management, building your professional profile, and coping in hard times.
Very popular were breakout sessions during which speakers gave their viewpoints on how specific patient issues, such as coronary artery bypass graft, pacemakers, congestive heart failure, peripheral artery disease, and smoking, would affect cardiac rehabilitation programs.
Highlighting the conference were two energetic and entertaining debates on the issues of whether the CACR was living up to its mandate and whether cardiac rehabilitation should be privately or publicly funded.
Two speakers, Dr Stephen Grover of Montreal and Dr Rod Taylor of Birmingham, gave informative talks on the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation and risk factor modification programs. Finally, a report given by William Daub of Edmonton indicated the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation for octogenarians.