Fall President's Message:

I hope everyone has a very good Veterans Day. For those ISSWLHC members who are veterans or have family members in the armed services or who are veterans we are very appreciative. As a matter of fact our conference committee for next year has begun with ideas for conference sessions of which this area is one. Deb Walls, LCSW and ISSWLHC board member at-large provided a workshop on VA Iraq and Afghanistan returning veterans and active duty services for veterans and their families. This took place at the IUPUI School of Social Work for students and faculty on 10-18-07. I was unable to attend this as I was presenting a session at the 20th Anniversary Health Care for Homeless Veterans VA conference in San Diego. We had left right before the fires but I had friends that were pretty close. Susan Larimer, LCSW board member at-large and this year's conference committee chair assisted in putting Deb's session together at IU.

Your board for 2007 has been very busy. We have held 5 board meetings this year. Our latest and last board meeting for this year was held last Monday at  the IU School of Social Work. The use of their facilities was very appreciated. Connie Simpson (President-Elect) has set the first board meeting for 2008. this meeting will be held at Seton Specialty Hospital on 1-30-2008. I am very appreciative of the work on this year's board and believe we are set very well to look forward to a very positive 2008. I have been invited to participate on behalf of ISSWLHC in a statewide forum on Social Work presented by NASW on 12-3-2007 in Indianapolis. Additionally, I have been participating on behalf of the state chapter along with Rose Popovich, ISSWLHC Past President on a Society for Social Work Leadership In health Care national task force on state chapter national relations and membership. Our next meeting via phone for this is tomorrow.

As we talk about membership now is the time to send in our dues for 2008. The board has kept the dues at the same rate of $40.00 with a student rate of $15.00. Membership application can be found on the website and will be sent out in the near future by Beth Petrucce.  ISSWLHC had a booth at the recent NASW Indiana Chapter conference 10-4 & 5- 2007. We had a great deal of interest in ISSWLHC and I met with many new prospective members. There was very much of an interest in the area of Leadership in Health Care. We will be active at the Legislative Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD) at the state capitol on 2-6-2008. There are number of issues we continue to work with NASW on and to review as a board in regard to social services and practice with our area and state.

As my term as president winds down and Connie gets ready, I appreciate the 30% growth we have had this year but know we can do more. The board will very shortly announce the slate of prospective officers for you to consider for next year. If you have co-workers and/ or friend's who you would like to see join ISSWLHC please let them know as now is our normal membership cycle. We have a number of new things to look forward to in 08 along with Connie's presidency. There will be LEAD DAY, workshops with some of the state's Schools of Social Work, the SSWLHC national conference in Montreal, Canada, April 2-5, 2008 and our conference at the Marten House, May 8&9. 2008. We are looking for ideas for workshop sessions and you can contact slarimer@iupui.edu  in regard to this.

These are just some of the things that are coming up. We continue to be very important for Social Workers, our clients and communities with our great State of Indiana. Once again I wish a very good Veterans Day. As I reflect on the service I know as Social Workers with ISSWLHC and in our state we serve a very vital role.

Bob