Region 2

Wendi Slusser, Cer.A.T.T.
DE-IN-MD-OH-PA-VA-WV
E-mail: [email protected]

Hello everyone and happy summer!

I hope you have been enjoying the diverse continuing education topics I have been working to bring to our members. Based on your wonderful requests for specific subjects and hands-on experiences, I have been collaborating with various anesthesia schools and residency programs to fulfill these needs and look forward to providing even more opportunities in the future that I believe you will find both interesting and unique.

I am also pleased to share that planning is underway for an in-person continuing education and hands-on workshop this October in the Pittsburgh area. Leveraging my relationships with representatives for anesthesia machines, point-of-care testing, and simulation, I am confident this will be a highly worthwhile event for all attendees.

At the end of April, I had the privilege of attending the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA) conference. PANA is one of the largest state run organizations for CRNAs and had attendees from 11 different states! It was incredibly encouraging to hear over 700 CRNAs express how much they value anesthesia technologists. Many were eager to help us grow our positions and advocate for us to work to our full scopes of practice. During the event, I met with several influential individuals regarding our pathway to professional recognition and legitimacy. Even after 25 years in this field, these discussions opened my eyes to the specific hurdles we must prepare for, and I look forward to sharing more details with you at our October meeting. I will share at least this-not all of you know me personally, but those that do know that I am not the type to politely knock on doors-I am the type that will kick the doors down! I was welcomed by many powerhouse individuals that were very happy to step up and throw their hats in our corner! This is a gigantic win for us.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who has reached out to volunteer for our various committees. Elections are vital to creating the change we want to see. While I will always advocate for you, our profession needs more voices to step up and lead.

Thank you for your continued support of my directorship and dedication to our field and reach out to me anytime!