Support Your Organizations

If you want to sit, then sit. If you want to stand, then stand. Whatever you do, don’t wobble. —Zen koan

The International Hearing Society (IHS) and the Academy of Dispensing Audiologists (ADA) held their respective conventions during late-October. Both conventions provided an excellent opportunity for dispensing professionals to gather together and learn about new fitting and diagnostic techniques, understand new technologies, and gain new insights into running their businesses. While these conventions witnessed attendance figures that were similar to the figures of previous years, neither drew more than 1,000 members. In my opinion, that means many dispensing professionals—perhaps as many as one-half to one-third—are simply missing out on a fantastic opportunity.

Granted, I understand that most people cannot afford the time and money to belong to every organization and attend every convention each year. Additionally, the advent of online CEUs has greatly diminished the practical necessity of attending conventions in order to fulfill one’s certification requirements. However, as ADA President Craig Johnson contends, in many ways, advocacy on behalf of your profession can be every bit as important as updating your clinical skills. Indeed, if one day you should awake to find that you do not have the appropriate professional representation for your particular practice/business, then you run the risk of being powerless with nowhere to turn, leading to situations that can greatly impact the quality of care for your clients—or the ability to make a living helping your clients.

Whatever your perspective and opinion may be, one can point to numerous professional issues that have surfaced in the last dozen years: the FDA’s proposed revisions to the Hearing Aid Rule, Internet hearing aid sales, ethical practice guidelines, reimbursement issues, etc. It’s possible that you may even think some of the issues adamantly opposed or supported by your own professional organization(s) are ridiculous. All the more reason to tell your organization’s leaders what you think! Like the above Zen koan suggests, sitting on your hands can be bad for your spine.

As Johnson stated in his address to ADA members, he has discovered during his presidency and through his legislative advocacy on behalf of audiologists that the staffs of national organizations truly need grassroots support, financial assistance, and direction from their members. In fact, as with politics, if professional interaction does not occur—and if the organization does not get enough support and feedback from its rank-and-file front-line people—things can go seriously adrift. As with politics, there are relatively small fringe groups that can drive policy. Thus, on the national level, organizations like IHS, ADA, the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), and the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) need the voices and the “show-of-support” from their general membership to propel them in the right direction. On the state-wide level, this becomes even more important, as legislation and policies can change much faster—and sometimes with little notice. Make no mistake about it: State organizations can have a major impact on how you practice and what you do for a living.
In short, dispensing professionals need to support their national and state professional organizations with their mouths, their emails, their checkbooks, and—importantly—their bodies at annual conventions and meetings! w

Karl Strom
Editor-In-Chief