5,256 Strong and Growing!

By Jason M. Newmark, BA, MHA, CRA, FAHRA

Patriots! Patriots! Patriots!

As a die-hard fan (my whole family dresses in Patriots gear on Sundays), I could not pass up the chance to share a few perspectives on the Superbowl LI champs! I could easily dedicate this entire article to a play-by-play recap of the game, but I will spare you this and instead will just share two key takeaways from the game to inspire you and your teams:

• The power of perseverance: what can happen when you never give up, even when everything seems to be going against you.
• The power of teamwork in action at the highest level: what can happen when everyone on the team is aligned with a common purpose and functioning as a single unit.

Even if you’re not a fan of football or the Patriots, you have to admit that their performance (especially in the 4^th quarter) was truly inspiring!

I’m also inspired by the fact that our association currently stands at 5,256 members strong. Yes, 5,256 individual members! This is an amazing figure, especially since less than three years ago our membership was in the mid-4,000’s, and annual growth was relatively stagnant.

What this shows is that our association is continuing to prove its VALUE to members and the imaging industry. Current and developing imaging leaders are looking to AHRA as the indispensable resource for knowledge and camaraderie to help them become the best leaders they can be. This is something for all of us to be proud of.

A large and growing membership affords all of us a larger and broader network of experiences and expertise to share and learn from. It also enhances the AHRA brand and demonstrates the important role of imaging leaders, which in turn enables us to have a stronger voice at the table with policy makers, vendors, and other healthcare providers/leaders.

My request of all of you now is to help us not only sustain our current membership numbers, but also to help us grow even more! How about we meet this year’s membership campaign goal of a nice round figure of 6,000 active and engaged members by this summer (or end of the year at the least)? Now that would be amazing!

Our AHRA staff and Board of Directors have been working closely with volunteer members from around the country to develop and implement strategies to increase both awareness of AHRA and our overall membership number. We now need your support, and it’s easy to help:

• Tell your peers and colleagues about the power and benefits of AHRA
• Volunteer to be a local/regional ambassador
• Share your ideas for enhancing our services and our membership drive efforts

Please contact Jillian Nanof (jnanof@ahra.org) if you’re interested in actively volunteering.

Let me wrap up by sharing one of my favorite quotes from the head coach of the Patriots, Bill Belichick. When asked to explain his philosophy for winning, he said:

“There is an old saying about the strength of the wolf is the pack, and I think there is a lot of truth to that. On a football team, it’s not the strength of the individual players, but it is the strength of the unit and how they all function together.” 

The strength of our association is at its peak when all of us commit to being the best members we can be: active participants in programs, sharing our stories of success and best practices, utilizing AHRA Connect to help or ask for help from other members, attending local and national meetings, and encouraging others to join our “team.” Let’s do all we can to maintain our momentum and utilize our shared strengths. Let’s do all we can to sustain our membership numbers and grow our membership to 6,000 strong! Referring back to the theme of AHRA for 2016-2017, let’s remember that truly, “We are all in this Together!”

Jason M. Newmark, BA, MHA, CRA, FAHRA is the president of the 2016-2017 AHRA Board of Directors. He is the vice president, diagnostic services at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA. He can be reached at jason.newmark@baystatehealth.org.