President's Letter
It’s been ten years!! We, the Association of Asthma Educators, are celebrating our tenth birthday as the premier, interdisciplinary, professional organization for asthma educators. The tenth anniversary modern gift suggestion is to give the timeless gift of a diamond. AAE continues to shine as bright as any diamond! The membership of this strong, timeless organization consists of brilliant, scholarly, and diverse asthma educators from various backgrounds. Just as the diamond is the strongest known naturally-occurring mineral and reveals many reflecting, gleaming qualities, our strong, unique and diverse AAE bears resemblance to this precious stone.
Our founding members built a strong, brilliant foundation to allow astounding growth and development. The past ten years we have seen AAE grow from 16 members to over 500 members. AAE has developed an outstanding “Asthma Educator’s Certification Review Course” that has been presented over 25 times all over the country. We have also developed a unique “Becoming an Asthma Educator and Case Manager” program tailored to meet the needs of all asthma educators. AAE is developing on-line courses and continues to develop educational monographs and other educational materials to help equip asthma educators with the tools needed to teach evidenced based asthma education. We have established mission and vision statements that guide our organization. We continue to develop strong strategic plans that are based on our mission, vision and evidenced based practice.
Our mission is to be “the premier interdisciplinary professional organization raising the competency of individuals who educate patients and families affected by asthma.” We are strong, renowned asthma educators who see our patients with asthma and their families as the heart of our work. We have had giant successes, but we have also felt the pain of growth and development. AAE strives to equip all asthma educators with tools to successfully educate patients with asthma and their families. We persevere and we hold our heads high carrying in our hearts the mission, vision and values of AAE.
Our dreams are big and will require the teamwork of all of our membership to achieve our goals. AAE is rising to new levels of responsibility and influence. We must focus our energies on our strengths and unity. The great poet, physician, and inventor, Oliver Wendell Holmes, once said “I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving”. We are a brilliant cut diamond-like organization that radiates many reflecting facets that is moving in the right direction. I challenge you this year to devote your time and talents to AAE to promote successful growth of this premiere organization. Let’s do this for our precious patients and families affected by asthma. Oh, and by the way, if Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 -1894) were here today, I know he would be a member of AAE. He was a great physician who also had asthma!
It is my utmost honor and privilege to serve as your president of AAE.
Most sincerely,
Karen L. Gregory, MS,
APRN-BC, CNS, RRT, AE-C
President
kgregory@oklahomaallergy.com