IAMFSP Winter 2008 Newsletter

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IAMFSP Winter 2008 Newsletter

Presidents Column&nbs= p;

&nb= sp; As Dave Brown so elegantly said in the past, if IAMFSP only does two things well than the organization will be a success. The two things are getting togethe= r as an organization to share stories / fellowship and to provide a quality panel for others to learn about what we are in aerospace medicine. By Dave’s standards, I feel = that we are well on our way to have an exceptional year. IAMFSP continues to be active with= in AsMA. The 2007 AsMA Scientific program was excellent and the panels were very well attended. Great job by Dwight Holland and Da= ve Agerton as co-chairs as well as all the presenters! Next year in Boston IAMFSP should = have an equally good showing. In t= he spirit of keeping a good thing going, IAMFSP is preparing two panels for th= e Boston scientific = program coordinated again by Dwight Holland, and Dave Agerton! Topics include:

a.&n= bsp; USAF Human Systems Integration

b.&n= bsp; Experiences of an Aero medical Dual Designator in Combat

c.&n= bsp; Versatility in the Air: RAF Aviation Medicine Fligh= t

d.&n= bsp; The Aero medical Challenges of Euro fighter Typhoon=

e.&n= bsp; Advancements in NVG and HMD systems: Aero medical Concerns

f.&n= bsp; Injury and Fatality Patterns in Navy Rotary Wing Mishaps

g.&n= bsp; Aviation Mishap Reduction at Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center / TOPGUN

&nb= sp; Pete Mapes is AsMA panel chair this year and continues to be very ac= tive at all levels of AsMA and IAMFSP. Thanks to Dwight Holl= and, IAMFSP is co-sponsoring two additional panels in Boston including Aviation physiologists= and Human Factors Organizations. = The AsMA council meeting was November 14^th in Alexandria VA, and was attended by Pete and myself.

&nb= sp; IAMFSP is embarking on a fund raising effort with a goal of 10,000 dollars by 2010 and 100,000 dollars by 2020. Our IRS designation as an non-profit organization has made it significantly easier for donations to IAMFSP. So if anyone in the organization wishes to chip in for the campaign goal, please contact Woody (IAMFSP Treasurer) for donations.

&nb= sp; Our Vice President / President Elect is CDR Ed Parks a Naval Aviator= and Neurology resident at National <= st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Naval Medical Center (otherwise known as Bethesda). Ed is working membership, VP responsibilities as well as pulling triple duty as the association’s web-master and doing a great job by the way!

&nb= sp; We are looking for individuals to run for Treasurer, Secretary, Newsletter Editor and Membership chairs, if you are interested, please let = us know. Looking forward to Boston, should be = an excellent event!

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Kris M. Belland

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; President IAMFSP

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Vice President’s Notes:

Greetings all. I was thrilled to be able to break away= from my residency program last May to attend the Meeting in New Orleans for the first time in a couple of years. Of course, we all know that when you don’t come to the meetings, you’re the one elected. So I’m still a bit surprised to find myself serving the membership as VP/President Elect of the organization without really ever considering myself savvy in AsMA/IAMFSP matters. I’ll do my best to serve you, and feel privilege= d to work with, and under the tutelage of CAPT Kris Belland as I learn the ropes= of organization leadership. Let me know what I can do for you all. Please join= me in offering congratulations to Kris on his recent promotion.

For those of you who don’t know me, my aviation background was largely formed in the US Navy’s P-3 community, where I= was a pilot for about 15 years before shifting to medicine. After medical schoo= l, I completed the Navy’s Aerospace Medicine Residency Program and spent 6 years at Patuxent River with the “flying club,” i.e., Naval Air Systems Command and the NavyR= 17;s developmental test community, as a “dual-designator” where I had the opportunity to expand my experiences by logging time in several other (including vintage) platforms, especially growing to greatly appreciate rot= ary wing flight. About three years ago, my pendulum swung the other way again a= nd I decided to take training in neurology in the joint Army-Navy residency prog= ram in Washington, DC. While not yet set in stone, it app= ears that next summer will see me assigned to the Nav= al Hospital in Pensacola, FL, just down the road from the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI) where = our Aerospace Medicine Residency is based. I look forward to again working clos= ely with my fellow RAM colleagues and the consultant at NAMI, Neurologist and Flight Surgeon, Dr. Henry Porter.

We are now thoroughly immersed in the holiday season, = the panels for the 2008 Scientific Program in Boston have been established thanks to the untiring efforts of MAJ Dwight Holland = and CDR Dave Agerton, and this time of year marks the beginning of the last six months of my residency.

In no particular order, here is a list of some of the projects I’m working on for our organization:

1= ) I’m always looking for input on how we can better use our Internet resources to= do routine IAMFSP business with the members and promote our organization’= ;s mission and goals. Some thoughts include:

= a. = establishing the ability to pay membership dues and make donations online through the web site

= b. create some web site pages accessible only to members for conducting business not appropriate for the general public

2= ) recruiting new members from those in the medical community at large with backgrounds in aviation/aerospace

3= ) shirts, T-shirts, mugs bearing the IAMFSP logo/patch

4= ) contacting as many members by phone as possible (everyone should expect a call from my “executive assistant,” Carol), to promote a proactive interacti= on with the membership, encourage member activity, as well as survey the membership for ideas

5= ) synchronizing the membership roster, the email group member list, and the web site member list (see CDR Rod Borgie’s comments below, this is not as easy as it might appear)

6= ) indentifying individuals for possible honorary IAMFSP membership who have combined aviat= ion and medical experiences in their contributions to humanity (currently have = one candidate, see http://www.bi= rdaviationmuseum.com)

For those who don’t know, and to remind those wh= o do, we have an IAMFSP Yahoo Group that includes an email list. Many members are registered with the Group, but some are not. Through the Group, we can share photos and files online, keep an online calendar, and a few other things through Yahoo. We haven’t exploited this resource much except to make= an announcement now and then, e.g., publication of the latest newletter. But t= his could be a useful resource as well.

Finally, in the spirit of the season, I want to wish a= ll good health, happiness and prosperity in the coming year and beyond.

Ed Park

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Secretary Notes:

First, I would like to welcome the newest members to t= he IAMFSP Roster: Dr. Tim Oeltmann and Dr. Bob Weien. The membership continues= to grow and needs the members to help the roster keep up with the fast-paced achievements of its members. All updated information can be emailed to me a= t Roderick.Borgie@med.navy.mil. Besides addresses and phone numbers, don’t forget to send changes in = job duties and responsibilities. It is very helpful to have this data on the membership roster to show the vast and diverse experience that IAMFSP has to offer.

&nbs= p; Be on the lookout for a current roster to be mailed to you in late February. Please respond with updated changes or a positive response that your information is correct. We hope to have a current roster in time for the ne= xt AsMA meeting.

&nbs= p; I also want to remind all about CAPT Belland’s information regarding fund-raising and that we are a not-for-profit organization. Your contributi= ons can help with a tax break for 2007 and help a very worthy organization. Bes= t of luck with your endeavors of 2008 and hope to see you at Boston.

Rod Borgie

IAMFSP Secretary

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Treasurer's Report, Wint= er 2008

Hello from the southeast= VA peninsula! Your friendly IAMFSP treasurer, Woody Simmons, here. I am please= d to report that the "Phase I" push to $10,000 has received a great ju= mp start. With our stable funds totalling only $12-1300 as recently as 2 years ago, I= am happy to report the following end of Nov 07 figures:

Checking &nbs= p; $ 1898.99

Savings &n= bsp; $ 2529.96 for a

Total of $ = 4428.95

Our all-time highest bal= ance back in April 2000 was $ 5124.81, and I can say, with utmost surety, that t= hat record will be easily surpassed within a matter of weeks (days even) of this writing. This is all happening quickly and we haven’t even taken our first donation from industry as yet.

Exciting? Yes. However, = some considerable caution must be levied at this point. If you’ve followed= me along here, the astute among you will notice a riches-to-rags-to-riches sto= ry. You would also be correct in surmising that a misguided fiscal policy of de= ficit spending was the proximal cause for the precipitous drop in our funds during the 2000 to 2005 time period. It is entirely possible that if not for that,= we may already be sitting on the verge of $10,000. More on that at Boston.=

Also, as Dwight Holland = can tell you from his experiences with another organization, we need to be good stew= ards of our money especially now when life membership payments are substantially responsible (although not totally) for our current surge. At least with res= pect to dues, our cash flow influx will decrease in the near term as life member= s no longer need to make annual payments.

Assuming that we still w= ant to reach a financial position which allows us to sustain a scholarship program using income only, we have to start discussing appropriate financial instruments that will allow us to do that as well as how we intend to select scholarship recipients and who will run that program.

For the time being, howe= ver, I’m going to recommend we place the majority (say 80% at a time) in a= CD or money market fund that will provide income substantially greater than the approximately 1.4% annual for savings and 0.15% annual for checking rates we currently earn. For instance the Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union’= ;s (our “Bank”) current rates are 2.8% for a money market (minimum balance of $2500) account and 4.91% for a 1-year CD at the $10,000 level. T= hat CD translates to being able to provide $500 worth of annual scholarships if= we have $10,000 and $5000 worth of scholarships if we have $100,000. More on t= his at Boston as well.

Finally, at the moment w= e have only 42 members that are current in their dues (through at least 2007), 16 = paid through 2006, 8 paid through 2005 and 59 paid up through the years 2000 to = 2004 (about 12 per year on average). It is probably safe to say that the further back we go, the less likely it is to expect dues from those members. Some s= till come back after long absences, but most do not. By the way, when a member d= oes come back, we ask them to pay back dues, but of course will not turn them a= way if they refuse. In that case we simply bring them forward in what they do choose to pay and while they won’t be completely up-to-date, they’ll be less in arrears than they were.

On that cheerful note, S= EE YOU IN BEANTOWN!

Woody<= /p>

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Your Presid= ent and VP hard at work discussing IAMFSP matters…

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