Greetings Minnesota, what an honor to be able to serve as your President! I am looking forward to a new year of accomplishments for the Minnesota Society of Radiologic Technologists. I am excited to share with you that the MSRT has been accepted to participate in the ASRT Affiliate Delegate Program; this will be an amazing opportunity for us to work with ASRT to become a stronger organization which meets the needs of our members. Your President Elect, Jack Ashcroft and I are also in the process completing the ASRT Leadership Academy. We have learned a lot thru this process and are looking forward to using our knowledge and passion to serve you, the MSRT members!
I will be challenging the MSRT Board to develop a 3-5-year strategic plan that will include prioritizing what our greatest needs are. Also, we will look for tasks that have been left unattended in the past and assign each to small groups to complete by a deadline date. This will open opportunities for different volunteer levels to our members. I realize that not everyone is interested in committing several weekends a month to a project, but may be interested in working on something ad hoc. Some ideas include: reviewing our mission and values, updating to our website, organizing our membership campaign and growth goals, updating Society Bylaws and Policy and Procedures, changing the model of our Board to allow for longer tenure and time for actionable changes. We have an unlimited potential to grow our Society, and I am hoping to light a fire in Minnesota! If you have other suggestions or ideas, please feel free to send them to me to include in our planning!
I also feel it is a critical time to educate the technologists of Minnesota about the importance of advocacy. We are in the middle of a rule rewrite for the MN Department of Health 4732 X-Ray rules and 4733 Therapy Rules. Several of these proposed changes will have a direct effect on our jobs. We need to build our membership numbers to show that we are ready to protect our jobs from encroachment by other medical professions.
I challenge each of you to encourage at least one colleague to join the Society in the coming year. I challenge the students to bridge into full membership upon graduation and certification and make your voices heard as imaging professionals for the state of Minnesota. If you have never served on the Board, I challenge you to volunteer for a position so that we can keep the ideas fresh. Let’s keep the momentum of this past year going! The MSRT Board cares, and we are here to serve you, our valued members!
Lastly, I thank you for all your tireless work as we are being faced with yet another challenge unlike any we have seen- please take care of yourselves as best as you can- take five minutes each day to find a way to practice gratitude, start a journal, notice the beauty in nature, tell someone you appreciate them; even in these times of extreme challenges if we can look for positivity it will help us! Be safe.
Looking forward to a great year!
Jill Lucas, BAH, RT(R)(M)
