On August 24th through
the 26th, HoII orchestrated its largest educational event of the
year, the 2012 Annual Meeting. Our staff spends months planning this weekend
full of education, support, and appreciation for those who allow us to continue
to fulfill our mission. This year’s Annual Meeting was a record breaker! We had
almost 250 members in attendance, making it the largest turnout ever for an
Annual Meeting. For many of these members it was their very first Annual
Meeting, showing how we will continue to grow and reach more of the bleeding
disorder community right here in Indiana.
Friday night began with the Industry
Appreciation Dinner, where we thanked all of our industry donors for their
sponsorships throughout the year. We also showed a short film documenting HoII
and it’s success since the 2011 Annual Meeting. This film can be found on the
HoII Youtube page (link at the bottom of this page). Friday night also
consisted of a luau for those members who we invited to stay the night as they
lived too far away for an early Saturday morning drive to Indianapolis.
We officially began the conference
on Saturday morning. Our Executive Director Scott Ehnes gave a wonderful update
of HoII and the many things the organization has done and is continuing to work
on. Following Scott’s presentation, Dr. Amy Shapiro from the IHTC informed
those in attendance of some of the happenings with the treatment center. She
made sure to highlight all of the incredible services they offer, some of which
are completely unique to the IHTC and not found in any other treatment center
in the country. The Saturday General Session ended with Dr. Anne Greist, Chris
Roberson, Jennifer Maahs R.N., and Dr. Festus Njuguna giving an update on the
IHTC Kenya Program (for more about this program contact the IHTC).
Our Annual Meetings main focus is
education. We bring in expert speakers from all over the country to give
detailed and informative sessions on a variety of topics. Saturday’s breakout
sessions included topics such as “Parenting on the Same Page” and “The Power to
Take Control.” We encourage families to split up, attend as many sessions as
they can, then reconvene and discuss all they learned.
On Saturday evening we focused on
celebrating our members. We recognized and presented awards to several members
and organizations for all their contributions to the foundation, but more
importantly the bleeding disorder community. First we recognized the winners of
Camp Brave Eagle Awards. They were Zach Crabtree, Colton Thomas, Hanna
Alquezada, and Dallas Alquezada. With the 2012 Walk only weeks away, we took
the time to honor the awards from the 2011 Walk. For most money raised, the
first place team was the Jacker Backers ($6,005) and the second place team was
Team Tyler ($4,610). The team with the award for most members was Bleeding
Hearts Blake (47 members). The final
awards of the night are extremely important to HoII as they have provided
incredible support throughout the entire year. The winners of these awards are
as follows
·
Distinguished Individual Volunteer: Carla Glodowski
·
Distinguished Business or Organization: Tharp Investments
·
Distinguished Group or Organization: Indiana Knights of Columbus
Saturday was a long and tiresome
day. We had several other sessions to conclude
with on Sunday; however, Saturday was a time of celebration. We brought in
Radio Disney to accompany the Ice Cream Social. The families were able to relax
and truly connect with one another, sharing the things they learned throughout
the day.
Sunday marked the final day of
Annual Meeting. We began with an incredible discussion titled “Health Reform
Update/How to be a Good Consumer” from Michelle Rice of NHF. After the morning
General Session we had one more round of breakout sessions. These included
“Blood Brotherhood,” “First Step – Mothers,” and “Spanish Facts First.”
Regardless of their background, every one of our members walked away from this
weekend learning something new about the bleeding disorder community. We want
to thank Baxter and the IHTC as our title sponsors, and we also want to thank
the Crowne Plaza at the Airport for hosting our convention and providing us
with wonderful meals. Finally we thank all of our members for attending. We are
proud to have such active and participating members! As always make sure to
visit our website for continually updated information, and like us on Facebook and follow
us on Twitter @HemoIndy. This year
we were tweeting live from the meeting, and we do so often from many of our
events, so follow to stay informed!
