Notes from the Tech Section

Katherine A. Carlson, CNMT
2004-2005 President

My year as President of the Central Chapter Technologist Section was stimulating and relatively easy. I had support and advice from several past presidents who are still very active with the Section, and from all committee members and officers. We did a great job working together. I hope that reading about our accomplishments here and elsewhere in this newsletter will make you pleased to be a member of the Central Chapter Technologist Section. And we want to congratulate and offer our support to Rebecca Sajdak, CNMT, as she enters her year as president of the Technologist Section.

Gateway Meeting

On October 16, 2004, members of the Central Chapter and Technologist Section met to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Section and current and future trends. From this discussion, major initiatives were identified and objectives defined. The Gateway report outlined a strategic plan to guide the Section through 2007. The leadership of the Tech Section should work to meet the goals in this report. A copy of the Gateway report can be obtained from the Executive Director.

2004 Roadshows

The title of the 2004 Roadshow was Evolving Role of Nuclear Medicine on Patient Management. Roadshows were held at six locations and with approximately 200 attendees. Nancy McDonald, the Continuing Education Chair, did an excellent job of organizing the Roadshows and finding coordinators for each site. The site coordinators themselves must be thanked for their efforts to enlist quality speakers and sponsorship for their local Roadshow.

The Birthdate of the Central Chapter
Technologist Section

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the Central Chapter and that brought up the question of when was the Technologist Section established. Thanks to James Carlson, Past President of the Central Chapter, I have a copy of the first Central Chapter Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 1, December, 1973. The newsletter contains a letter from Merle Loken, MD, President of the Central Chapter. Here is an excerpt from his letter.

“We are pleased that the bylaws of the Technologists’ Section were ratified by the membership at the Indianapolis meeting (October 25-27, 1973). Following the Spring Meeting in Chicago in March, I appointed a special committee chaired by Dennis Damm and including Zeb Harris, Joe Iacovo, Lois Moore, Larry Newton, John Kidder and Arthur Kuhl as members to finalize these bylaws. Their efforts on behalf of the technologist members is greatly appreciated.”

From Dennis Miller, President of the Technologist group:

”The fiscal year 1973-74 is proving to be a monumental year for the technologists of the Central Chapter. Certainly the most significant thing accomplished this year was the formulation and eventual ratification of bylaws organizing all existing local groups in the Central Chapter into the Central Chapter Technologists Section of the Society of Nuclear Medicine. Through these bylaws and the organization that they form, the void that had existed between the local affairs and national affairs will be filled.”

Also of interest is his description of the October, 1973 Fall Meeting.

”Several sentences ago, I mentioned the meeting held in Indianapolis October 25, 26, and 27. This was probably the second most significant thing accomplished this year. Those in attendance all agreed that it was an overwhelming success. This was the first meeting in the Central Chapter where the technologists designed and coordinated their own program. Thursday, the 25th, had a two hour panel session. Four teams of physician-technologists from institutions within the Central Chapter discussed their approach to Nuclear Medicine examination of systems such as the Reticuloendothelial System, Total Body Imaging, Pulmonary Studies and the Central Nervous System. The business meeting followed. Seventy people attended the panel session and over forty were present at the business meeting. …..The point is that the meeting was a marvelous success. Much was learned by technologists about putting on a meeting and more and better meetings are being planned for the future.”

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