Memphis, TN

Hi Everyone,

I would like to take a moment and introduce myself. My name is Christopher Lee, CST, and I had the honor of being elected your president at our last convention in March. I am excited about having the chance to serve in this capacity and am looking forward to working with a great group of people on our Board this year and making this an even better organization for all of us. I was at a local hospital recently, talking to some of the staff about membership and upcoming events, and wound up having a conversation with a recent graduate who asked me "Where does my membership dues go besides getting a magazine each month?". This question got me to thinking about all the things that our membership dues pay for both individually and as a profession.

In addition to being 90% tax-deductible as a business expense, our dues help publish the aforementioned magazine, which does have printing costs including paper, ink, computer graphics software, and an editor to ensure that it has the content and look we expect from our professional journal. Our membership dues also pay for a fantastic updated website (if you haven’t checked it out lately, you really should.) which puts most of the information we as members would need at the click of a mouse. They ensure that there is someone on the other end of the phone when we call our national organization with a question or concern, and also pay for the computers and software that maintain our CEUs.

Our dues pay for marketing materials, brochures and pamphlets that both state and national organizations use to promote our profession. These materials are also available to any member who requests them. They provide continuing education opportunities for our members by helping plan and prepare forums, workshops and our national conference. They ensure our representation as a profession to other organizations such as AORN and the American College of Surgeons and enable us to participate in national patient safety initiatives such as the National Council on PeriOperative Safety.

Our dues help pay legislative expenses not only in Tennessee, but also in many other states that are in various stages of the legislative process. The laws that are passed as a result serve to protect our patients as well as define and protect our profession. They can serve as a guide for our future legislative efforts just as ours have been a model for others.

And our membership dues also serve to develop our greatest resource: our students. In addition to the Core Curriculum for Surgical Technology, the definitive guide to Surgical Technology curriculums for all CAAHEP programs, our dues have helped write, edit, and publish the only Surgical Technology Textbook written for Surgical Technologists BY Surgical Technologists. They have helped produce videos, study guides, CDs and other instructional materials used in classrooms across the country. Through AST’s support of the Foundation for Surgical Technology, our dues serve to "pay it forward" by funding scholarships and awards that are given to not only students, but instructors continuing their education as well as monies for several mission trips around the world. Our state organization also uses dues to help fund scholarships that are awarded exclusively to Tennessee students. Dues help offset the costs of students attending our National Conference. Enabling hundreds of students to experience the excitement of being around fellow practitioners and fostering future leaders to one day take up the mantle of responsibility and ensure our continued success.

So in closing, I suppose my response to the aforementioned question would be "your membership dues are everywhere, you just have to know where to look".

Soddy Daisy, TN

Chiari malformations (CMs) are structural defects in the cerebellum, that part of the brain that controls your balance. Normally the cerebellum and parts of the brainstem sit in an indented space at the lower end of the skull, above the foramen magnum (this is a funnel-like opening to the spinal canal). When any part of the cerebellum is found to be located below the foramen magnum, this is called a Chiari malformation. Sometimes CMs can develop when the bony space is smaller than normal, causing the cerebellum and brainstem to be pushed downward into the foramen magnum and into the upper spinal canal. The resulting pressure placed on the cerebellum and brainstem may affect functions that are controlled by these areas and block the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CFS), the clear fluid that surrounds and cushions the brain and spinal cord, to and from the brain.