ASHHRA 2009 Conference Update
November 9th, 2009 by cswensonThis past week, the Bernard HODES Group exhibited at the annual conference of the American Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) held in Chicago, Illinois. This year’s conference theme was New Heights for HR Leaders. Due to the economically challenging times in the health care industry and for that matter, every other industry, many associations and conferences have experienced at least a 20% decline in their attendance. In light of these statistics, ASHHRA Board of Directors was thrilled with the number of attendees this year. While normal attendance for ASHRRA is 800+, attendance for this year’s conference was 633. Dan Zuhlke, President, ASHHRA, commented in his opening remarks about the attendance, along with the continued support of vendors during these lean economic times. Exhibitors included companies providing partner services, ranging from retirement companies to concierge support services. Judy Russell, Cathy Swenson, and Sean Broderick manned the Hodes exhibit booth and attended some of the sessions.
Many of the attendees who dropped by our booth were concerned about how to enter the social media space. They don’t want to just put up a Facebook page without really researching what is working and what isn’t or fully understanding potential pitfalls. They want a complete strategy for entering this new arena of communicating with passive candidates and sourcing candidates.
Other topics of concern for these healthcare human resource executives centered on their reduced budgets and how they will be able to plan for what may be the worst “healthcare war for talent” in history!!! They described severe cuts in their budgets and concerns in general about the HR landscape.
Buzz Aldrin, the first man to walk on the moon, presented the opening keynote session. Mr. Aldrin walked the audience through President Kennedy’s vision to be on the moon, the preparation of the team and the entire space program. Inspiring yes. Can we utilize these same principals today? Absolutely!
Messages to ponder:
• Think beyond the reality of today.
• Do your homework.
• Prepare.
• Push beyond challenges and barriers.
• Taking risks can provide rewards.
Mr. Aldrin’s story is one of preparation and vision. Following in his father’s footsteps as a pilot, serving in the military and following up with an extensive education, Mr. Adrin was one well-prepared astronaut. Even with the preparation and the support of the President of the United States, naysayers, specifically one scientist, predicted the mission would result in the ship actually sinking into the moon, burying the ship and its passengers alive.
While health care and Human Resources professionals are challenged by many variables in today’s environment, opportunities abound. We can approach these challenges with a mentality of glass half empty or glass half full. Had President Kennedy and Buzz Aldrin practiced glass half empty – we would not have this historic event as part of American history or been able to follow the American dream of further space exploration.
Just two of our VIP visitors to our booth!
Gary L. Pastore
Chief Human Resources Officer
Banner Boswell Medical Center
Shirley Barnes
VP of Human Resources
Mission Hospital, Mission Viejo, CA
Hodes Health Care Division will be on the road at two national conferences in October. We hope to see many of you at these important industry conferences.