Message from the President
On the heels of our Annual General Meeting, I sit in front of the computer writing my first message to the CAA membership. The AGM allows us to reflect on the past year and our accomplishments. Our reflection includes our recognition that CAA is the only national organization in Canada where all the decisions are made by audiologists and all voters for any question are audiologists.
Perhaps we have grown weary of phrases like “during these difficult times” or “in these challenging circumstances.” Still, the truth of the matter is that we have experienced interruptions in the pursuit of our goals during this past year due to ongoing restrictions and the pressure of adapting to unexpected demands on our time and resources. And yet, our reflection has also allowed us to see our membership’s perseverance, determination, and resilience. I believe that this is most evident in CAA members’ commitment to education.
Quality education has been one of the hallmarks of CAA since its inception. In conjunction with all national and provincial advocacy activities, CAA has always encouraged and supported continuing education. When it became apparent that an in-person conference was out of the question in 2020, CAA made the pivot to online webinars. Topics addressing concerns from the membership about service provision during a pandemic and best practices were provided to the membership. The provision of the highest quality webinars was planned and continued in 2021 when it was clear that conditions had not sufficiently improved for our annual conference. The content and format of these virtual education modules have been very popular this fall and will continue into 2022.
We are looking forward to an outstanding program at the in-person conference in 2022. So my hope is to see all of you in October 2022.
The Canadian Audiologist is another example of CAAs commitment to education. Marshall Chasin, Editor in Chief, and Steve Aiken, Associate Editor, have continued to work with researchers and clinicians within Canada and worldwide to provide our members with the highest quality content in our journal. As with every issue, I expect we will learn something new, gain a new perspective, and then apply this knowledge to our clinical practice. Enjoy!