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Journal
of TxHIMA Article
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Happy New Year! By
Beverly Rhodes, MSHP, RHIA
I hope that each of you had a very blessed Christmas and that you were able to spend time relaxing with family and friends. For some of us, work schedules have been lighter and hours shorter for at least part of the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, enabling us to spend more time at home or traveling, giving us a welcome reprieve from the daily rush of our lives. For many of us, our families, jobs, and other obligations keep us very busy. Keeping our lives in the right perspective by balancing all the things we need to do with all the things we want to do can challenge even the most effective time managers among us. A nurse friend of mine who worked in the ICU spent a lot of time with dying patients. He confirms first hand the reminder that no one with only precious moments left ever expresses regret that more hours weren't invested in work. He said the words of the dying are usually of their loved ones, and the ones most content with leaving this world are the ones who had invested time in family, friends, and giving to others. As
I organize my planner for the upcoming year's
events, appointments, meetings, and so on,
I am keeping my friend's words in mind. We
are admonished by the experts to learn to
say "no" to various commitments
to keep the number at a manageable level,
and I agree that this is very important to
not become encumbered with activities, even
meaningful ones, as they can become a burden.
Sometimes the problem is not the number of
activities I have planned but the activity
itself that I have to evaluate. Sometimes
I have regretted not saying "yes"
to certain requests. To determine the activities, commitments, organizations, etc. to which we should dedicate our time and talents, here are some factors to consider: The amount of time required to fulfill the commitment, the specifics of what exactly is required, and the importance to you personally. When my mother retired at age 65, she listened to the counsel of her peers and signed up for volunteer activities with various organizations. One such commitment was with the food pantry in her town, an organization that distributes food to the needy. Although this is a worthy and needed cause, and many of her friends enjoy doing it very much, it was not the right fit for my mother. Wisely she abandoned this particular volunteer opportunity and now volunteers as an usher for several city theaters and works at a local museum, both avocations for which she is passionate. First you need to know how much time you have to expend on volunteer activities, although I have found that once involved in the right activity, you find your time expands as your interest and dedication expand. You will need to know how much time is required to fulfill the commitment. My mother has the flexibility with her volunteer jobs to accept only the time slots she desires and is under little to no pressure if she declines when she doesn't want to volunteer. If you are balancing a busy job and family, you will want to make sure that volunteer time is flexible enough to accommodate these other obligations, and in fact, play a secondary or tertiary role to them. You don't want to miss all of your child's soccer games because you were helping in a children's reading program. Another caution when choosing to get involved in an organization or volunteer activity is to make sure that you understand exactly what you will be required to do. If you absolutely do not enjoy being around children, then why agree to an activity that would directly involve you with several middle schoolers? On the other hand, volunteering in an activity outside your comfort zone can enhance or grow certain skills. Choose wisely. The
final issue to consider is how important the
goals of the project, the organization, or
the program are to you. One of the reasons
that I agreed to run as President-Elect of
TxHIMA was to give back to an organization
that had given much to me in education, opportunity,
support, and networking. Another organization
for which I volunteer is Bible Study Fellowship
(BSF) where I teach Bible study to children.
The rewards of being in this program are frequently
immediate and potentially eternal. Both of
these organizations require a lot of time
and effort, but giving either up at this point
is not an option for me. To give the time,
energy, and quality required to fulfill the
goals of these roles, however, I did have
to give up participation as an advisor for
the Venture Crew, which is a subsidiary of
the Boy Scouts. I thoroughly enjoyed my time
as an advisor, and backpacking, hiking, and
climbing mountains with teen-agers kept me
in good shape. When I prioritized the three
organizations, this one fell to the bottom
of the list pretty quickly, as my daughter
was no longer involved in the organization,
which is the reason that I got involved in
the first place. As
you are prioritizing your activities for the
upcoming year, I hope that TxHIMA has a place
on your list. The Nominating Committee (Lilly
Ramirez, Christa Wyatt, Julie White-Aasmyr,
Bette (Bebe) Lising-Jowell, Betty Dodson,
Mandy Kaufhold) has done an outstanding job
this year in identifying candidates for the
TxHIMA ballot. This is an exciting year because
voting will be done electronically in a method
similar to the one that AHIMA uses. You should
receive your ballots by email, probably in
late January or early February, which will
include instructions to walk you quickly and
easily through the process. If you are not
sure if your email is up to date, go to AHIMA's
website and click on "members only"
and then on "update member profile".
This will take you only a few minutes, and
you will be able to ensure that AHIMA (and
therefore TxHIMA) has your most current information.
Candidate information will be available within
the voting structure of the email, and you
will also be able to access information via
the TxHIMA website at: txhima.org. Running
for a board position is only one of many ways
to serve TxHIMA. The opportunities are endless,
including: Serving in some capacity at a local
level, hosting a TxHIMA seminar at your facility,
sharing your expertise as a speaker at a conference
or seminar, writing an article for the Journal,
responding to messages on the TxHIMA website
message board, financially sponsoring an educational
event, becoming a site supervisor for students
for your local college or university, mentoring
a student or a new professional. As
you know, Larry Dunham serves on the AHIMA
board, and we are grateful for his dedication
and expertise at the national level. He also
offered to be the guest editor for this issue
of the TxHIMA Journal to give me a break.
So, many thanks, Larry, for all that you have
done and all you continue to do for our profession! |
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