Hard to believe the end of the year is upon us once again! And with the end of the year comes the last few months of my tenure as LAAFP President. It has been an honor to serve Los Angeles family physicians, family medicine residents, and medical students interested in family medicine and to work alongside such dedicated LAAFP members who this year so far have accomplished many outstanding achievements: being awarded 2 separate grants, organizing a virtual family medicine career event, creating an Instagram account @the_laafp, supporting residents and students with scholarships to conferences and grants for projects, and conducting business while enjoying each other’s company at our April, June, and August meetings! I am so grateful to have led this 2024 LAAFP all-star team and am thankful the presidency will transition to Dr. Jerry Abraham, an illustrious family medicine advocate and leader.
It is also with great gratitude that I would like to celebrate Roxanne Kuns, LAAFP Executive Director of 40 years! She began her journey with an IBM ‘Selectric 2’ typewriter and a stenographer pad. She didn’t have a computer for several years until she purchased her first IBM desktop. Long before the www was introduced to the public, newsletters used to involve typing, cutting and pasting, sending mockups to the printer, addressing, stuffing, stamping, and sending by snail mail! Roxanne is the familiar face welcoming myself and countless others to their first and subsequent LAAFP events; her knowledge of LAAFP is vast and awesome. She has served 39 LAAFP chapter presidents and is the foundation underlying each successful LAAFP presidency. Roxanne will be retiring at the end of the year following our November 9th meeting–with the biggest ‘thank you’ imaginable from all LAAFP!
The end of the year does not mean the end of LAAFP events! Our final meeting of the year will be on Saturday, November 9th 2024 at 11:30 am at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge. As part of the Los Angeles County Abortion Safe Haven (LASH) Grant, LAAFP will host 2 live CME sessions, and our 1st will be at this meeting: “The Power of Options: Counseling patients through unexpected pregnancy and medication abortion.” Please join us for CME, time to connect with each other, and the opportunity to visit and discover the beautiful gardens.
Additionally, CAFP is hosting a virtual Los Angeles chapter/districts’ “Working with Difficult Patients” ACEs webinar scheduled for Tuesday, November 19th 2024 from 7:00-8:30 pm, and I would like to personally invite all LAAFP members to attend with me. Register here and join me to learn practical, local approaches to bringing trauma-informed care to your most difficult patients. This “ACEs Activation Group” will be a 90-minute case-based discussion with other docs from our chapter and district who will share real barriers and best local sources for referrals. 1.5 CME AAFP credit is pending.
Finally, I would like to encourage everyone to vote on Tuesday, November 5th 2024 by ballot drop-off, mail-in, or in-person voting on or before election day. We can also help patients register to vote which is not just promoting civic engagement but also actively strengthening the health and unity of their communities. Please see CAFP’s Voting is Good for Your Health! and LA County Registrar of Voters for additional information.
