Ten Reasons to Join IPA
Why You Should Maintain Membership and Become Active in IPA
David Folks
This issue of the IPA Bulletin, IPA’s newsletter, exemplifies many of the reasons to be an active part of IPA.
The vision and mission, the staff who run IPA and our leaders, who shape and transform the future of IPA, depend on a strong and vibrant membership.
As the IPA European Regional Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland is about to convene, and our Eleventh International Congress is rapidly approaching this 17-23 August, we will experience extraordinary happenings in old age psychiatry, and in our association.
Ten new IPA Board Members will soon be elected to the organization. Additionally, our President-Elect, George Grossberg, is making appointments to committees and task forces essential to the work of IPA. This issue of the IPA Bulletin highlights some of our Board Members and IPA “People in the News” (including yours truly). Future meetings are being considered by Joel Sadavoy and his committee at a location near you (see page 5), and our membership is growing steadily with 160 new members in 2002—Wow!
Developments in psychogeriatrics are widespread and significant, as reported in this edition from Korea, Pakistan, Budapest and Hong Kong. Also in this issue, advances in the field are staggering, as faithfully monitored by John T. O’Brien and Robert Barber in their “Recent Advances” column. Website reviews by Brian Draper reveal some surprising findings in regional and international Web locations. And, we are tempted by Thea Heeren’s “Dutch Treats,” published in James Lindesay’s Culinary Corner.
As I read the final draft of the Bulletin, I was impressed by the opportunities and challenges that await our membership. Ten reasons outlined below prompt you to maintain membership and become an active participant in the activities of IPA.
Ten Good Reasons to Join IPA
1. IPA has a great staff and organization.
2. IPA provides a forum to meet your colleagues.
3. IPA sponsors great scientific and professional meetings twice yearly in a variety of locations throughout the world.
4. IPA committees and task forces support cutting edge, state-of-the-science projects in geriatric psychiatry.
5. IPA, through the Psychogeriatric Journal, IPA Bulletin, IPA-Online.org Website and other publications, disseminates up-to-date news and scientific research advances pertinent to the field of old age psychiatry.
6. IPA meetings and events offer members and their families the opportunity to travel, see the world and obtain a close and personal viewpoint of psychogeriatrics around the world.
7. IPA and its members, through formal and informal processes, influence public policy and governmental agencies in the ongoing developments of psychogeriatric services and programs.
8. IPA, through meetings, publications and networking of members, expands its members’ knowledge, skills and clinical acumen in psychogeriatrics.
9. IPA regional initiatives, workshops and taskforces strengthen the field and support IPA’s affiliate organizations.
10. IPA can benefit you—and your patients and students —providing recognition and awards, educational forums and information that promotes day-to-day clinical practices and teaching programs.
These are but a few of the reasons to be a part of IPA, but capture the essence of why I personally find IPA to be the “premier” organization dedicated to psychogeriatrics. As I complete my first year as the Bulletin’s Editor-in-Chief, I want to thank the Board of Directors, Deputy and Assistant Editors, other contributors to the Bulletin, IPA staff and my assistant, Diana Dabney, for their support of this endeavor, the IPA Bulletin.
I hope to see many of you in Geneva next month or in Chicago this August for a superb IPA Congress.
Contact David Folks at the Department of
Psychiatry, UNMC, 985575 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha
NE 68198-5575 USA, +1.402.354.6360, dgfolks@unmc.edu.
David Folks
Reprinted from IPA Bulletin, Volume 20, Number 1
Copyright 2008 International Psychogeriatric Association
