An inspiring #leader #motivates employees to accomplish, overcome & improve. But what does it take to be one?

Self-Care Strategies for Nonprofit Professionals

"Pause what you're doing for a moment. Take a deep breath, in and out. Now, take an honest and loving look at yourself. How are you? How are you feeling - literally, how is your body feeling? Are you well rested and energized, or tired, drained, stressed out? Take another breath...Are you living the life you intend, the life that will truly change the world? Or are you slowly destroying yourself in the name of doing good?" - (Gita Gulate-Partee, founder and president of Open Source Leadership Strategies)

Years ago I had the urge to physically volunteer for a good cause and it was quite rewarding.  Although I don’t physically volunteer there we continue to support their mission.

Congratulations to our recent graduates of the FAMCare / Visions Server Master Certification training course!  Thank you to Travis Dillard of SARCOA (Southern Alabama Regional Council on Aging) and Cody Lewis of Middle Alabama Area on Aging for attending the course!

Registry Empowers Patients to Participate in Clinical Research, Advanced Medical Knowledge About Autoimmunity

Newswise — DETROIT, February 7, 2017 – Ushering in March as National Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month, the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. (AARDA) today unveiled the Autoimmune Research Network, known as ARNet, the world’s first fully-functioning patient registry for individuals diagnosed with one or more of the 100-plus known autoimmune diseases (ADs).

The result of two years of beta-testing by AARDA, ARNet facilitates research into autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases by creating one comprehensive, central database of anonymous patient information. Such information includes diagnosed diseases and other demographics that investigators around the world can use to enlist patients in clinical research studies. In addition, ARNet will help researchers answer epidemiological questions, identify trends, and track the number of patients with certain ADs and their experience obtaining a correct diagnosis.

Managed by Global Vision Technologies, a pioneering firm specializing in custom-tailored, HIPAA compliant patient registries, the ARNet database currently contains information for nearly 10,000 patients and continues to grow.

“With this ‘big data’ project, AARDA’s hope is to drive much-needed clinical research into the numerous and wide-ranging ADs, including the rheumatic, neurologic, dermatologic, endocrine and so on. This research ultimately will help improve time to diagnosis of these diseases, as well as advance knowledge into causes, treatments and perhaps cures,” said Virginia T. Ladd, Founder and Executive Director, AARDA.

Despite the fact that ADs affect more Americans (more than 50 million) than do cancer (approximately 15 million) and heart disease (approximately 28 million), federal research for autoimmune diseases is significantly underfunded. According to the National Institutes of Health, in 2016 federal research funding for ADs was $821 million compared to $5.4 billion for cancer and $1.7 billion for heart disease.

Working in collaboration with National Coalition of Autoimmune Patient Groups (NCAPG) member organizations and other interested parties, AARDA is encouraging AD patients to sign on to the registry, get involved and be part of the solution as researchers, both academic and commercial across the globe work to understand the puzzle that is autoimmunity.

“By opening ARNet to researchers and patients, we seek to fill in some of those research gaps and foster projects that uncover knowledge that will benefit all autoimmune diseases – not just one or two,” said Ladd.

Currently, participating NCAPG organizations include Relapsing Polychondritis Awareness and Support Foundation, the National Adrenal Diseases Foundation, Conquer Myasthenia Gravis and AARDA.

“As a member of the ARNet Steering Committee, the Relapsing Polychondritis Awareness and Support Foundation is pleased to be involved in the development of ARNet, a tool that both researchers and members can use to leverage the power of patient data while at the same time giving the patients a degree of control over their disease that very often leaves the people involved in their care and the patient themselves feeling out of control,” said Tom Christie, CEO, Relapsing Polychondritis Awareness and Support Foundation.

How it Works for Patients -- Confidentially
Patients who have been diagnosed with one or more autoimmune disease can register online at AARDA’s website (www.aarda.org) or the websites of participating NCAPG groups.

The information is anonymous and made available to researchers interested in looking at the “bigger autoimmune picture.” The database allows them to do queries on multiple data sources at once. When investigators identify an individual appropriate for a clinical trial, they contact AARDA or the originating NCAPG group who in turn contacts the patient (who up until this point has remained anonymous). Once the patient agrees, AARDA or the NCAPG group issues an invitation to the patient regarding his/her potential participation in the study, eventually connecting him/her with the researcher.

About Global Vision Technologies
Global Vision Technologies (GVT) is a technology consulting and software development firm that specializes in delivering custom-tailored, HIPAA compliant patient registry solutions for organizations who are looking for a specific application to solve their patient data collection, compliance and reporting/analysis needs. GVT’s solution – ClinicalPURSUIT, is a web-based application that allows data entry to be collected securely over the web making the data immediately “actionable” and ready for analysis. For more information, visit www.globalvisiontech.com and www.patientregistrysoftware.com

About Autoimmune Diseases
There are more than 100 known autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis, Addison’s disease, Graves’ disease, Sjogren’s syndrome, Type 1 diabetes, relapsing polychondritis, myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and lupus. The underlying cause of all of these diseases is autoimmunity which disproportionately affects women. Of the 50 million Americans living and coping with ADs, more than 75 percent are women. Given the genetic component, autoimmune diseases can run in families. AD is one of the top 10 leading causes of death of women under the age of 65 and is responsible for more than $100 billion in direct health care costs annually.

About American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) is the nation's only non-profit organization dedicated to bringing a national focus to autoimmunity as a category of disease and a major women's health issue, and promoting a collaborative research effort in order to find better treatments and a cure for all autoimmune diseases. For more information, please visit www.aarda.org .

Follow us on social media, including:
Facebook ( www.facebook.com/Autoimmunity  )
Twitter (@AARDATweets)
YouTube ( www.youtube.com/AARDATube  )

CONTACT:
Cindy Carway/Stephanie Hornback
Carway Communications, Inc.
212-378-2020
carwayny@aol.com 
@CarwayComms

In this age of social media and all the virtual ways we can connect, it’s still important to make sure and be in front of each other on a regular basis.

In college I studied Speech Communication and one particular story told by the instructor really stuck with me through all of these years. The story starts with the instructor talking about a Rolling Stones concert he attended when he lived in LA. The concert was going to be held at the football stadium and the crowd was unbelievably huge. He had a hard time convincing his new wife to go as she cited the traffic, crowds, late night out when she was going to have to go to work early the next day. After much discussion she finally agreed to attend. To avoid some of the traffic issues they decided to arrive pretty early in the afternoon. The instructor described her demeanor as less than happy to be there. As the crowd started moving in and the stadium getting more active he describes a change in her attitude as well as the crowd. There was an electrical feeling in the air as the sound tests were being done and you could hear the roadies tuning and testing instruments. He describes the growing excitement and that by the time the Stones actually came on the stage she was literally jumping up and down and so glad she was there.

Ever since Donald Trump was unexpectedly elected the next President of the United States the internet has been abuzz with speculation about how it could have happened. We think our colleagues at Generation Citizen, the civics nonprofit, summed it up in one sentence:

As you go through your year, you work hard, put in the hours, and focus on doing the best job possible, all while serving your customers. But in all you do, day in and day out, do you take the time to acknowledge your customers and the people who support you and your organization — do you let them know how much you appreciate them?

The election is over and there are obviously mixed feelings across the board ranging from excitement about the future, devastation about the loss, to just a general level of uncertainty. We talked recently about how social workers can approach their clients during this uncertain time whether they are republicans, democrats, or undecideds. Staying impartial is critical and using the current situation to their advantage are keys to tackling the challenges we are seeing with helping clients. Social workers are able to dig deeper into underlying concerns, mental state, and the real needs of their clients, but what about social workers themselves?

Not only do we need to understand the effect politics has on the people social workers serve but we need to understand what affect is has on those providing these services. Everyone will handle this transition of power from President Obama to President Elect trump differently but the mission remains the same! There are still children and families in this country that need their help.

No matter what side of the political fence you fall on your clients are counting on you to show up! Unfortunately, you don’t get a day off from all the terrible things happening every day in our country to our most vulnerable population, children. That is a luxury not afforded to this field of work. No matter who the Commander in Chief is we still need you to show up and work towards improving our client’s lives and protecting children. Thanks for showing up when times are tough!

Good morning - this post comes to us from our friends at Move Mondays.  I have posted the article here in it's entirety.