<strong>Heart Transplant, Heart Transplant Association</strong>

To all on the HTA Board,

Shown below are the minutes from the January 20th, 2005 Saint Joseph's Hospital Heart Transplant Association Meeting. Among the other items listed, note that Barnes Walker is your new Board President, Ken Buxton succeeds Sandy Payton as President-Elect, Betty Manley will continue as our Treasurer (we hope), and Barbara Buxton replaces Linda Anton as new Secretary. You'll notice, too, that we had a new guest!

I have enjoyed my term as President, and learned a lot from everyone. There are challenges ahead, but lots of fun, too. Linda and I hope to continue to be very active on the Board, and to help out whenever we can. Please join me in welcoming our new executive members, and supporting the very worthwhile efforts of the HTA for years to come.

-Glenn Anton

Minutes from the 1/20/05 Saint Joseph's Heart Transplant Association Board Meeting

-Members Present: Georgia Altin, Glenn and Linda Anton, Ken and Barbara Buxton, Charlie Campbell, Jeff Hill, Larry Lesesne, Joe Muck, Barnes Walker, Jimbo Welden. Guest: Jay Morrison

-Election of New Officers: Due to Sandy Payton's involvement with Georgia Transplant Foundation activities, he has requested that we replace him as President for 2005. He held the post of President-Elect during 2004. Charlie nominated Barnes Walker as president for 2005; Jeff seconded. Vote of board members present confirmed Barnes as HTA president for 2005. Barnes noted that his style is to appoint committees for each event planned in the year ahead. He will be returning to work in the coming year, and so he may not have as much time to devote to HTA functions as he has had in the past. There were two nominations for President-Elect: Joe Muck nominated Ken Buxton and Larry Lesesne nominated Jimbo Welden. Jimbo said that he preferred to work on committees rather than to head the organization. Ken said that he would accept the nomination, so Larry seconded, and the board members voted to elect Ken as new President-Elect. Linda nominated Barbara Buxton for Secretary and Jeff Hill seconded her nomination. Barbara was voted group Secretary. Betty Manley is currently Treasurer, and although she was not present for this meeting, the group resolved to ask her to continue in that office. Joe nominated her for 2005 and Charlie seconded. Barnes will verify with Betty that she would like to remain as Treasurer.

-Ken Buxton would like one of our goals for 2005 to be a concerted effort to increase HTA participation and board membership. To that end, Glenn and Barnes will finish their database project. The Board agreed that a detailed database will better enable communication with all members, particularly new transplantees. Ken feels that a personal meeting between an HTA representative and a new recipient is the most effective way to build HTA membership. There have been 12 new transplants in the past year, and so Georgia said that she will work with Barnes and Board members to help make connections with those who are interested in our organization.

-Georgia showed the group a copy of a new calendar for 2005, showing the dates for the Support Groups and the featured speakers. Jeff suggested that we create an information package for new transplants to take home from the hospital. He felt that a flyer describing the HTA and its mission would be a good thing to include in the introductory package, along with a calendar noting significant dates for the upcoming year. Linda suggested that writing the flyer might a good project for a committee to work on. Glenn is writing an article for the Website about the mission of the HTA, which could be a part of this package. Georgia mentioned that some new transplants are uncomfortable about attending the Gordon Henley Around Town Dinners because of the cost of their meals. She suggested that the Board consider spending some of its reserve on coupons to pay for an introductory meal for new transplant recipients who might then be more encouraged to come. The group liked her idea and will consider including the “tab” coupons as part of their welcome package. Joe suggested that we might also stamp the parking tickets for new recipients to help pay for part of their parking fees at the Hospital (again, on a limited basis). Joe got stamps for $2 parking discounts from the Piedmont transplant organization when he received his new kidney.

-Jay requested a clarification of the purpose of the HTA. Glenn read the Mission Statement to the group. Several members observed that some items included in the Mission Statement such as “promote organ donation awareness in our community” may not have been adequately addressed by recent HTA activities. Georgia commented that LifeLink will train HTA members who may want to speak to community groups about transplantation. Larry noted that it might be a good idea to revisit our by-laws at the July meeting, and every six months thereafter, so that we can assess and plan activities with them fresh in mind. Larry also informed the group that in a discussion he had with Kirk and Patsy Barbaree, some concerns were raised that the HTA is spending too much time on fund raising and not enough effort on other activities. While not all members agreed with that assertion, the group did feel that spending the majority of our funds to benefit a few people who attend the transplant games might not be the best justification for fund raising. We felt that by spreading out the funds to benefit more HTA members with items such as the Around Town Dinner coupon(s) and possibly a parking subsidy for new transplants, we might make a fairer use of our treasury dollars. As other examples of the ongoing need for regular fund raising, Jeff noted that a new expense for HTA is $9 per month for the Website, and Joe reminded the group that just the mailings for HTA functions such as the Valentines Party, Picnic, and Around Town Dinners cost between $20 and $37 each, depending on the number of people who receive them. We agreed that it would be appropriate to post our Mission Statement on the HTA Website so that people can have a clearer idea of what the HTA is all about. Ken Buxton will touch base with Betty Manley and Theresa Huffman regarding the current status of our mentor program.

-Since many of the HTA activities will now be carried out by committees rather than the group as a whole, we decided that committee members with work in progress should arrive early for events such as the Support Group meetings and use that time for their planning and discussions.

-Jeff Hill has created a new Website for the HTA at www.htachangeofheart.org. The “Change of Heart” theme was inspired by the look and feel of the HTA Newsletter. He would like input in the form of features and articles from any interested HTA members. The Board discussed the possibility of including meeting minutes and committee activities as part of the Website. Ken Buxton offered an interview he has arranged with one of the transplant physicians as a feature on the Site. Jeff can be contacted by email at Hill7217@bellsouth.net if anyone has material to contribute to the Site or the Newsletter. Jay Morrison has also created a printed calendar of 2005 HTA events, which the printer will have ready soon, to be mailed to all members. Barnes will call if he and Jeff need help in getting the pieces ready for mailing.

-Ken Buxton would like the group to consider changing the venue of The Gordon Henley Around Town Dinners. When this idea was suggested in the past, there were problems in locating a restaurant that is both convenient and that has a large room available on a regular schedule. Some members suggested that the current location is desirable because it is well known to everybody and that moving it might cause confusion. Since the dinners include many people from Emory as well as Saint Joseph's, we determined that the best place to discuss this issue might be at the dinner itself. Members will report to the group following the next Dinner.

-Ken is interested in forming an HTA horseshoes team. More on this will be posted to the Website or discussed later.

-Georgia informed the group that construction in the Hospital lobby makes it impossible for us to hold the HTA bake sale in February, so the matter of rescheduling will be taken up in April.

-Joe assured the members that the April Nurses’ and Doctors’ Luncheon sponsored by Jimbo should not be affected by the construction because it will be held in the Cancer Center meeting room. Jimbo and Barbara Crafton have made great progress in getting ready for the luncheon, and we expect this event to be lots of fun for all. Jimbo has set the luncheon date for April 6th, and everybody in the HTA is invited. Jimbo and Barbara would welcome help with the decorations from any interested HTA members.

-Barnes will verify with Marsha Brenner that her condo clubhouse is available for the Valentine’s party on Feb. 5th.

-The HTA Board Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for April 21st, 2005.