Our biennial national conference was held on 13 & 14 October 2006
in Pretoria.
SASAEM Conference / Workshop: 13 & 14 October 2006
Venue: The Innovation Hub, Pretoria. (Opposite the CSIR).
Conference fee: R1630-00
Gala dinner (separate booking) National Zoological Gardens, Pretoria:
R220.00 per person. (This includes dinner and night excursion in the zoo).
SASAEM: “Quo vadis”
(Inaugural speech by the incoming president: Dr Faan Rademeyer.
SASAEM conference / workshop Oct. 2006)
1. Intro: What is the purpose of a society?
Look after its members. So…. What does it do for its members?
2. History: Previously mainly run by military.
There was no proper secretarial function. This caused numerous problems.
No consistency and multiple frustrations.
3. Currently: Decided to establish a secretarial hub, with necessary
support:
Thank prof Van Gelder….Stella’s office.
Ms Stella Maluleke appointed as secretary of the society.
Mrs Ellen Daykin, my receptionist.
Bought a laptop computer for society….the proverbial mace / knobkierie, to
be handed over every time to the new EXCO.
In the meantime: Decided to start a website. In todays era this is
mandatory. I believe that this will be instrumental in the success &
future existence of SASAEM. Simultaneously: Database….this was
non-existing.
First of all: I have to thank dr Frans Cronje and SAUHMA / DAN for their
support. It is just great how different things fell into place: Frans
contacted me to discuss the future of aviation medicine, when I was at an
all time low, concerning the future of the society. We discussed several
options and Frans volunteered the help of their IT manager. He twisted her
arm so much to help us, that I am sure she is still taking a long acting
NSAID on a daily basis! This nice lady, mrs Helia van Zyl, made several
visits to my office to discuss the compilation of our website. She also
wrote a database, taylormade for SASAEM. With the meeting’s permission I
would like to send her a huge bouquet of flowers. My gratitude for these 2
people.
In the meantime: My wife, Cathy and secretary, mrs Ellen Daykin, spent
many hours to make telephone calls all over Southern Africa, to update
details of doctors. They also started to do the groundwork to organise
this conference. In this process they had to withstand anything from
telephones being throne down in their ears, to sarcasm, to severe verbal
abuse. During all of this, they still handled it professionally and I want
to apologise to them on behalf of the society and thank them sincerely for
their help and efforts…they are only doing this because I asked them
to….it would have been impossible for me to perform this huge task on my
own.
4. The future: Sort out all current problems….the database, etc.
Keep website up to date: Posting info, research, etc.
For all this … need money. Thus: membership fees, etc. to be re-evaluated.
What can we give our members? At this stage in time…only feed back, news,
etc. But in future: I think it will become more evident with the new
proposals as they evolve. This is probably the way in which we will
communicate to our members in future. The society will hopefully become a
proper society where we can look after the interests of the doctors who
have an interest in this field of medicine. With the possibility of a new
relationship developing between CAA, IAM & UP-ASM, SASAEM will be a
doctor’s forum for those with a mutual interest in aviation medicine.
5. Acknowledgements:
I wish to mention 2 names & pay tribute to them: Drs Ken Ingham & Chris le
Roux: They have been with the soc. since before the ice age and supported
the soc. by word and deed: Thank you.
(Chris is suffering with ill health and we wish him all the best).
Dr Pierrre Erasmus: Outgoing president: 2 years ago he managed our
international conference at Sun City. This had been a humongous task which
he pulled off with great success.
The current Committee: They supported me in this effort and came up with
great help and ideas.
The Innovation Hub: I think this is a great place. The support is
phenomenal. Specifically ms Anita Masuku who had been a great help and
very accomodative.
Our sponsors:
Netcare for folders & nametags.
GlaxoSmithkline for bags.
Exhibitors: SSEM
Hass / Phonak
Bayer
Medhold
Zinplex
Shering-Plough
Will put links on website.
Lastly: Presenters & delegates.
Election of new EXCO: Nice to be loyal, but need commitment!!
Download provisional academic programme:
Programme -
pdf (12kb)
Programme -
word doc (33kb)
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