We have begun another year and have taken off to a great start. The Toronto CSAO conference was very successful, and well-attended.

The THETA chapter had their first meeting and education session. It was via OTN and well-attended. The presentation was on MDR Certification and Education. Rohan Jagasar prepared this very informative session, but do to room-booking issues was unable to present but he sent the presentation PowerPoint for us, which Colleen presented. A Education Day North Bay April 17-18, 2015, is being planned many vendors confirmed will be a great day of Education. Please send in your form to reserve your spot.

OTN meetings and Education Sessions for THETA are booked for:

• November 18, 2015: Event ID# 44746904 Instrumentation South Medic James Cunningham
• February 10, 2016: Event ID# 4439 8509 Accreditation New 2016 Standard for MDRD - Colleen Landers
• April 6, 2016: Event ID# 4439 9232 Ergonomics in MDRD Cindy DePiero- Sault Area Hospitalany site is welcome to join in just get your site and system booked with your hospital OTN administrator.

Gamma chapter held an Education Day on March 28, 2015, topics were infection control and endoscopy. I will reach out to Gamma to lend my assistance in helping with the set up of OTN as they some member who attend the Theta meetings and we would like to connect.

The Lambda chapter sent four members to the Annual CSAO Conference in Toronto.

I was fortunate to travel to Nova Scotia for their biannual conference, MDRANS, which allowed Rohan and myself to showcase the workbook, textbook and distance course as well as take in a great education session by Stephan Kovacs. It was a great experience in a beautiful part of Canada. There was much interest in the book as well as many vendors to network with. We made new friends and contacts to exchange ideas and conferences with.

Below are pictures from the conference dinner with the theme of 'Mardi Gras.' They include: Tammara Champoux (Getinge Group), Andy Straisfeld (Vendor Representative - Kimberly-Clark), Tammy Bennardo (Theta Chapter Representative), Rohan Jagasar (ETA Chapter Representative)

I am looking forward to working with all of you to Raise the Bar in MDR and work with each of the chapters to bring education and growth to all.

Regards,

Tammy Bennardo

CSAO Director of Membership and Chapter Development

(THETA, LAMBDA & GAMMA Chapters)