By Maria Raj

As we come to the end of this year, let’s reflect on what this year has been. ETA Chapter initiated a lunch get together last August, followed by Education Day in October. It was well attended; my warmest gratitude to the members and speakers.

READY…..  The world has not fully recovered from the pandemic. The beginning of normalcy – it’s no longer mandatory to wear facemasks except when you’re a hospital staff member. OR cases have increased. Are we ready to cope with pressure? An increase in OR cases means more demands from the OR: not enough instrumentations/trays to be used, staff shortages, and lack of management support, as well as a longer time in standing doing the work and lack of training. Some surgeons demand the impossible.

SET………Are we set and prepared to be back to normal after 2 years of hiatus? Are we set, physically, emotionally, and mentally? Having new staff members means training; who’s responsible in training them? Staff got used to working at a slow pace, and now, some try to avoid additional work with the excuse that they have not been trained or have not done the work for a long time. Are we set to multitask, overworked while underpaid? Are we set to stand up proudly with our heads up that WE are professional MDR technicians, who know and follow standards in all that we do?

MDRAO….. is always here to support, educate, and inspire its members. Continuous education has always been the primary objective of MDRAO via conferences and chapter education for all its members. More exciting activities are to come on 2023; stay tuned.

On behalf of the MDRAO board executives and all its chapters, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year! Stay safe!

Lastly, I want to share this quote from HE LUCCOCK:
No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.

Best Regards,
Maria Raj ( ETA  Chapter President )

Image credit: iStock.com/KláraD

By Tamiza Samji

To all MDRAO Members:

We would like to thank you all for your support this past year as we have just started meeting in person. Delta chapter has been in hiatus due to Covid in the last two years; however, we are in the middle of planning an Education Day in January 2023 and hoping to have a great turnout as we have in the past.

Delta Chapter had their first meet and greet dinner on Sept 12th at the Mandarin restaurant in Burlington. This was a great opportunity for everyone to meet old and new members and network while enjoying a wonderful dinner.

We also held an education day with the ETA chapter in October at the Delta hotel and conference center in Mississauga. This was a great opportunity network with members of other MDRAO chapters.

Delta members also attended the Sigma education session held in November at the Fanshaw College. Another great opportunity for networking as well as participating in the educational sessions.

We, the Delta Chapter executives, would like to wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season and blessings for the new year and hope to see each of you at our Education Day in January.

Thank you

Delta Chapter President
Tamiza Samji

By Megan Bozec

Hello, and Merry Christmas from the LAMBDA Chapter Board!

It's been a tough year for us; we went from a board of two, to three, back to two, then just one! Now we are excited to have four board members!

Unfortunately, we have had a very slow start up, as we are all new to our roles in the chapter and scheduling is very hard because we all work at the same facility!

So we thought we would take this opportunity to introduce ourselves!

Our President is Megan Bozec; she has been Vice President\Secretary\Treasurer since 2018. Norma Martin is our Vice President. Tara Brown is in charge of Education, and Nicole Laroque is our Secretary\Treasurer. 

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season!

Megan Bozec
LAMBDA Chapter President

By Monique Marshall

Theta Chapter,

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday and all the best for 2023. We are striving to revitalize the chapter and provide meaningful education sessions to our members. We are in the process of planning a mini conference in North Bay, April 21st to 23rd., 2023.  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the MDRAO executive team for taking the time to tour our facilities here in North Bay and providing us with  support for our upcoming education session. 

By Stacey Gielen

Hello fellow MDRAO members

The Sigma Chapter has an eventful fall, hosting their first in-person education day since the start of the pandemic in 2020. There were approximately 28 in attendance. Guest speakers included Trudell/Aesculap, PriMed, 3M, and Tony Leite. As 2023 approches, we will be working closely with the executive board to assist in any way we can to help prepare for the 2023 MDRAO Conference in Toronto.

We look forward to another exciting year educating our members and promoting the Medical Device Reprocessing Technician career.

Stacey Gielen – Sigma President

By John McHardy

Happy holidays to all from the Gamma Chapter. Please enjoy these holidays to spend time with your loved ones and focus on yourselves not thinking about work.

To our 138 members in Gamma, at the Ottawa Hospital we just completed our review from Accreditation Canada. The accreditor was a retired CEO from northern Ontario. The key words that I wanted to share with all of you was her appreciation for MDRD! She did all her homework, and I could tell that she had spent time in MDRD at her previous hospitals as she recognized all the equipment. The words she shared with the staff that she met was even though all you hear in the media is mentions of nurses and doctors, MDRD plays a huge role in patient safety and outcomes. Hospitals would be lost without us, and we need to be recognized for all the hard work we do in providing clean and safe equipment for surgical procedures.

MDRAO recognizes the workload and stress that occur to help provide support in catching up with the surgical backlog and is committed to help support and provide additional education days should you want them. Please reach out if you think a local education gathering would be beneficial for you all.

Thank you as always for showing up each day understanding what you are doing in supporting safe and effective care to your communities.

Happy holidays,
John McHardy (Gamma Chapter President)