2023 Chapter Excellence Award – Gold Winner
We are pleased to announce that our chapter is in receipt of the Gold Level of the 2023 Chapter Excellence Award! The award recognizes truly extraordinary chapters that surpass excellence in chapter management. We are in the company of 54 other outstanding chapters. In order to achieve the Gold Level of the Chapter Excellence Award, chapters must meet nineteen Bronze criteria, seventeen Silver criteria and multiple Gold level activities. Criteria include such activities as having a legislative action plan or agenda, holding a volunteerism/community service activity, holding multiple stand-alone meetings, having revenue sources outside of dues and meeting registration fees, implementing a strategic plan, implementing a formal recruitment and retention plan and measuring outcomes, conducting various activities for Medical Students, Residents and Early Career Physicians.
We would like to extend a special thanks to those chapter members who assisted us in all of these endeavors! For their hard work and dedication, we received this award.
Central America Chapter Receives the "Members' Choice" Mary Bieter Evergreen All Stars Award
The Mary Bieter Evergreen All-Star Awards recognized exceptional and sustained chapter-initiated programs that supported and adapted to the Internal Medicine landscape in the United States and around the world. ACP Members were asked to review and select All-Star nominations they believed were worth of recognition. The Central America Chapter received the Mary Bieter Evergreen All-Star Award for their initiative, Medical Education and Community Service for Promoting a More Holistic Internal Medicine Specialist.
Medical Education and Community Service for Promoting a More Holistic Internal Medicine Specialist
With the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult for medical students and residents to continue their education and interact with the community. Using IT, Zoom, social media, innovation, and the principles and tools of ACP, medical students formed a council across five medical schools to initiate educational webinars and community service activities promoting healthy communities for students and their community. Having mobility restriction due to COVID-19, they interacted with NGOs that worked in the community to help them meet and exceed the council's goals. The program was able to continue in 2021 despite the continuation of COVID-19 waves; yet students continued volunteerism activities. They worked in residential home for the elderly and public maternity hospitals in addition to the regularly held educational activities. In 2022, they reorganized while COVID-19 trends remained low and were able to transfer this idea to form a Council of Residents in Guatemala that was very successful, increasing resident membership to more than 80%. They have initiated conversations with representatives of El Salvador to form a new council there and continue the principles of the ACP.
Central America Chapter Receives the 2023 John Tooker Evergreen Award
The John Tooker Evergreen Awards Program provides recognition and visibility to chapters that have successfully implemented programs to increase membership, improve communication, encourage member involvement, enhance diversity, foster careers in internal medicine or improve chapter management. The Central America Chapter received the 2023 John Tooker Evergreen Award for their initiative, Medical Education and Community Blossoming.
Medical Education and Community Blossoming
Students and residents participated in volunteer activities focused on the social determinants of health in their population which included the prevention of drug addiction and adolescent pregnancies. These activities prepared our students and residents to know the community they will serve in the future and help them work effectively in teams and developing leadership skills.
The Central America Chapter 's Guatemalan Residents from five medical programs developed a Council of Residents of the Occidental Region, Education, Volunteerism, and Well-Being Committees. The Chapter utilized Zoom, YouTube, and Instagram to share activities such as Doctor's Dilemma and Medical Education between Panama and Guatemala. The volunteerism activities prepared students and residents to better serve the needs of their communities, work effectively in teams, and develop leadership skills. After the Guatemalan Committees were formed, resident membership increased by 80% and the Central America's resident population grew by 60%.
Previous Evergreen Awards:
- 2021 - Campaign Against COVID19 Pandemic
- 2021 - Healthy Community Program