Rites of Passage

Photo by fallenpegasus via Flickr, used
under the Creative Commons License.

By Shiva Barton, ND, LAc
2011 AANP Physician of the Year

I recently returned from a family trip one with an interesting juxtaposition of  rites of passage. The first and last part of the trip was spent taking my high school senior daughter on college tours. Sandwiched in between these tours was a celebration of my aunt's 100^th birthday.

My Aunt Dot is my mother's oldest sister. My mother is 88 and you would never believe it if you saw her, but she doesn't get much attention or credit for that because she is the baby in the family and her sister is 100! Aunt Dot is in great shape; her mind is 100%. I still can't beat her at Scrabble, which I guess is a reflection on both of us. My aunt used to be a gardener, the first person I ever heard of who had a compost pile – actually 3 bins, each about 7 feet long by 3 feet wide by 4 feet deep. I remember digging in the compost pile and finding worms the size of my thumbs, big thick, pink wiggly things. Local newspapers would write stories about the Queen of Compost as they thought it was interesting, if unusual, back then.

Three and a Half Months In

Michael Cronin, ND
AANP President 

Members, there is a lot of good work being done by the volunteers and staff of the AANP going into the second quarter of 2012, this year of active transition. 

The Executive Director search concludes at the DC FLI.  The Board will decide between two very motivated and qualified candidates to make the final choice for our new team builder. Stay tuned.

The legislative committee chaired by Lorilee Shoenbeck, ND, Vermont, has been busy working with our lobbyists and staff. They are all working with AANP staff to organize the DC FLI and the training provided to ND’s at the event. This year AANP will offer 2-tiered 101 and 201/301 legislative training.  Our priority is to protect several key provisions of the Affordable Care Act including section 2706 on non-discrimination in health care. Our lobbyists, Deborah Senn and Rick Miller, have been helping us refine our federal legislative plans.  To that end, we will be asking Members of Congress to support our efforts at HHS.