(December 2021) – The last two years have proven to be a very weird, stressful and aggravating time for everyone, especially for those of us in the healthcare supply chain. I'm sure each of us has our own stories and lessons learned from experiences during COVID-19. This period has cost us time with friends, closed businesses and unfortunately cost us one of our main events, the Central Plains Expo – a mainstay event for more than 35 years.

They say with setbacks come new opportunities, and that is where we find ourselves. We are at a crossroads in KAHRMM history. I think we will survive and prosper with member involvement and education in the future. The KAHRMM Board met recently and had an extensive discussion about the way things may have been done in the recent past. I have included minutes/topics from the meeting (see related article) and will have more to share in the future. We talked about reverting back to the original purpose of KAHRMM, which is to provide education and networking for members ... a shoulder to lean on so to speak. We have a number of new supply chain professionals in Kansas. We need to encourage them to become involved in KAHRMM and for KAHRMM to provide a means for them to learn and be the best they can be. The importance of materials management and the supply chain has never been apparent as it has been the last two years. One of our plans is to appeal to the C-Suite to allow supply chain employees the time to educate themselves, which will positively impact our facilities.

Though we will not remove ourselves from AHRMM, we will focus our attention on helping Kansas members first.

With that said, I want to thank everyone who stepped up to help us survive the last two years. Pat Tabor is filling in as the 2022 KAHRMM president. This position became vacant when Lori Knoeber left the health care. Liz Schraer, Holton Community Hospital, a long-time member, volunteered to fill the remainder of Pat's board position. Thank you Pat and Liz!

You should have received an online survey for the election of officers. When you complete it, please nominate yourself or someone who might be willing to participate on the KAHRMM Board. It's a great way to learn!

We had a couple of vendor of the year nominees:

• Tom Greene, Halyard
• Chris Nichols, McKesson Medical

Tom Greene was named Vendor of The Year, with several folks nominating him for the award. We did not have any Ron Sumner Award nominees this year.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone for the opportunity to have served as your president for the last two years. Wishing you a blessed holiday season, and stay healthy! My last request is to please stay or get involved in KAHRMM ... don't let the organization become another victim of COVID.
--Mike Morgan