Not that long ago I started participating in the Colleague Connection. It is a great service we do for MLA New Members and First Time MLA Meeting attendees. My Connection this year paired me with Allison Erlinger, a nurse turned librarian from Ohio. I am eager to share with a new member what MLA means to me and what I get out of an Annual Meeting. But more importantly it is to guide this person to have a grand first meeting. So Allison and I had a phone conversation about "how to do the meeting," listening to her interests and goals for attending. It turns out that Allison had signed up to take my CE class today. We met in class, we did the exhibit hall to warm welcomes and then the Clinical Key party. I will see her tomorrow morning at the New Member Breakfast, an absolute "you must go" event for her, after I do yoga with Joanne Marshall, a must do for me! I so enjoyed her new fresh look at MLA. I so enjoyed swapping stories and making a new friend. We Distinguished Members have alot to share and you get so much in return. Join me next year when I sign up again. Thanks again Allison for a special day..
Helen-Ann Brown Epstein, AHIP, FMLA