SAC PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Opening Speech of the 2015 Academic Ceremony

DISCURSO DEL ACTO ACADÉMICO 2015

 

Discurso del Acto Académico 2015

There are three moments related to the Presidency of the Argentine Society of Cardiology, very different from each other but equally important.

The first one was when I was informed that I had been elected President, a sense of joy, satisfaction, where I remembered all those years of work in differ-ent areas of the Society that had formed me for the great responsibility of leading it.

The second moment was the graduation ceremo-ny speech on December 4th of last year, which I had thought for months, because it was not a speech, but a commitment of what I wanted to do.

The third is today, before you, where I come to re-port what we achieved. Of the three times, this is the most important, because I have always thought that people are judged by their deeds, not their words or speeches.

My presidency was based on 3 principles, dialogue and work-team organization, effort and creativity and to be very clear that just as important to know what not to do is to know what needs to be done, this cannot be carried out within a year, therefore we must think clearly what our priorities are and how we are going to meet them…

There were four challenges in our Management: managing changing, putting the economy on the right track, to continue creating new projects and the SAC’s remodelling.

With regard to management we have moved from a model of general manager to a model of cross- or matrix management.

To the existing administrative and commercial sub-directorates, we have added the Academic sub-directorate, essential in a scientific Society like ours, and that of human capital and training, crucial for the future development of a Society that wants to grow and therefore needs a highly trained and professional staff.

The second challenge was economic, in a year we have reduced the debt in 3.000.000 pesos, and the remaining debt has been financed in fixed payments in pesos.

We have not changed our dollar reserves, nor have we taken any loans. To date, all payments are up to date.

Today we can say that the economic issue is no lon-ger the most important and that the difficulty we have today is to create more room for doctors’ meetings at-tending our Society to develop projects.

The third challenge was to continue ongoing proj-ects and create new ones.

Thus Areas was created, whose mission is to work on re-engineering all SAC areas, to achieve greater efficiency and communication.

The Young SAC development established a place for our young cardiologists to enter our Society and develop and lead projects. I can proudly say they are the future of our Society, leaders are born from leaders, Young SAC welcomes you to develop as such.

The Multidisciplinary Congress, wherein Cardiologists, Physicians and Pediatricians discuss, learn and above all appreciate what we have in common: to be a doctor.

WIKICARDIO: Consistent information, the SAC’s educational and adherence tool. A year of work by a team of professionals from different disciplines led by Dr. Hector Deschle that have developed a reliable and necessary site for our patients.

Electronic Health Records, accessible to all our partners free of charge, enabling to save patient’s data, monitor progress, upload images, record labora-tory results and obtain their patients’ statistics.

The WEB page, an essential communication and scientific dissemination tool, which this year had a prestigious editor as Dr Jorge Thierer, inviting us to visit the page, think and learn.

Our Congress, which once again impressed us for its high scientific level and which explains why it is the most important Spanish language Congress in the world.

This year, it included for the first time doctors from the provinces actively participating from Tucumán, Córdoba and Mendoza, which showed that our Society advances to national integration and that geographi-cal boundaries were demolished by the conviction of being what we are, one ARGENTINE Society of Car-diology. Other areas will be added to this form of com-munication and integration.

This year we have included in our Congress, Insti-tutional Symposia, which were a success with the par-ticipation of more than 1500 doctors, in which presti-gious medical institutions could show the cardiology community their experiences and position taking of the most important issues in the current cardiology.

With the Argentine Federation of Cardiology we have continued with the myocardial registration and have begun two new records: RENATA 2 in hyperten-sion and OFFICE AR IC in heart failure. These re­cords allow us to have reliable national figures and in the next 2 years to develop the right strategies, with the aim of reducing mortality by 25% in 2025.

We want to share with you the fact that the Re-search Ethics Committee (CEI) of our Society has been credited by the Central Research Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health, Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. This certification enables the Research Ethics Committee of the SAC to issue opinions approval for research projects as stipu-lated by the regulating laws.

OUR HOUSE REMODELLING

Last year I said it was necessary to reshape our So-ciety and acquire technology to meet modern needs, it was impossible to do so in one year, but had to get going and so we did.

We raised 1.2 million pesos which allowed us to purchase technology and make four new meeting rooms, we created the virtual room where all courses and interviews will be recorded and we have complete-ly refurbished the auditorium.

In short, we have generated a cross-management, lowered the debt by 46%, without touching our mone-tary reserves or taking loans and the total remodelling will allow to house in our Society young people who will be working and training to become better doctors which is our contribution as a Cardiology Society to the Argentine Society in general.

Many of the projects developed during this year, will become visible next year, such as the electronic medical records, WikiCardio, the closing of the web page so that all our members can access without re-striction to all the benefits of belonging to our Society, the records with the FAC and the consensus on child-hood and adolescence prevention with the Argentina Society of Pediatrics.

This is so, because we are convinced that major projects take a longer development and to accomplish them takes more than a one year Presidency, but we know that once completed they will bear the Sac’s seal of academic excellence and scientific significance.

All this work would have been impossible without the cooperation of the entire team that forms the Ar-gentine Society of Cardiology.

I would like to begin by expressing my gratitudeto the members of the Board, Dr. Daniel Berrocal that always accompanied me in all the decisions we have taken, Dr. Alberto Caccavo for his important support, mainly in the organization of the Multidisciplinary Congress of Bahia Blanca; Dr. Gastón Albina, Trea-surer of the SAC, for his outstanding, responsible task of facing economic difficulties which allow us today to say that this issue is not solved, but indeed, on the right track

I also wish to thank Dr. Adrian Charask and Dr. Maria Inés Sosa Liprandi for their contribution in carrying out the projects undertaken by the SAC this year and finally Dr. Claudio Makhoul, who will be the next Treasurer, my appreciation for his management for the realization of RENATA II and the Course con-ducted by the SAC for PAHO.

Thanks to all those responsible for the SAC areas, the Directors of Councils, District Presidents for their work pro bono, as I always said “is not to work for free but for the honor of working in a Society for the Society “

To the four assistant managers: Maria Cristina Núñez, Alejandro Delle Sedie, Luciano Monti and Lorena Maltese. I want to highlight the work of Ma­rina Joseph, Presidency and International Relations Secretary, and especially all the staff of the Argentine Society of Cardiology.

Everything we did would not have been possible without the generous support of the pharmaceutical industry, medical equipment, and medical institutions and finally I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Pedro Cossio for his support of our Society.

Today is my last day as President of the Argentine Society of Cardiology.

I was always a person who believed in happy end-ings, this year I felt like a film director, who devised, wrote, performed, directed and wrote music to a film, which had the best team and the best actors i.e. all SAC: Doctors and STAFF.

Thanks to each of you for having played your role brilliantly.

I have exercised the Presidency from every SAC area, in an unorthodox way, but the conventional has never been my strong point, but it worked, we re-duced the debt in 3.000.000 pesos, did not touch our reserves, generated many projects, and today the Ar-gentine Society of Cardiology is alive.

All this we accomplished together with joy, and having recovered the joy of coming to work was one of the most important goals as well as the appreciation of each of the individuals herein.

The name of the film is “An Unforgettable Year”.

I say goodbye with a smile and a sense of peace and happiness.

Thanks very much.

Guillermo Fábregues, Md^MTsaC

President of the Argentine Society of Cardiology