Themes from the 2015 CAHL annual meeting

On August 12th, 2015 Paubox attended the CAHL (California Association of Healthcare Leaders) Annual Meeting in Walnut Creek, CA. The event was meaningful and well worth the time investment. Here are my top takeaways from the meeting.

Online relationships can't replace face-to-face meetings In the age where people connect on LinkedIn, find people on facebook, follow someone on instagram or twitter, it is easy to bypass the opportunity to meet someone face-to-face. At the CAHL Annual Meetings, people were given the opportunity to interact with old friends and new acquaintances. What was more impressive was the genuine friendliness that everyone at the meeting demonstrated. From the guest speaker, Richard Cordova to the newly graduates of CSU Chico, everyone was welcoming to others. It was difficult to have a moment of alone time at the meeting because you wanted to meet people and people wanted to meet you. At the end of the night, it felt like you had met some new friends.

Healthcare has become incredibly more diverse While at the meeting the president-elect of CAHL, Baljeet Sangha, harped on a message that really stuck with me. He mentioned just how diverse the CAHL chapter is just by looking at those in attendance. He was right, in more ways than one. Healthcare has become radically diverse over the past few years. The diversity comes from the different professions, age, experience, degree, and race. It's incredibly rewarding to see people from different backgrounds come together to help improve upon the community's healthcare ecosystem. Humility in service One of the highlights of the night was the award ceremony. All of the awards were revolved around the theme of service. The recipients of each awards won because they went above and beyond what was require of them. It's amazing to think how incredible each award winner is, they not only have full-time obligations to their profession, but find time to give to various CAHL activities. What was even more striking was the humility that each of the winners showed. All of the winners were genuinely surprised and humbled by the fact that others recognized their work. It goes to show that these people joined CAHL to help others and not themselves. The night was fun, the food was delicious, and more importantly the people were great. Paubox is looking forward to future CAHL events and meeting new friends.