The 2004 AVAA Annual meeting was held on Monday October 25 at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. As always is the case in Las Vegas the lights were bright, the energy high and people turned out excited to participate in the meeting.  In all there were about 60 guests, including some identified folks. We tried to provide everyone with a named badge to facilitate members to get to know each other better. This was partially successful with a few going incognito.  Not to worry all were welcome.  It was nice to see so many new faces and this gives AVAA hope that membership is growing. In a city known for its fabulous layouts of food, this spread was let’s just say, OK.  There is always next year, right?  Well anyway, we all left full and enjoyed the comradery.  This AVAA meeting could not have taken place without the generous unrestricted educational support from Drager, GE and Abbott.

Immediately following dinner, the meeting started with a welcoming speech by Drs London and Sum-Ping. Dr Rosendal, Medical Informatics from Colorado/Central Office was one of our invited guest speakers and gave a presentation on the update of the surgical package and the future direction of medical informatics in the VA system. Our National Anesthesia Service Director, Dr Bishop, with the help of his very able assistant Doug Rotter, then led some heated discussions on national anesthesia service issues. Dr Sum-Ping followed by giving a presentation on anesthesia record keeping.

Dr Peter Hendricks, ASA secretary, was our other Guest speaker. He presented the ASA point of view about how the AVAA fits into the ASA organization vis-à-vis other similar association such the military. He voiced that he is very supportive of the AVAA being an ASA component society as long as we can show that this is what the members want.

We did not finish our agenda as time ran out. We wanted to discuss other important issues regarding the future of AVAA. We left that for the next meeting in New Orleans.

As with the rest of my colleagues, this year’s most pressing issue at the VA is the budget.  Fiscal year 2005 gives new meaning to doing more with less.  However, as is always the case in the VA our dedicated surgeons and anesthesiologist continue to meet the ever-increasing demands of the returning Afghanistan and Iraqi veterans along with the many others vets from past conflicts. 

I look forward to leading the next meeting in New Orleans in October 2005.  Please make every effort to be there and continue the sharing opportunities this meeting gives to VA anesthesiologist.   There are some things that are unique to our system and getting together with colleagues with similar challenges and issues is beneficial to us all.

S. T. John SUM-PING