Finance & Communications Council Update

J. Abbott Byrd, III, MD
Finance & Communications Council Chair

Historically, the Finance Council has consisted of one committee that being the Finance Committee.  However, in an attempt to off load the duties of other Councils the Presidential Line and Board have expanded the committee responsibilities of the Finance Council by adding additional committees and renaming it the Finance and Communications Council.  The added committees include Website, Communications, Patient Education and Translation.  Updates of these committees are as follows:

Finance Committee-The finances of the SRS remain stable as reported by myself at the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.  The big news is that at the request of the Presidential Line the Board has passed the first dues increase for SRS member since 2009.  This was felt necessary as there has been no adjustment for inflation over the last 8 years.  Dues will increase by $75 for Active, Candidate and Associate members.  In addition, since 2009 SRS has had a three tier sliding dues scale for International Members based on the World Bank country classification.  The World Bank country classification, however, has four tiers and because of this the Board has approved a four tier sliding dues scale for SRS members.  The result is that beginning in 2018 SRS dues for Active, Candidate and Associate Fellows will be as follows: Code 1 Countries-$140, $140 and $105. Code 2 Countries-$285, $285 and $210. Code 3 Countries-$430, $430 and $315. Code 4 Countries-$575, $575 and $425.  If members have questions as to which code their country falls in to please see this document or contact Alysha Chapman, CNP, Membership Manager, at [email protected].

Website Committee-Total hits for the website are slightly down but this is felt due to the new website ramping up.  Seventy-five percent of our visitors are new while 25% are return.  The Patient Education section receives the most hits.  The Committee is trying to expand the SRS footprint in social media by continuing to explore Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube video opportunities.

Communications Committee-The primary charge of this committee is to produce the SRS Newsletter.  The committee is also exploring the use of the WhatsApp platform to facilitate communication between the SRS global membership and our patients worldwide.

Patient Education-This committee has been quite productive and in 2017 created brochures on General Kyphosis, Scheuermann’s Kyphosis and Congenital Scoliosis.  In addition, 14 videos were recorded at the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia which have been edited and recently uploaded to the SRS YouTube Channel as well as the SRS website.  The committee also hosted two webinars in October, the first on AIS with 261 viewers and the second on Operative Treatment for AIS with 43 viewers.  Goals for 2018 include revision of additional brochures and the hosting of two webinars. 

Translation Committee-Presently SRS materials have been translated into 14 languages and the goal for 2018 is to add Czech and Russian.  An ambitious goal indeed!

In closing, I would like to thank all of the committee members for their hard work which, as you can see from above, adds immensely to our Society.  As always, I would also like to thank Dan Nemec from our management team whose help to me as Treasurer is invaluable.