Surprise! USLCA (US Lactation Consultants Association) members received
their October e-newsletter (issue 1) today. But the bigger surprise was--and
please tell me if I'm wrong--for the second time, did I miss the advertisement
for the position of Executive Director of the US Lactation Consultant
Association, or was the position filled, for the second time, without it being
publicly advertised?
I check the ILCA and USLCA websites regularly (as those of you who read the
discussion boards concerning the second credential know), and I cannot recall
seeing a mention of the upcoming vacancy. (The announcement of Mr.
Sherwood's employment noted that the first director, Glendora Jubilee, resigned for
health reasons--I presume that this was with at least a 2 week notice.)
I was not able to attend the ILCA meeting, but as a dues-paying member of
USLCA, I hope I am receiving all of the USLCA's publications, press releases and
other pertinent information. I'd at least like to know when such positions
are available at this very small (i.e., one, at my last count) organization.
The selection of the first Executive Director was announced shortly after
the Board of Directors materialized (having been 'selected' from a committee
of volunteers who served to set up the framework for the USLCA). The
announcement of Mr. Sherwood's employment was also a surprise. I am not questioning
the qualifications of either Ms Jubilee or Mr. Sherwood, but I would sure like
to know how they knew about this job opportunity when I, and presumably
other USLCA members and perhaps even other more well-qualified candidates than
they knew nothing of it. I don't find this the best way to engender
professional support for an organization that needs IBCLCs' dues to guarantee its
already precarious existence.
When Ms Jubilee was appointed, I spoke with the Exec Director of ILCA, as he
was involved in the selection process. He, on behalf of USLCA, offered the
explanation the person hired had to be willing to relocate to North Carolina
to co-locate with the ILCA offices. The logic was, to simplify the matter,
that it would be more cost effective to share administrative costs, despite the
fact that USLCA was a one-(wo)man operation and that the majority of USLCA's
work would be centered in and around issues and players in Washington DC.
It made me wonder what was really going on. The appointment of Mr. Sherwood
doesn't make that question any less pressing.
I would like to make one more comment: What good does it really do to send
members to a Wikipedia link to learn more about finding out how to define the
work of lactation consultants as a profession? This is an issue that I, and
others, have been trying to raise to level of the to-do-list of IBLCE and
ILCA for quite some time. My 8th grader uses Wikipedia; maybe USLCA first
could be a bit more helpful in enlightening its membership on the how's and why's
of this important issue. It seems to me that if the Board's priorities are
licensure and reimbursement issues, figuring out how to make lactation
consulting an official profession (i.e., recognized by the USG) should probably
figure somewhere higher in that equation than instructing everyone to click on
Wikipedia.
If you do click and read the Wikipedia explanation, by all means, do let us
know what you think USLCA should do. I'll bet you won't finish the boring
and confusing article. I could barely finish it, and I care about the subject!
Barbara Ash, MA, IBCLC
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