MMAA Update
The Benefits of Membership
There are two main reasons to join a group like the MMA Alliance: to give and to receive.
By Candy Adams
During my husband’s medical school years at the University of Iowa in the 1960s, I belonged to the Women’s Association of the Student American Medical Association (WASAMA). That organization has long since been renamed the AMA Alliance and has broadened its reach and updated its strategies. Yet the reasons for joining back then are the same as the reasons for joining the Alliance today. People want to be of service, to contribute to their communities, to support the field their spouse has chosen. But there’s another reason to join such a group: to connect with others who share your passions.
The latter, I now realize, has been especially valuable to me during the past 40 years. This unique organization has provided me the opportunity to meet incredible volunteers who are working to improve the health of their communities. Building and strengthening these relationships needs to be an important aspect of our organization. Those of us who have been involved at the county, state, or national levels know that we benefit from the personal relationships we have with other Alliance members, while our communities benefit from the work we do together. Our members have rallied to support each other in times of grief and in times of happiness. And we’ve shared in contributing to the good health of Minnesota.
Dianne Fenyk, AMA Alliance president, wrote in a recent article in our Alliance Today magazine, “No matter what you choose to do with the opportunities the Alliance offers, I guarantee you’ll be doing it with like-minded individuals who care about you as much as they care about the health of America.”
As MMA Alliance president, I have gained an even greater appreciation for the relationships I have with many dedicated physicians and spouses in our state who work together tirelessly on important health care issues.
Yet our network can be wider and stronger. Thus, one of my goals this year is to promote membership in the MMA and MMA Alliance.
In that same article, Fenyk wrote, “Studies show that people join an organization for three main reasons: to belong, to develop themselves personally, and to make a difference for the greater good.” Alliance membership does, indeed, provide these benefits and more. MM
Candy Adams is president of the Minnesota Medical Association Alliance.