Tennessee Medical Association Alliance

The 2023 Update Retreat was held on August 20-21, 2023, at the Dancing Bear Lodge in Townsend, Tennessee. Retreat activities included dinner at the Appalachian Bistro, a Bunko membership social, and conversation & s’mores around the campfire on Sunday evening. Monday began with an amazing breakfast prior to gathering for official business, which focused on the TMAA Strategic Plan. The retreat-style event provided attendees the opportunity to get to know one another, share ideas, projects, and struggles among AIMS/alliances, and offer input regarding the purpose and potential of TMAA.

As a foundation for conversation, we listed things that define TMAA as an organization: membership eligibility requirements; our association with TMA; the connections between the national, state, and county alliances; our mission statement and bylaws; laws concerning 501c organizations; the work of our focus Vice Presidents; our meetings; the philanthropic fund; our leaders; and our TMAA Strategic Plan. We acknowledged that how successfully we implement our goals and processes also defines who we are, and that while progress has been made, there is still work to be done to fully meet the TMAA Strategic Plan Objectives:

Goal 1 | Develop TMAA’s Messaging and Identity
Goal 2 | Grow TMAA’s Membership 
Goal 3 | Develop TMAA’s Internal Organizational Capacity

Breakout sessions were led by the Vice Presidents of Communication, Health Promotions, Legislation, and Membership, and the Chairs of the Philanthropic Fund and Planning & Development Committee. Attendees were able to explore how each area relates to our mission, offer ideas toward achieving the desired outcomes formed by our strategic plan, and help set measures of success for assessing our progress and holding ourselves accountable.

It was so exciting to see the engagement of our leaders and members as they worked together to create our goals for the year and visions for the future. If you were unable to join us for Update Retreat but have ideas to share, I invite input and participation from all of you with Hearts for Health to help TMAA in Creating Meaningful Connections through Friendship and Philanthropy!

Cynthia Gash | TMAA President 2023-2024

Dear TMA Alliance Friends-

I was thrilled to see so many of you at our 2023 Update Retreat at Dancing Bear Lodge! The dedicated time together in the Great Smoky Mountains was the perfect opportunity to focus on our organization. As a reminder of my theme for this year, and as a token of appreciation for the leadership team and members attending Update, I included a velvet heart in the gift bags. I hope those may find a special place as a reminder that your Hearts for Health are appreciated within TMAA!  Mine is hanging in my office where I will see it daily as I go through this year as President. Special thanks to Nora Lee, Beth Peterson, and their official host team from the WUJ Alliance, and to Sheila Barnett who helped me in scheduling our plans at Dancing Bear and curated information about nearby activities. 

Our new TMAA Website is underway!  We have been working with Nathanna Design in Knoxville to collect and organize TMAA content into the Wild Apricot platform.  Developing the website and member app is a primary goal for this year and a major step forward toward developing TMAA’s messaging and identity, growing our membership, and finessing our operating processes. If you have an interest in working with our communications team as we begin training members to use the website, newsletter, and member app, please reach out to me!

Over the summer, I had a chance to connect with members of the Tennessee Medical Association and meet current members of the TMA Board of Directors when I attended the TMA Board Retreat held in Knoxville in July. The main speaker addressed strategic planning, a focus of our own TMAA Update Retreat. I was able to relate with some valuable points such as: don’t think of a strategic plan every 5-10 years but every year, be planning all the time; accomplishing goals should be the focus of every board meeting agenda; work toward clearly stated outcomes and consider recruiting board members based on skills that are needed to generate those outcomes; if the money allocated in the budget is not resulting in the desired outcomes, revise spending.

My focus this year is to create specific, achievable goals that move us forward in meeting our strategic plan objectives. I encourage each of you to consider what you have to offer and how you can join us in shaping our organization’s future.

The 2023 Convention was held in Knoxville on April 20-21. KAMA as the host alliance did an amazing job with all aspects of the planning and preparations. I truly appreciate the work by my fellow KAMA members on the planning committee, without whom the meeting could not have been so successful.  And, the Knoxville Academy of Medicine graciously allowed us the use of their state-of-the-art conference room for the business meeting, for which we are truly grateful.  Thank you, KAM and KAMA! 

Jacqueline Nguyen, Esq., AMAA President 2022-2023, and Racheal Kunesh, AMAA President-Elect 2022-2023, were our special guests for the event.  We were honored to have Jacqueline speak to attendees about the AMAA and conduct the installation of TMAA officers for 2023-2024. The meeting featured two additional guest speakers. Juliann Chavez, Ph.D., R.D., L.D.N., spoke about women’s nutrition, supplements and aging gracefully. Andria Yates, Ph.D., gave a presentation about personal leadership development and individual leadership styles in a non-profit setting.

The evening prior to the business meeting, TMAA hosted a Welcome Reception & Dinner at the beautifully renovated event space at The Orangery, catered by Bistro By the Tracks. A “Raise the Paddle” was held to benefit the TMAA Philanthropic Fund which raised just over $4,400 to be used to fund TMAA Health Grants across the state. On behalf of the TMAA Philanthropic Board, thank you to everyone who supported this cause.

Watch your email for information about TMAA 2024 Convention, scheduled to be held in Chattanooga and hosted by the Chattanooga Medical Alliance.

Cynthia Gash | TMAA President 2023-2024

Dear TMA Alliance Friends-

Thank you for the honor of electing me to serve as the TMAA President for 2023-2024. My theme for this year is Hearts for Health | Creating Meaningful Connections Through Friendship and Philanthropy.  

We began implementing this theme at the 2023 Convention in Knoxville where members had time to connect and socialize at the Welcome Reception & Dinner and support our Philanthropic Fund through the Raise-the-Paddle event on Thursday evening.  On Friday, I was honored to be installed by AMAA President, Jacqueline Nguyen, followed by the first meeting with my new Board of Directors, an experienced team I look forward to working with in the upcoming year. 

Following Convention, I attended the AMAA Annual Meeting in Nashville, where TMAA co-sponsored the Welcome Reception and several of our Tennessee alliance members served on the annual meeting event council. Extra-special thanks go out to Jo Terry (Chair) and Amanda Baron (Co-Chair) for their amazing work planning and coordinating the details of the annual meeting.  Congratulations to WUJ who received the Physician Family Day Award for their “Physician Family Day in the Park” project. Watch for further information about the 2024 AMAA Annual meeting, slated to be held again in Nashville!

TMAA work will continue over the summer as we plan for 2023 Update and 2024 Convention, send renewal letters to our AIMs, communicate through the Volunteer Voice, track legislative efforts, and support health promotions in our communities. In addition, we will be working to create a new website and membership app for TMAA using the Wild Apricot platform.  It is my hope that through our work, we can build meaningful connections between alliance members from across our state.

Cynthia Gash