A Message from the President

Tricia Kassab, RN, MS, CPHQ

     I want to begin by saying I am humbled to have the opportunity to serve as the CAHQ President for 2008-2009.  As a previous critical care RN and a quality/patient safety professional for the last 15 years, I appreciate the challenges each of us face in healthcare on a daily basis.  There never seems to be enough time to do everything well.  I have perfected “lists of to do's” and am continually striving to focus on a “stop doing list!”

We are committed to reaching out to you to better understand how CAHQ could provide you the greatest value.  In this era of cost and time constraints, many of us need to be considerate in what educational offerings we can attend.  We plan on using survey monkey periodically to solicit your thoughts and opinions.  Each one of you have a critical voice in CAHQ's strategic direction, and we need you more than ever to help optimize our education and networking efforts.

We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding with the change of dates for our annual spring conference.  The conference will be held on June 23-25 th at the beautiful Sheraton Universal City.  It's a wonderful spot for both singles and families.  The agenda will focus on patient safety and a track specific for elder care.  Additionally, based on your feedback from last year's conference, we are offering a one day mock trial on June 25 th .   The registration information is on the web site: www.cahq.org , as well in the back of this journal. You will also be receiving a brochure to your home address shortly!

We have a very talented and creative team of board and committee members this year with several returning members. 

Julie Booth is the Past President, and is currently the Director of Outcomes Measurement and Improvement for Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.  She is an active member of CHIA, and was an examiner for the Malcolm Baldridge Quality award in 2000 and 2001.

Judy Pugach is the President-elect and is the Vice President of Quality and Risk Management at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, California.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the C. W. Post College Long Island University, and a Masters in Public Health from California State University in Long Beach. 

Our Treasurer is Marcie Cochran and she is the Manager for Quality/Patient Safety at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.  She has been the Treasurer for one year, and previously held the position of Education Co-Chair.

Jennifer Hoke is the newly elected Secretary. She is currently holds the position of RN II consultant for the California Department of Public Health.  She has been with the state for 7 years, holding positions as an Evaluator, Instructor/Trainer, and QA specialist.

Tricia West continues on this year as the Chair of the Education Committee. She was past Co-Chair of the Education Committee. Tricia is founder of and CEO of P. J. West and Associates, Inc, a national medical-legal consulting firm.  She has her MBA and PHN, and has been an active member of CAHQ serving on the Board since 2003.  She is a Past President of CAHQ and a Past Editor of the CAHQ Journal.  Additionally, she is a Past President of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants Los Angeles. <

Dr. Kathy Chai and Pat Lucken, FNP continue this year as our CAHQ Journal Co-Editors.  Kathy received her PhD in Education and is currently the Director of Eudcation and Quality at Kaiser West Los Angeles.  She is a professor at Cal State Dominquez Hills for the Masters in Nursing Program and was the Past President of CAHQ.  She is also involved at the national level in NAHQ and has been Membership Chair and Chair of the Healthcare Quality Foundation.

Pat Lucken is a Family Nurse Practitioner and the Director of the Cardiac Service Line at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley.  She leads the acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and the rapid response teams and has been instrumental in achieving and sustaining a 30% reduction in non-severity mortality.  Pat has served as the Secretary of the Inland Empire Emergency Medical Agency (ICEMA) North End Quality Committee.

Beth Rowett is the newly elected Chair of the Nominating Committee.  She is the Executive Director of Quality and Risk at Children's Hospital Orange County (CHOC), and is a senior examiner for the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award.

The Membership Chair is Catherine Carson.  Catherine is currently the Vice President of Quality and Performance Improvement with the Hospital Association of Southern California.  Catherine joined the Board as Nominating Committee Chair and continued to serve as President-elect, President, and Past-President between 1994-1996

She has held leadership positions with VHAWest, Tenet and Quantros.

The Finance Manager is Jan Maronde, JD, Esq.  Jan received her Juris Doctorate at the University Of La Verne College Of Law in 2007.  She is a RN and is the Principal for JLM Association.  She was the previous Executive Director of the Healthcare Quality Certification Board of NAHQ and has been the CAHQ finance manager since 1999.

Helen Gatti is the Association Manager of CAHQ and maintains the CAHQ daily operations.  She is a health care quality consultant and an invaluable resource to our state association.

I am from Boston and worked at Mass General for several years in the cardiovascular ICU.  I worked for Sharp Memorial for several years, as well as Critical Air Medicine in San Diego.  I later moved to Orange County and worked at Hoag in Newport Bach for 6 years. I have been at St. Joseph Health System for 7 years.  We have 14 hospitals, 3 home care networks, rehab facilities and skilled nursing units.  I am excited to work with a state of committed and talented professionals and look forward to meeting you this year.

Posted April 8, 2008