Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey

I’ve just returned from a volunteer event at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden, New Jersey.  The event was sponsored by the Healthcare Leadership Network of the Delaware Valley (HLNDV) which is a membership group of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE).  The group (pictured) cooked a breakfast of eggs, pancakes, toasted English muffins and bacon as well as juice and coffee.  I was responsible for cooking the bacon (2 lbs.)!

I was reminded once again how fortunate I am to have relatively good health.  To see the kids at the house suffering from a variety of life-threatening illnesses and still be in good spirits is humbling.  The house itself is a sanctuary for both the kids and their parents and the staff do a wonderful job of working with the families and maintaining the facility.

A special thanks to Fred for giving the group a tour of the house and patiently answering our questions.   If you want to know more about the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey, please visit:  http://www.ronaldhouse-snj.org/

GIS and Professionalism

As a healthcare consultant who uses the tools and techniques of geographic information systems (GIS), I am interested in the professionalism of the consulting industry but also the extent to which those of us who use GIS are viewed as professionals and not just analysts.  I recently completed reading two articles of interest – David DiBiase’s “Strengthening the GIS Profession” in the Summer 2012 issue of ArcNews (http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer12articles/strengthening-the-gis-profession.html) and Alan Butler’s article in the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) publication The GIS Professional titled “Directing URISA into the Future: A Proposal for Discussion” (http://www.urisa.org/files/julyaug2012.pdf). 

Alan’s article is written as commentary but I believe he makes several valid points as to the direction URISA must take in order to be the relevant professional organization for GIS professionals.  While I appreciate David’s comments, I don’t believe he goes far enough (which may simply reflect the amount of space available in ArcNews).  Alan goes further and does a nice job of laying out what he believes the future of URISA should look like.  However, I would encourage the board of URISA to consider going even further. 

When I mention to people that I belong to URISA (“eww Rissa”), they look at me like I have three heads!  Perhaps it’s time for a change in the organization’s name to something like GISTA (Geospatial Information Systems & Technology Association).  I believe this better reflects a more broadly defined profession for those of us who use the technology and better reflects the certifications (GIS Certification Institute) and accreditations that Alan calls for.  It’s also more consistent with the US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) that David mentions in his article.

What do you think?