Update From the Chair of the Section on Anesthesiology, the American Academy of Pediatrics

By Rae Brown, MD, FAAP
Section Chair

For this report, I will focus directly on the issue of advocacy for children and the role that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) plays in changing lives. Opioids, gun safety, childhood poverty, and the plight of immigrants are just some of the topics at the top of the list of issues that the AAP is focused on now.

The Academy is spending countless thousands of dollars to inform the public about how children are hurt when parents are addicted, how often innocents are the victims of gunfire, and how many children are now in the foster care system because families are disrupted. Lawmakers hear from principals of the Academy on a weekly, if not daily, basis about the effect of thoughtless changes in the system of social support.  Every dollar that is spent by the Academy is focused on saving the life of a child, of raising a child from poverty, of ensuring that the next generation is educated, on giving the world a picture of the United States that reflects compassion, caring, and the thoughtful support of children.

I have been a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics for the last thirty years. Every year there are arguments concerning the costs of being a member, seemingly outsized for the return on investment. But never have I encountered a professional organization that has focused its very being more on the care of the least of us, rather than the betterment of us.

So, my choice has been to support the Academy with my sweat and my dollars. I do this because children come to us every day in our clinical practice with obvious needs that we as physicians could and should recognize and respond to. My membership in the AAP is one way that I can help these children, and I will continue to do so as long as I have breath.