Introduction: World Federation 1993-1997 M. F

Introduction: World Federation 1993-1997

M. F

At the 1993 World Congress of the Federation in Madrid I was elected President of the World Federation. The Secretary General was Christopher Bryan Brown of the United States and the Treasurer was Dr David Ryan of the United Kingdom. It immediately became apparent that we had no Executive Member from the new elected delegates, which would cause a problem when the Executive changed 4 years later.

The 4-year period for which I was President was characterised as a period of little growth in the Federation as we endeavoured with some difficulty in keeping the organisation afloat.

The publishing company King and Wirth had a long and successful asso-

ciation with the society which gave them access to the society’s mailing list

and in return lead to a financial payment to the Federation and the produc-

tion of the journal ‘Intensive Care World’. This journal was the Federation’s

flagship and the only intensive care literature received by many of the mem-

ber societies throughout the world. King and Wirth were no longer willing

and able to continue to provide these services. The directors of King and

Wirth set out to find an alternative group to take over the publishing and the

mailing list activities of the Federation. They arranged a number of prelimi-

nary discussions between myself and members of suitable companies which

eventually led to council approving an agreement signed with Mr David

Campbell at the World Congress in Ottawa. Mr Campbell ran a successful

medical publishing company called Global HealthCare Communications. This

relationship promised many exciting opportunities for the Federation, par-

ticularly with respect to broadband communication. Over the time I was asso-

ciated with the Federation, the increasing use of the Internet and e-mail for

transmission of information had made a major improvement in the ability to

communicate within council. Global HealthCare Communications was inter-

ested in taking electronic communication further with real-time broadcast-

ing of intensive care symposia to members and in electronic publication of

the journal, and creation of a website. Luciano Gattinoni was able to obtain a generous grant from Mallinckrodt to establish a website. Unfortunately, our relationship with Global was not a happy one: the journal did not survive and the website was unsatisfactory. Global was sold to another company and to all intents and purposes disappeared. The problems will no doubt be dealt with in subsequent chapters.

The second problem the Executive had to confront was that Ms Rika Sevy, who had been the Secretary and Business Manager, and a tireless champion of the Federation since its inception had to resign for personal reasons. We sought tenders from member societies to administer the business of the Federation. It was agreed at a council meeting in 1995 that the offer from the Intensive Care Society (UK) should be accepted. This then became a perma- nent home of the World Federation.

The only other problems encountered during the period 1993-1997 were those over membership. This generally revolved around conflicts between the two societies as to who would be the official representative of the country. In the case of the two Indian societies it was agreed that both could be members.

This was strenuously resisted by the President of the original society, Dr N.P.

Singh, who was a very active member of the Federation. However, Dr Singh’s society vanished over subsequent years and the Indian Society for Critical Care Medicine became an active member.

A request for membership from a Greek society encompassing both anaesthesia and intensive care was opposed by the Hellenic Society which was solely an intensive care society. The Hellenic Society was invited to apply for membership at the Toronto World Congress but demanded that the Macedonian Society be expelled prior to the Hellenic Society’s entry. This was neither possible within the constitution nor appropriate in the opinion of council.

Other political problems occurred in relationship to the Sydney World Congress and it is important in my opinion that a World Federation does all it can to ensure it is a body for doctors (and nurses) and not involved in prob- lems which are not able to be influenced by the organisation, nor relevant to the majority of members.

Throughout the course of my presidency, the Federation’s financial posi- tion was precarious in spite of the excellent and diligent stewardship of treas- urer David Ryan. Revenue from the Madrid meeting was lower than expected and the loss of King and transition to the new headquarters reduced the abil- ity to collect subscriptions. We minimised costs by meeting in association with other congresses and providing speakers in return for a meeting venue and accommodation. Our thanks for support in these activities go to the Pan- Iberian Society, SCCM , and Jean Louis Vincent.

Efforts to improve the society’s financial position, particularly in the light

2 M. Fisher

of losing the income from publishing and membership activities were largely unsuccessful.

Prior to the Intensive Care Meeting in Ottawa, we were able to attract Ms Sevy back to the society and were able to facilitate the transfer of the society’s records and archives to the Intensive Care Society (UK). Ms Sevy was avail- able to run the Federation’s business at the Toronto Congress, which was a great relief to the council. Dr Luciano Gattinoni became the new president of the Federation in Toronto.

Because of a lack of corporate knowledge in the new Executive, I was asked to remain n as an ex-officio member and was associated with the exe- cutive activities up until the World Congress of 2001.

One of the philosophies we tried to support in Council was helping people from developing countries. The World Federation sponsored a number of del- egates by paying their registration to attend the World Congress held in Ottawa in 1997. However, the World Federation’s arrangement with the Canadian Society meant that the entire share of the profits made by the World Federation was to be taken up by the sponsored registrations. The Canadian Society of Critical Care very graciously took over the cost of the registrations themselves.

The World Congress in 2001 marked a major landmark in the society’s activities. While a number of other World Congress meetings had made small profits and the Canadian meeting made a reasonable profit, the Australian meeting made a substantial profit despite spending a great deal more on social functions and other activities than previously. The Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society was able to increase the World Federation’s share of the profit by 50% more than the agreement. Major efforts were made with the 2001 meeting to change some of the previous ways of doing things.

All the invited speakers were required to pay fees to the Federation for the

cost of accommodation and registration. Accommodation and living

allowances were provided to a number of people who would otherwise have

been unable to come and we were able to sponsor people from South America,

Cuba, Vietnam and Nepal. A number of nurses from Malawi and Rwanda were

also able to attend and remain in Sydney to gain experience in intensive care

units, and in association with various other groups, a number of other people

were able to remain in Australia and New Zealand for training. There were a

number of sponsored people who were unable to attend because of the diffi-

culty in getting visas after the World Trade Centre attacks on the 11

September 2001. Indeed although this led to a number of cancellations of

speaking delegates at the meeting, particularly from Portugal and the United

States, the over 2000 registrations meant that the meeting did not suffer in a

major way from these cancellations. The opening ceremony has passed into

legend: it seemed to us that most opening ceremonies are the same and the

Introduction: World Federation 1993-1997 3

speeches the same too. Our only speakers were patients and relatives and with one exception (a patient), the solo artists were all doctors and nurses. The ceremony was held together by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir.

We were conscious when running this meeting of a complete lack of cor- porate history in terms of what had gone on before and at the end of the meeting a CD was produced containing advice and details of budgets and ten- der documents, etc., for future organisers of the meeting.

Overall, my term as President was associated with little growth and problem-solving and we were unable to hand over a Federation that fulfilled our goals to the new executive.

4 M. Fisher