Happy 55th Birthday, ACEP

As I write this, ACEP turns 55. Like most of you, I joined these early leaders participating in the growth and development of ACEP, celebrating its successes and supporting it through its failures.

My daughter was born 54 days after ACEP, my son not quite four years later. I watched the three of them grow up together and will be the first to admit that my 1972 vision for them is not what I see today. They have each exceeded my expectations and traveled paths that didn’t exist (and couldn’t even be imagined) when they were born.

The 55^th celebration will be more subdued than when ACEP turned 25, 30, or 50. But it is less important to celebrate the past today. Now it’s crucial to look to the future. The pandemic and virtual meetings have brought us lower meeting attendance. Job insecurity, earlier burnout and retirement, and less dues assistance from employers has created an aging ACEP membership.

Worse yet, emergency physicians are opting out completely. Despite the increasing need to join together and celebrate, we are becoming more isolated and unengaged.

What will ACEP look like as past leaders retire, age out, and die? More importantly, if we look at this challenge as an opportunity, what could ACEP look like as it moves through its second 50 years? How can our small group of ACEP advocates help assure that ACEP Remains Relevant as we explore retirement? Send us your ideas.