ALMA Chicago Chapter

CLC-ALMA Health Seminar Update:

We had a very successful event co-sponsored by CLC (Chicago Lebanese Club) . The health seminar was attended by 54 people of all ages at Maza Restaurant on Sunday November 13 at 2:30pm. Topics discussed ranged from children's emotional health, pediatric health maintenance, and women's health maintenance. Many thanks to the speakers who sacrificed their time and weekend to educate the Lebanese community on such important topics related to their family's health. Pictures from the event will be available soon on our updated website www.almamater.org under Chicago local chapter section. The speakers were Dr. Susan Gervers, Dr. George Farah, and myself. We hope to do more of these educational events (at least annually or biannually) to give back to our community. Click here for picture Galery

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Upcoming meetings.

We will have a meeting in January with further details to be announced soon. Nominations and elections for the upcoming 2006 Executive committee will be held at that time. If you are interested in playing a more active role in the direction of the Chicago Chapter of ALMA ? consider running for one of these positions. They include President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer.

Membership fees

It was decided by the Executive Committee to have an annual membership fee which would include 4 dinner meetings (dinners included of course) for the whole year along with the chapter fee for a total of $125 annual fee starting January 2006.

Doctors Profiles

If you are interested in posting your profile on ALMA website www.almamater.org , please email Farid Abboud (Our website coordinator) at farid@almamater.org The fee is $50 and part of the proceeds will go towards benefiting our local chapter. (Please mail your checks to Nadia Yammine)

ALMA National Meeting.

Please check latest updated Info on our website www.almamater.org. The annual meeting will be held on Feb 24-26 in Las Vegas honoring Dr. Debakey and Dr. Salem. I encourage you to register and attend this meeting . The registration information is found on www.almamater.org/registration2.htm. receive up to 8 CME credits.

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NON-ALMA SPONSORED EVENTS:

December 10^th Phoenician Club of Chicago?s Annual Christmas Party & Awards/Installation Banquet.. They will be honoring Humanitarian - Man of the year, Dr. Aref Senno. The party will be held on 12/10 at Marriott Hotel, 1500 Opus place, Downers Grove, IL. 6:30 cocktails followed by dinner at 7:30pm (cost members $15, nonmembers $35). Make reservations with Jackie Haddad at 630-941-9388, or George Dandan 708-306-6393.

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Meeting Minutes Summary for the Chicago Chapter of ALMA

October 15, 2005

The Meeting took place at the home of our President, Dr. Zeina Kalache Abboud A delicious Lebanese meal was catered by Kawkab Shaheen. We thank her for her generosity.

Attendees for the meeting included:

Dr. Zeina Kalache Abboud
Dr. Antoun Nader
Dr. Fadi & Kathy Habib
Dr. George Farah
Dr. Sabah and Tina Khalifa
Dr. Amjad and Jennifer Zureikat
Dr. Roland and Nadia Yammine

Dr. Susan Gervers and Dr. Jeffrey Feathergill
Dr. Sam and Ghada Dibs

The following agenda was discussed at the meeting:

·         National President Dr. Paul Wakim via teleconference provided us with a preview to the next national meeting to be held in either Palm Springs, California or Las Vegas, Nevada in February, (2006 4-6 hours of CME).

·         Dr. Wakim also noted the successful Medical Meeting held at the Portemelio Resort in Kaslik Lebanon, August 11th-14^th, 2005.

·         Discussed the upcoming ALMA-CLC lunch meeting to be held on Sunday, November, 13, 2005 at 2:30. ALMA will have 2-3 of our members speak on relevant medical and related psychology topics.   Ideas for topics were also discussed among our various members.

·         Discussed health fair to take place in a church and mosque this winter/Spring details will be discussed at the next meeting.

·         Mrs. Yammine provided us with a summary of the treasury report.

·         Present members voted to have a yearly fee of $100 paid up front for all the meetings (plan for 5 meetings/yr), starting in January 2006. If you do not attend all of the meetings, that part of the fee will be considered a donation to ALMA.

·         Mr. Farid Abboud presented us the National ALMA website that he designed (www.alammater.org). Upon our request, he will be adding our member’s profiles to the Chicago chapter section of the ALMA website for a nominal fee of $50/year of which $30 donated back to ALMA. Any further questions regarding member’s profiles contact Farid Abboud 630-310-8629.

·         Plan for the next meeting in January 2006 – elections for new officers will be held at that time.

Submitted by ALMA secretary, Dr. Susan Gervers

FUTURE EVENTS

Meeting in Dec/Jan with elections (more info later)

CLC/ALMA Educational Seminar (November 13th 2:30 at Maza - (More info / flyer)

Many other ALMA related activities are happening around the nation. Please take a look at the activities section on ALMA Website.

CATERING

For those who requested our caterer's number from the last meeting

Contact Information :

Name : Kowkab Shaheen
TEL : 630-963-4752

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Dear Fellow ALMA Members

Many thanks for your attendance it was great having all 15 members in this meeting; the Meeting was a success, and the national plans preview from our National President Dr. Paul Wakim were great and we are all looking forward to he next national meeting in Palm Spring or Las Vegas. The minutes of meeting will be posted on this page later this week. As discussed in our meeting we will be adding our members profiles to our Chicago chapter section of the ALMA website.

Attendees for our Saturday 15th meeting were

Dr. Antoun Nader ..
Dr. Fadi & Kathi Habib
Dr. Sabah and Tina Khalifa
Dr. Amjad and Jennifer Zureikat
Dr. Roland and Nadia Yammine
Dr. George Farah
Dr. Susan Gerves
Dr. Sam and Ghada Dibs

Click here to see the pictures from our meeting.

Thanks,
Dr. Zeina Kalache Abboud
Chicago Chapter President - ALMA

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Hello Everyone,

Just a REMINDER about our meeting next week. I am sorry the brochure did not note the time. It will be starting at 6:30.

WHERE

1048 Oakwood Dr.
Westmont, IL 60559

WHEN

October 15, 2005
6:30 PM

MENU

Delicious Lebanese cuisine by Kawkab Shaheen including Leg of Lamb, grape leaves, hummus, knafe, kibbi, and much much more....(getting hungry just writing about it)

COST: $20/ person

COME JOIN US for a short meeting and dinner to reconnect with old friends/colleagues and meet new ones.

It is not too late to RSVP. You can call me at 630-321-9091 or email me at zkalache@aol.com. Please let me know by Wed 10/12 if you will make it. Hope to see you all there.

Thanks,
Dr. Zeina Kalache Abboud
Chicago Chapter President - ALMA

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Dear fellow ALMA members,

Hope you all had a great summer. Our prayers are with our fellow Americans suffering in the Gulf States due to Hurricane Katrina. I lived in Louisiana for many years and hope that New Orleans will be rebuilt again. There will be a meeting announced in the next few days for either late Sep/early October. In the meeting, we hope to discuss the CLC/ALMA seminar as well as preparing for the mini health fair and discuss other humanitarian events. I would appreciate your input and your attendance at the meeting. We had a successful event in Lebanon with the National Meeting and pictures will be posted on our new website in the next few days. Please look at our new website and give any feedback to improve our website. www.almamater.org

NON-ALMA sponsored event:

One of our fellow members, Dr. Bernard Bendok, is co directing a Symposium on new developments on stroke treatment and imaging on September 10^th. Call 312-926-0960 to register. Attached is the flyer for the symposium. It is $20/ person.

Thanks,
Dr. Zeina Kalache Abboud
Chicago Chapter President - ALMA