SOCIETY OF MEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNOLOGISTS OF SOUTH AFRICA

BORDER BRANCH

Our Committee:

	Chair: Bridget Kröger PathCare (043)  701-5921 bkroger@pathcare.co.za
	Treasurer: Glenda Bowie NHLS (043) 709-2362
	Secretary: Lesley Lentz SANBS (043) 704-8200

General Committee Members:

	Cindy Webber SANBS  (043) 704-8200
	Dawn McArdle SANBS  (043) 704-8200
	Adrian Hawkes NHLS (043) 708-2218

Functions:

We have a membership of 74 technologists and technicians

We meet 3 or 4 times a year in the evenings for a 2 or 3 hour CPD function. Normally try to arrange 2 speakers on an evening with poster displays if there are any available. Those people presenting posters get an extra 5 points for their posters.

In addition to this we organise a Mini Congress towards the end of the year on a Saturday afternoon. Normally incorporates 5 hours of two sessions of talks, a splendid tea time and registration time when folk can view the posters and displays. We are sponsored for this event by Bayer, Bactec, Davies for the function and tea.

Also invaluably assisted by PathCare and SANBS laboratories in various ways, including staff time to organise the event.

We hand out a number of awards at this function as well as gifts to all the people presenting items. Amongst these are:

Dr Mulligan’s Floating trophy and book voucher for the “Best First Time Oral Presenter” (See below)

A number of Corporate gifts kindly donated by Bayer for other prizes

A lucky draw of two hampers of “goodies” for all attending who complete a questionnaire about the posters. This is done to ensure people visit and read the posters and also as a bit of fun and ice breaker.

More about Dr Mulligan’s Floating Trophy for “First Time Oral Presenter”. This has been awarded since the first Mini Congress organised by Border Branch alone, which was held at Summerhill Farm in Bathurst. Subsequent ones, from 4 years later, were held in East London to enable as many techs as possible to attend. The award has been won by the following people:

We encourage our students to do their oral at our Congress as a practise run for their end year presentation at Technikon. A number of them have done this and Kwakhona was one of these students! We struggled to get entries at first for these congresses but people have been encouraged to join in when they have seen the excellent work produced by their friends. The recent event drew in 11 posters and 6 orals. Hopefully some will be brave enough to present at the SMLTSA National Congress one day!