Yes, that is correct, this digest article is about education and having money to support the educational needs of your departments. Healthmark has a program called Sterile Processing Dollars (SPD) and all you have to do is signup to be registered. Healthmark understands that departments everywhere might be having a difficult time getting money for education. That's why, over 12 years ago, we started the SPD program. It is a free program; you only need to sign up and when you purchase products you receive points to be used for the educational needs of your department. For an example, last year at the IAHCSMM annual meeting, we had over 10 people use the program to prepay their registration fee. In fact, we just received our first person signing up for next year's program. It is not limited to just national meetings. In fact, we recently had one department send 8 employees to a State meeting. Departments also use the points to buy textbooks from both IAHCSMM and CBSPD. See our list of items by clicking here. So please sign up and start accumulating those points. There is a saying, "same church different pew," so since I am talking about education I want to share with you some great stories from my recent travels that deal with education. The Golden West group out of Northern California recently had their annual meeting and they have a great tradition; just before the vendor show, they ask a person from each company that is displaying to come up in front of the attendees and tell everybody, in just a few minutes, about their company and what they are displaying. WOW, what a great idea! It allows vendors a chance to connect with the attendees and formally ask them to stop by their booth. The next cool idea I was able to observe was at the recent Cascade Chapter Annual Meeting in Newport, Oregon. Their chapter had on display a proclamation from the Governor, informing the State of Oregon that the week of 10/12-10/15 is officially CS week in Oregon. That is another WOW moment! If your State is not doing this now, have it for next year. I have some pictures of the proclamation and of attendees; you can view them on our Facebook page. Just click here to view. Lastly, tell Healthmark what you're doing for CS Week! Share your thoughts and ideas. Email us or post on our Facebook page and share with others. CELEBRATE YOUR STORIES AND SHARE WITH YOUR PROFESSION. Since next week is CS Week, signup now for our SPD program and see how many points you can accumulate to use for departmental educational needs in 2016. Remember, we are the Heart of the Hospital!