Greetings!

As I mentioned in the January President's Corner, I promised to come to you with some introductions of members of the UBPN Board of Directors each month. All directors serve two year terms and volunteer their time. This month it is my privilege to introduce to you our newest board member, Karen McClune.

Karen McClune and her husband, David, have two sons: Aaron, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska, and Ryan, who lives in South Riding, Virginia. Ryan was injured on February 29th, 2000 after a motorcycle accident avulsed a good percentage of his left brachial plexus. It is through Ryan that Karen comes to UBPN. She graduated with a B.A. in Child Development from California State University Northridge. She is a substitute teacher in Special Education and English as a Second Language for the Kent School District in Kent, Washington and has been an active leader in Cub Scouts and PTA. Karen is currently co-chair of the Health and Safety committee for the Washington State PTA. She also writes the newsletter for the friends group at her library. Karen is very grateful to UBPN, which has helped Ryan with the progress that he has made and for their support. She is excited to be on the UBPN Board and to help advance UBPN to the next level of helping others. We are pleased that she has also agreed to be an Awareness Committee Co-chair.

I would also like to announce that we are planning some major website changes, including a long awaited registry. Our next issue of Outreach is in editing stages and will have several articles by bpi specialists focusing on the shoulder, and a feature on the use of Botox. We will soon have some exciting news to share with you about a potential TV show we are preparing for PBS stations to raise awareness of brachial plexus injuries.

Best wishes,

Nancy Birk, President
UBPN, Inc.