A Message from the ICRM President: COVID-19
Dear Members and Candidates,
We are living in unprecedented times as a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Our concern is for the health and safety of our ICRM family and have been monitoring the developments continuously over the past few weeks. We encourage everyone to follow the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), state, and local guidelines for personal health and safety measures.
The ICRM is currently evaluating its scheduled participation in numerous events occurring in 2020 and due to the constantly changing situation, we are doing so in order of their occurrence and waiting on our partner associations to take the lead on their decisions and announcements.
The MER Conference is the first partner event scheduled for this year and its leadership has announced that it will be held the same dates in May but in a virtual format. Messaging and related announcements are being developed. Please visit the ICRM and MER websites frequently as more information is forthcoming.
If you have any questions about ICRM participation at any of the regularly scheduled conferences and exam prep pre-cons, please contact Rae Lynn Haliday, CRM, Chairman of the ICRM Strategic Alliance Committee, as she manages this process for the Institute. You can reach her at (314) 799-5132 or by email at haliday@stlzoo.org.
For Candidates:
Pearson Vue testing centers have closed for 30 days to protect the health and well-being of staff and exam takers. Pearson Vue has already sent communication to those registered to take an exam during this time. In the meantime, we encourage you to continue studying for the exams. There is a wealth of resources on the ICRM website. You may want to consider our new Mentoring program and connect with other candidates on the new Mentoring LinkedIn page. Contact Jerry Lucente-Kirkpatrick (jerrykirkpatrick@msn.com) for more information. We will be monitoring those who may be negatively impacted by the closure of testing sites as their testing window draws near.
For Members:
We understand that ARMA has requested all in-person chapter events be canceled until further notice. Chapter meetings and seminars are a popular way for our members to earn CMP credits. We encourage you to look at the online training resources ARMA and other organizations have available. You may also want to take this time to write up a work project for credit. We will be monitoring those who may be negatively impacted by the availability of educational venues as their anniversary window draws near.
Lastly, these are challenging times for each of us and our country. The most important thing is to stay safe and healthy. Our world, as we knew it, has been turned upside down as we try to find ways to manage, understand, cope and just survive...let alone find toilet paper! Please take care of yourself and your family first, this is what is most important. We will come through this strong with the support of one another. Respect the request for social distancing, but this does not mean isolation, so reach out to each other virtually, to study for tests, or just check on a friend, colleague or family members and of course......wash hands, wash, hands, wash hands!
Be safe, stay well!
Paula Sutton, CRM, IGP, FAI
ICRM President
March 19, 2020