CACHE History

For almost a decade, the annual meeting of the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education (held in various cities in the U.S.) included a “Canada Day” that was developed by and for Canadian CHE professionals. Canadians appreciated the opportunity to learn and grow from other CHE professionals working in a similar environment. The day became so popular that the regular members of the Canadian contingent began to talk about moving “Canada Day” to Canadian soil. Around the same time, Canadian attending ACME became aware of most of the presenters at the main ACME sessions were Canadian.

In 2001, the vision of a Canadian CHE organization was explored at the Canadian Association of Continuing Health Education meeting in Ottawa, Canada. The following year, an annual meeting focusing on Canadian CHE issues and bearing the name CACHE was officially launched.

In subsequent years, CACHE held several successful meetings in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. 85% of attendees of the 2001 CACHE meeting voted in favour of creating an association that was more than a meeting; 83% agreed that allied health professionals should join CACHE. These responses led to the formation of a Strategic Planning/Special Interest Group (SIG) in 2002 to begin the process of building a plan that would see CACHE become a full-service CHE association.

The first official meeting of the CACHE Board of Directors was held on September 8, 2006 in St John’s, Newfoundland. The board met prior to the start of the scientific sessions to build a foundation for the CACHE Constitution and By-laws and to develop a strategic plan for the newly formed association.