Page 3 - OPTA Access Fall 2022

President’s Message Tonya Apke, PT, DPT
REFLECTIONS
I am writing this LAST Access President’s report as I prepare to leave for vacation to the beach! I’m reflecting on OPTA’s “big rocks” right now that I’d like to share with you!
1. COMINGS & GOINGS We elected new leaders and bid farewell to our board members finishing their service. Thank you to Jane Keehan for her energy, optimism, and dedication! Welcome, Greg Kline who will be your next president and is serving as President-Elect this year! That means we had a vacancy to fill in the OPTA Treasurer’s position, so I appointed Marcus Williams and I’m so excited he is back on the board! Lisa Kohler is joining as a director, and we are excited to have her as part of the team!
2. APTA AWARDS I would like to congratulate our OPTA members who have/will receive APTA awards! They are:
John Buford - Catherine Worthingham Fellow Anne Kloos - APTA Humanitarian Award Noah Ichite - Minority Scholarship Award
3. LET'S CELEBRATE We will be graduating our third cohort from our L.I.F.E. Series Leadership Academy! It will be great to celebrate with all of our L.I.F.E.ers in September!
4. TIME TO REVIEW We will review our Policies and Procedures Manual this year and discuss a review of our Bylaws. We will keep you posted on this project!
5. ELECTIONS By the time you read this, we will have elected new APTA board members and concluded with the House of Delegates meeting that takes place in August. Our Ohio delegation continues to be active participants in all House activities. Stay tuned for additional information regarding the work of the House for 2022!
6. APTA LEADERSHIP
CONGRESS We sent several OPTA representatives to the APTA Leadership Congress including Matthew Tack and Gabby Wagner for the Student Development Conference, David Wessells and Anthony DiFilippo for the State Payment Advocacy Forum, Tonya Apke and Greg Kline for component leadership events.
7. FALL CONFERENCE We are excited to welcome back our Fall Conference to showcase clinical and scientific projects in person at the Quest Conference Center in Columbus on September 16th. Look for more details in Access and on our website.
8. LEGISLATION We are continuing
to work on our Fair Co-pay legislation (HB 460). This bill would create co-pay alignment for PT and OT with primary care practitioners to promote better access to care. See our website here for more information.
We have a lot more - we continue to work
on through our great committees and SIGs.
If you have an interest or a passion, we have
a place for you and if we don’t, we can build it! Tell your friends and co-workers how valuable your membership is, and we welcome all to
be involved!
For more information, contact Tonya at:
apke.5@osu.edu
IT’S TIME!
FALL CONFERENCE 2022 WILL BE
BACK IN PERSON THIS YEAR
OPTA | August 2022 | 3