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Happy summer to all my physical therapy colleagues! It was a very exciting spring and start to our summer with our Ohio Chapter business meeting on April 6, during which the PTA 50 Year Anniversary was celebrated, followed by APTA House of Delegates in Chicago on June 7!
PTA CAUCUS REPRESENTATIVE REPORT Sanaz Holcomb, PTA
I want to thank the OPTA office for their continuous support in preparation of the PTA celebration
in Columbus . Months of phone calls, emails, collaboration resulted in an amazing attendance by so many PTAs, SPTAs, and directors/faculty
of various PTA programs! We recognized and celebrated our history as PTAs in Ohio, which has been instrumental with Cuyahoga Community College (CCC) as not only the first PTA program in the state, but also one of the first in the country when the board of directors authorized the start of 11 PTA programs in 1972 . We honored CCC with a standing ovation as it is still a strong PTA program in Cleveland, of which I am a proud graduate! We recognized other PTAs in Ohio who have been instrumental in the history with the first PT/PTA team award in the country, followed by PTAs that were among the first recipients of the Advanced Proficiency Certificates. OPTA celebrated the PTAs with a memorable mug which other chapters are already trying to duplicate .
Thank you to all the PTAs, students, and educators who attended . We had six times the number of PTA attendees—let’s continue breaking this record!
House of Delegates was a great success with 37 PTA Caucus Representatives, eight PTA Caucus Alternate Representatives, and five Delegates gathered in Chicago . PTAC business included updates from APTA staff Justin Moore and Justin Elliott . APTA President Sharon Dunn congratulated the Caucus on its 50th Anniversary and continued strides to better integrate PTAs into the APTA Community . PTAC Rep and Federal Affairs Liaison Rachel Winthrop (MN) provided an update .
2019 HOUSE MOTIONS WERE DISCUSSED WITH A FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING:
• RC 17-19: Amend: Standards of Practice for Physical Therapy (HOD S06-13-22-15)
• RC 32-19: Amend: Core Values for the Physical Therapist (HOD P06-18-25-33)
• RC 34-19: Amend: Consumer Protection Through Licensure of Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants (HOD P06-16-08-07)
• RC 69-19: Adopt: Wound Management Physical Therapy as an Area of Specialization
We continue to have APTA’s support in backing us for our possible reimbursement cut for Medicare Part B . We all need to help the APTA along with all the personal/ volunteers whom are representing us during these meetings . I urge you to continue your membership and watch for any action alerts to help us with this task . Remember, your support is critical and we must help
to achieve our goal! Please continue looking at email or social media post alerts to participate in any actions needed through your PTaction app .
Please feel free to contact me with any questions and thank you for your continued support and membership! #PTA50yranniversary #bettertogether #PT/PTATEAM
For more information, contact Sanaz at:
sanazarmand@yahoo.com
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