Page 33 - OPTA Access Spring 2017

PTA Caucus Report
Sanaz Holcomb, PTA – PTA Caucus Representative
In Happy new year everyone! 2016
was an exciting year; a year that gave
us the opportunity to vote for the PTA
full vote on a chapter level I want
to personally thank all of you who
voted for PTAs to have this powerful
and well deserved right! The hashtag
of the year was, and continues to
be, #werbetter2gether, #pt/pta I
thank everyone who voted for the nominees at the Ohio
state conference and congratulate all the new and incoming delegates I thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as your PTA Caucus Rep for the next term as well
On a chapter level, I want to thank the Board of Directors and the OPTA members for voting and your continued involvement and support for making our profession stronger everyday by advocating and promoting the profession to all We are working hard on continuing to increase membership amongst PTAs and PTA students We need everyone’s help
by teaching the importance of belonging to the APTA I have presented the membership committee with the initiative to have all PTA program directors to work together with the OPTA leaders to improve the student involvement and membership as this is the only way to a stronger professional advancement Let’s make 2017 the year to increase student membership
to 100% I encourage all program educators, educators, and clinical instructors to take advantage of all that the APTA membership has to offer to teach our students the value of belonging Many programs have initiated using the APTA website to replace the expensive books to help students learn various subject matters We are also encouraging new PTA graduates to take advantage of the fantastic discount available to them by renewing without any delay in renewing membership Remember it’s 40% off dues 2nd-year post- graduation, 30% off dues 3rd-year post-graduation, 20% off dues 4th-year post-graduation
I encourage all practicing PTAs to join especially since now, we have even a stronger voting right with the full vote ability! Your discounts alone pay for the membership!! From discounts on CEUs to discounts on insurance, tennis shoes, and many more every day needs I encourage alumni to take turns visiting your schools to encourage membership involvement
On a national level the PTA caucus is working hard towards achieving 100% full vote within all the chapters and sections We are always looking to advance future leaders into their appropriate rolls through mentorship I am extremely proud to announce that currently we are at 44 components with PTA Full- Vote passed! Congrats to all who work diligently to achieve this
The PTA caucus participates throughout the year in conference calls, along with meeting at CSM for new initiatives, which will be presented at the national meeting in June at the House of Delegates meeting in Boston
#werbetter2gether #pta/Pt
For more information, contact Sanaz at:
sanazarmand@yahoo com
Research Committee Report
Dawn Westfall, PT, MPT & Cathy Bieber Parrott, PT, MS – Co-Chairs
The The Research Committee is seeking your input on how we can better serve the research needs of OPTA members Please watch for a survey link delivered to your email and take a few minutes to complete our short survey
We will begin accepting proposals
May 1, 2017 The submission deadline
is August 4, 2017 Grant application
forms and submission instructions are downloadable from the OPTA webpage, and all members are eligible for the grant award
Congratulations to Jennifaye Brown on being awarded the 2016 OPTA Research Grant She received $5,000 for her project “AFOs: Is Appearance, Function, and Fit, Obsolete?” We look forward to hearing the results of the study at a future Scienti c Symposium event. Special thanks to Dawn Westfall and all the grant protocol reviewers who participated in the peer review process to award the grant
Our committee wants to recognize Lindsay Elchert from the Conference Committee and all the research abstract reviewers for their work in identifying the “Best” platform and poster projects presented at the 2016 Scienti c Symposium. Congratulations to Dexter Witt, Nancy Talbott and Tim Beckner for the “best” research platform presentation: The Effects
of Assessment Technique on Lower Trapezius Thickness: Implications for Physical Therapy Examination ” The “best” poster was awarded to Jennifer Reneker, Michael Dempsey, Alyssa Paolucci, Alyssa Jones and Heather Nemunaitis
for their research “The Prevalence of Visual or Vestibular Disturbances in Blast-Induced Mild TBI: A Systematic Review ” Congratulations also to all investigators who showcased their research at the Scienti c Symposium.
Our committee recently updated our strategic plan, we are excited to pursue new initiatives we think will assist Ohio clinicians, students and faculty with their research endeavors and use of evidence We invite you to join our conference call meetings — just provide one of the co-chairs your email address and we will send you the meeting notices
You’ve heard about the APTA’s PT Outcome Registry, right? APTA is committed to promoting physical therapists’ delivery
of high-quality physical therapy and has created the Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry in support The PT Outcome Registry includes data about patients and their outcomes from PT services This data will be used to identify areas of success and opportunities for improvement in providing patient care The Registry has been piloted and expected to be open to the “PT public” in 2017 so clinicians and facilities can contribute data The Registry’s Scienti c Advisor Panel (SAP) will use data to develop clinical guidelines and compare PT services to other forms of treatment Ohio researchers will be able to submit requests to the SAP to obtain data from the Registry to answer our own research questions More information about the APTA PT Outcome Registry is available at http://www ptoutcomes com/home aspx
For more information, contact Dawn or Cathy at: westfada@hotmail com or cbieberparrott@ysu edu