Submitted by: Cathy Ciolek, PT, DPT, GCS
The 2015 HOD of delegates was conducted in Charlotte NC from June 8-11. This year the House had 23 motions it addressed and elections for national office. It was exciting to serve as you chapter chief delegates again and I was sorry to have our 2nd delegate George Edelman have to leave early to return to DE to manage the legislative efforts for our practice act. I am hopeful that Delaware will consider an alternate delegate in future years so we will still have 2 delegates to participate if this should happen again!
The Delaware chapter initiated honorary membership for Dr. Michael Axe, MD back in November 2013. We nominated him as part of the honors and awards activities and this was approved by the APTA Board of Directors in March and brought to the House of Delegates for a vote. I was pleased to see a unanimous vote to give Dr. Axe the recognition as an honorary member of APTA on Wed June 11th! Congratulations Dr. Axe!
Other Highlights of the House of Delegates:
- Increasing the value of membership for physical therapists assistants. Call for plan developed and bring back to HOD in 2015 with motions and potential bylaws for consideration for increased role in APTA.
- New professionals- develop a plan to address needs of new professionals for professional and leadership development.
- What should the preferred model for physical therapy and who should provide it. Outcome- Physical therapy is only done by PT/PTA.
- Telehealth- now have a position supporting telehealth and PT as a provider in telehealth
- Role of PT in determining mobility status- to have a role in disability placards at the state level
- Interprofessional education- what should be included in PT training
- APTA should begin to pursue changing regulatory designator to DPT by 2025
Elections:
- Board of Directors- Matt Hyland (NY), Sheila Nicholson (FL), Kathy Mairella (NJ)
- Treasurer- Elmer Platt (NJ)
- Speaker of the House- Sue Griffin (WI)
- Nominating Committee- Secili DeStefano (VA), Linda Eargle (FL)
2015 will be an interesting year- this is a bylaws year (years ending in 5/0) so there will be a lot of internal business to address. Also in 2015 we will be having elections for president, vice-president, directors (3), and nominating committee (1). If you think you know someone who would be good for these national offices, consider submitting a National Elections Nomination Form (NC 1 Form) available on the Nominations and Elections page of APTA’s website.