AOTA Immediate Past President's Blog

Getting Ready for Conference

Hi all,

I can't wait to see all the occupational therapy practitioners and students I have met not only over the past year, but those I have known for many years and those I met while being President. This will be my last Conference as your President, what with my term officially ending June 30, 2010. I will have one more Board of Directors meeting in June. In my last presidential address, I will look back over these past 3 years and will then set the stage for our incoming President, Florence Clark, who will explain her vision for her Presidency during her address. As usual, I have surprises up my sleeve to keep things interesting during my speech. I think the Conference Program is an exciting one with many wonderful learning opportunities in addition to our favorite activities, such as the Exhibit Hall, Opening Ceremony, and all the special events that have become traditional over the years, such as the AOTPAC night.

Getting ready to come to Conference has been busy for me as well, such as preparing several speeches, attending RA task group meetings on-line, and, oh, by the way, did I mention I have jury duty? If you don't see me at Conference, I might be on a trial here in Birmingham! (Don't worry, I am armed with the information I need to get out of it this time, but I do think it is one's civic duty to serve, so will go back when called) I also had foot surgery this past January and I go back to the Doctor next week to see if I can start wearing regular shoes again. That is really important for a woman who wants to look her best, right? Well, we'll see if my foot cooperates.....Yes I have been adherent to my physician's recommendations. So if you see me and you think I got dressed in the dark because of having two different shoes on, you'll know why.

So, stop me the halls of the Conference Center to talk and let me know what you have been doing since I last saw you!

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

What Healthcare Reform Means to Occupational Therapy

Healthcare Reform

I want to share with you my thoughts on the historic health care reform legislation recently signed into law by the President, and update you on the impact of this measure on occupational therapy and those who can benefit from our services.  AOTA, with your help, has achieved significant victories for the profession in this legislation. We should be proud of what we all have accomplished through your advocacy efforts with phone calls, letters, participation in lobbying during our Capitol Hill Days, and the work of our leaders and staff. 

Whether you welcome or have concerns about the new law, AOTA worked hard to protect the profession as the legislation was being considered by Congress—and we succeeded.  We now have new opportunities before us because we have done the hard work and laid the groundwork.

Beginning with discussions in the AOTA Representative Assembly last year, through five major Capitol Hill lobbying days throughout the year, through waves of grassroots advocacy by AOTA members, our collective efforts paid dividends with several legislative victories included in the final version of reform.  These victories include:

·         A one-year extension for the Medicare therapy cap exceptions process, even as other Medicare provisions were not included in the final bill.  While it may seem as though Congress understands the policy error of the cap, it is still an uphill battle to maintain the commitment and to find the money to fund the therapy cap exceptions process.  Recall that AOTA also worked to assure that an interim extension of the exceptions process was passed to cover the first three months of this year while the health care debate continued.

·         The specific inclusion of “rehabilitation and habilitation” services in the essential health benefits package that will be offered and required to be obtained individuals. This is a significant gain over current insurance language that usually denies habilitation to children with disabilities. No specific professional services were identified at all in the bill, but this language assures recognition of occupational therapy and other important services that will now be available to all, including the eventual 32 million newly insured that will receive coverage under the new law. This provision was originally included in the House bill but it took work and aggressive lobbying by AOTA to gain inclusion in the Senate bill and thus in the final proposed package.

·         The specific inclusion of occupational therapists in the definitions of health care workforce and health care professionals in the “Innovations in the Health Care Workforce” section of the legislation, making them eligible for state workforce grants, for slots on the national commission on workforce established in the bill and other programs.  The original bill language did not include OT, but AOTA lobbying assured its addition.

Some items not in the bill are also victories for occupational therapy.  AOTA was successful in addressing two specific amendments offered during the process. The first would have allowed physical therapists direct access to patients in rural areas without a physician’s prescription. AOTA worked with members of the Senate Finance committee to insure that occupational therapists would be included in the amendment if it advanced and worked with the Senator offering the amendment to include occupational therapists or revise the amendment.  Ultimately this amendment was changed to authorize a study of the issue that can encompass both physical and occupational therapy.

The second was an amendment promoted by the orthotists and prosthetists that would have significantly restrained the OT scope of practice and Medicare reimbursement, as well as eliminated competition among credentialing bodies.  AOTA successfully worked with members of the Senate Finance Committee in opposing the amendment, which ultimately was never brought forward for consideration.

While the future is always unpredictable, I am certain about one thing:  no matter what changes come, occupational therapy will thrive.  I believe our Centennial Vision is giving us our own goals, regardless of the health care system, that we are pursuing.  I also believe that our power to make change that supports our Vision has made this new law favorable in many ways to occupational therapy.  I want to salute each and every member of AOTA who has expressed their views to Congress.  The current dialogue on OT Connections about health care is just what I envisioned for that network:  creating a community in which we could all participate, share, think and then act.

This law will not go into effect all at once.  Many decisions will be made about implementation and AOTA, with your continued support, will be working to assure those decisions serve the interests of occupational therapy and our clients. Your voice and your views will continue to spur AOTA’s advocacy. There will be change, but I know as a profession we can adapt and grow.  We always have.  Whether through Medicare cuts, licensure battles, or tough financial times, occupational therapy has been and I believe will continue to be on a growth trajectory.  We will move forward with change that we participate in and influence toward our Centennial Vision, modifying our environment, considering what our capabilities are, and then pursuing active engagement to Live Life To Its Fullest through our profession.

Keep watch on the AOTA website for updates and opportunities for you to work with the coming change to make occupational therapy a powerful, widely recognized, science-driven, and evidence-based profession with a globally connected and diverse workforce meeting society’s occupational needs.

Let’s move toward it together.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA will continue to work hard on implementation that is positive for the profession. Your voice and your views will continue to spur AOTA’s advocacy.

AOTA Governance and newspapers, radio, television, and now the web!

Hi Everyone,

I want to share my thoughts about the Membership Participation Ad Hoc Proposal in relation to changing from proportional representation to an approach where members represent themselves. Let’s consider how professional associations are strategically applying social networking media to recruit members, organize locally, provide information, and give an ongoing forum to discuss and take action. The juxtaposition of a networked, open-sourced method of working with members has profound implications and raises significant questions for our current AOTA governance structures. Our members now are in an environment where they can communicate directly with the AOTA President, AOTA Board of Directors, as well as all the other leadership who make themselves available on OT Connections and Facebook, etc. This availability of leaders to members will become a member expectation and will challenge the notion of having to go through a representative to get to the leadership.

We are but a microcosm of the way in which communication technologies have had such a profound influence on government, business, education, healthcare, and our personal lives. Think about this evolution in using novel technologies: Thomas Jefferson used the power of newspapers , F.D.R. used radio, J.F.K. understood television, and presidential candidate Howard Dean first used the Web for raising money. President Barack Obama used social media to create a sense of connection and engagement that allowed people to self-organize to do the work of the campaign.

This AOTA reorganization proposal is forward thinking as it brings forth many possibilities, which are needed as we face the intensive regulatory work ahead after passage of healthcare reform. We need to engage people in discussion quickly, focus decision making on what makes a difference in our practice, quickly assemble teams to work on the supporting evidence, and mobilize occupational therapy practitioners to make sure they are heard at every table where important healthcare delivery decisions are made. There is tremendous power in opening membership access to the AOTA governance structure. It is a brilliant way to harness our incredible clout in enacting social change in terms of what we can bring about that is of value to the public. Does our current governance structure fit this requirement?

Penny Moyers Cleveland AOTA President

The Wherewithal to Change

 Hi all,

I am writing to clearly express my reasons for believing in the recommendations of the Membership Participation Ad Hoc Committee's proposal for reorganization of our governance structure.

If you do not think we need to change our AOTA governance structure, then why have greater than 70% of occupational therapy practitioners and students chosen not to be members of the organization even with the advent of aggressive marketing, extensive interviews and surveys of nonmembers, reshaping member benefits, and emphasis upon professionalism in entry-level education? Who will be the life-time members of the future after baby boomers retire as the average length of continuous membership has shrunk to 4 years? How many total members will we need to advance the profession based on a metric of each individual being a member for 4 years or less? Why is it that we have more members over 60 than we do under 30? What is it about the membership value proposition that needs changing? What competition do we face in trying to obtain the interest and loyalty of new members while at the same time increasing retention of existing members? We must remember that we cannot mandate membership like we did in the past when AOTA was also the certifying body for the profession.

As I near the end of my Presidency, what are the lessons I have learned, particularly when you examine our membership issues in conjunction with all that has occurred in the world surrounding us, such as a global economic recession? Here is what I have learned and want to pass on to all our leaders and members. Even in the best of times, it is a given that there are limits to human and financial resources. As a steward of membership investment in our Association, it is my duty in conjunction with members of the Board of Directors to make strategic decisions about how we will use our resources for the greatest impact in achieving our Centennial Vision goals and objectives. The proposal from the Membership Participation Ad Hoc Committee is about increasing the membership value proposition in that we know members feel valued when they are involved to their level of satisfaction (not too much and not too little). They want to be asked to participate in important ways. While our membership percentage to nonmembers may be higher than other organizations, we are a small profession in total. Therefore, this percentage does not translate into the human and financial capital needed to accomplish our important work for the profession and the clients we serve. If you examine the member survey informing the Membership Participation Ad Hoc Committee, 80% were satisfied with their level of involvement. This means that 20% are not, which is decidedly more than the percentage of those currently involved (6%). Why would we not go after this 20% who want more involvement? Why would we not advocate change when our current structure limits who can be involved?

The reorganization conceptual proposal is about focusing the work of our volunteers on the issues and challenges in the external environment. For instance, what current organizational structures are responsible for tackling ways that efficiently create impact in successfully resolving tough reimbursement issues, scope of practice challenges, healthcare policy questions, gathering evidence, creating research capacity, pushing for educational excellence, facilitating growth in practice, and supporting and developing emerging practice areas? These are tough questions because the key word is impact. For instance, perhaps the greatest impact in terms of creating diversity in the profession is for educational groups within the organization to marshal their efforts in advocating for federal support of faculty development, of student loan programs, and of student loan forgiveness programs.  I cannot identify any standing committee in the volunteer sector of the organization, despite its many bodies, that would see these activities as a core responsibility.

Further, the kinds of impacts we now need to have must occur without delay. In the past, we had time to allow impact to build slowly over many years.  We could experiment with a variety of Association strategies until we got it right. Membership energy must be mobilized quickly. Specialized ad hoc committees need to be assembled with immediacy and given priority, such as, for example, to address the coming storm over Medicaid. Can we free up the human and financial capital to launch aggressive advocacy in every state in which this is occurring? Today’s issues demand expediency and laser-focus. And the process of recruiting the best talent to produce the most powerful results must be accelerated.  We do not have the luxury to simultaneously operate complicated structures with diffuse agendas while we also try to focus on the Centennial Vision priorities. It is time to redirect resources if we are to truly go for impact.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

Addendum to President's Report to the RA

  Hi all,

I just wanted to let you know that I have submitted an addendum to my report to the RA in regards to the reorganization proposal. This addendum came about because of two very informative calls with the members of the Ethics Commission. Based on their input, I believed it was important to make sure their ideas were included. Some of their ideas are not in this addendum, particularly in relation to how the adjudication process should be handled. I am working on those ideas and will make them available to the membership and the RA Task Group as soon as they are fully formulated. I want to thank Dr. Kitty Reed for facilitating the discussion about ethics and how our organization can develop an integrated ethics model. The conversation was exciting to hear the possibilities. I firmly believe that ethics is everyone's business and that the Organization should be strongly involved in the prevention of ethical problems through a concerted education approach.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

Addendum to President’s Report – Participation Ad Hoc Committee Recommendations

Further Development Relative to Ethics Commission

February 26, 2010

In late February, the Participation Ad Hoc Committee, along with President Moyers Cleveland, engaged in a phone discussion with the Ethics Commission (EC) about the recommendations that are specific to the EC and the ethics function. As a result of that discussion the committee would like to add a few more points to the description of how the EC needs to evolve in the transition process.

􀂾 Evolution from our current ethics approach towards an integrated ethics approach across the association. AOTA would explore the development of an integrated ethics program that addresses ethical issues proactively as well as reactively. Organizational as well as clinical ethics would be addressed, with participation of practitioners and educators.

􀂾 An increased focus on educating members Advisory Opinions, articles, book chapters, academic education materials and continuing education offerings.

􀂾 The Volunteer Leadership Development Committee (VLDC) would have an ethics education function as part of all leadership training in order to promote ethical leadership throughout the organization.

􀂾 The Coordinated Online Opportunities for Leadership (COOL) database would ask questions specific to ethics interests and expertise and establish a pool of ethics experts to use on a variety of ad hoc groups and in development of educational materials for members. As stated in Kitty Reed’s summary of the February phone call, “other groups within the AOTA could participate in providing information and training about ethics. For example, educators could assist in preparing an advisory opinion on emerging issues with technology in the universities or colleges that have occupational therapy ducational programs.”

These next items are other considerations that could be a part of the transition process:

􀂾 We would encourage the development of a Community of Practice (CoP) related to ethical issues open to all members.

􀂾 As previously stated the seated EC chairperson would be a member of the inaugural Council to provide guidance and assistance in the transition process. Having the seated EC chairperson on the Council makes it possible for the Council to consider immediately appointing an ad hoc committee to ensure appropriate plans be made relative to development of an integrated ethics approach for AOTA.

􀂾 Issues remain related to the continued need for our current adjudication process; more information related to specific recommendations will be presented for discussion at the Task Group level.

What is the process the AOTA Reorganization Proposal must go through?

Hi all,

I hope you have read the proposal in the President's report to the RA for reorganization and that you have followed the lively discussion under forums, Ad Hoc Participation. I want to make sure everyone understands the process this proposal must go through before it ever is enacted. There are many steps and anything can change along the way. Some of the steps we have completed. (* indicate what we have completed; **indicates what is currently in process):

1. Board is concerned that members want more participation and that the governance structure might need revision to accommodate more participation.* 2009

2. Board votes to appoint an Ad Hoc Committee and makes recommendations for appointments. * 2009

3. Consultants are vetted, selected, and one firm hired. * 2009

4. President appoints Ad Hoc group and consultant begins to collect data. * 2009

5. Ad Hoc group meets several times and submits proposal to Board of Directors.* 2009

6. Ad Hoc co-chair presents proposal to Board and Board votes to send proposal to RA and charges Ad Hoc group to develop and implement a member communication plan. * 2009

7. Communication plan is implemented via phone calls to leadership groups, dialogue on OT Connections, President Blog, materials on web-site, OT Practice articles ** 2009-2010

8. RA Task Group Considers and either forwards as is, amends, or recommends defeat to RA. RA Task group discussion begins on-line and then continues on site in Orlando. 2010

9. If the RA task group brings to floor of the entire RA, motion is debated, passed, amended, or defeated. 2010

10. If the motion passes as it is written now, transition begins to outline the change process in more detail and to write By-laws ammendment. By-laws ammendment goes for review by BPPC and the Board. The Board refers the Bylaws motion to the RA. 2010-2011

11. RA either passes, amends, or defeats Bylaws motion to take to membership. 2011

12. Membership either passes or defeats Bylaws motion. 2011

13. If Bylaws motion passes, the change is implemented. 2011-2012

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

Be the Spider! Create a Web of Energy or a Community of Practice

Hi all,

Have you every been overwhelmed with all the research out there and trying to keep up with the latest guidelines and evidence? Have you been frustrated because you can't find the evidence you need to support what you do? Do you wish you could share all you have learned from your everyday practice with others and hear about what others who have similar practices are doing? Do wish you could talk to the scientists who are studying your practice area? Wouldn't it be wonderful to dialogue and learn how consumers view practices like yours? Are you frustrated with the system in which you work because it limits your effectiveness and you wonder how you can change the system? Are you tired of others outside of our profession making decisions about how you practice?

Well, if the answers to any of those questions are yes, then you might be interested in the Communities of Practice concept that is part of the Participation Review Ad Hoc Proposal. Communities of practice are a powerful way to change practice and to involve many stakeholders in the process. These Communities would first form around the six areas of the Centennial Vision, i.e., mental health; productive aging; children and youth; work and industry; health and wellness; and rehabilitation, disability, and participation. These first Communities would have elected leaders who would run them. Other communities could form as members have interest, like a community around autism or veteran's issues. An AOTA member could participate in as many communities as they choose and could have different levels of participation in them. The Communities would work with the new 15-member Council that replaces the Representative Assembly. For instance, what if a group of practitioners in the mental health community wanted to tackle the issue of making sure occupational therapy practitioners are qualified mental health providers in each state. Perhaps they would reach out and invite those occupational therapy practitioners who are in states where they are mental health providers. These practitioners share how that state legislation occurred and the strategies they used to put it in place. Perhaps they then develop a state advocacy tool kit for other states to use. Then perhaps they approach the State Association Presidents and invite those Presidents whose states would be open to pursuing this legislation to dialogue about the advocacy process. Then that State President invites all the mental health occupational therapy practitioners in the state to join the community to work on the project. This community might then go to the AOTA Board of Directors to get advocacy support from staff and to see if there could be any budget support to work with states on this issue. Perhaps some of the states also invite consumers from consumer groups who would help advocate for OT in those states.

This is just a small example of how Communities of Practice can grow and can organize around important action of all types. The Council could even ask the Community if they want to take on a project, such as writing a knowledge and skills paper around the MH compentencies needed to be qualified mental health providers. The Communities would decide how they want to work at the Annual Conference. Perhaps they want to have a meeting of the community, maybe they want to host some round tables, or to host a special symposium. Maybe they want to bring in the relevant scientists to share their work and then have a consumer response. There would not be specific functions at Conference unless the Community wanted them to occur and worked with staff to make these happen. Each Community might have different activities at the conference. Not all Communities would have to do the same things. This opens the doors to some really creative thinking and incorporating up-to-date issues at the Conference. The community would have a repository where they could keep track of all their work so there is a history of their efforts.

I see so many benefits in this new proposal. It could be freeing in that people who normally do not participate because they don't know "the rules" and are concerned about doing it wrong, can jump right in! The idea is to break down our silos where we have kept practice, education, and research as seperate activities of the association. Instead these Communities bring together students, educators, practitioners, administrators, scientists, policy experts, and other stakeholders like consumers and interested persons outside of our discipline. Last year in my 2009 Presidential Address, I talked about creating a web without a true spider. Communities of practice are webs of energy linking practice, education, and research to solve the problems and capture the opportunities with which we are faced everyday in this turbulent economic and political times.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

Board Met this Weekend, February 2 0 & 21

Hi all,

The AOTA Board members met this weekend via phone and "live meeting." We accomplished a great deal of work this past day and a half. The February Board meeting is typically devoted to strategic planning, which the Vice-President, Virginia Stoffell is in charge of conducting. As part of the process, we reviewed data about our external and internal environments, such as a review of what is going on with Congress, are the key advocacy issues (Reauthorization of IDEA), and are key issues of states (such as budget reductions and the impact on higher education and Medicaid). We examined the potential impact of healthcare reform on Academic health centers and how nursing has obtained funds to increase numbers of students and faculty. The internal issues discussed were growth in educational OT and OTA programs, the growth of for profit OTA programs, the number of faculty vacancies, the number of faculty projected retirements, and the growth in membership by demographic catagories. There were many more data sources reviewed to discuss all of them here.

Once we reviewed data, we then reviewed our current logic model that can be found on the front page of the web site under Centennial Vision.  What is a logic model? It is a kind of score card on the progress toward the Centennial Vision. What the logic model does is connects the activities we do as an Association to the proposed impact on the profession, and then how this impact will be measured. The analysis showed us that we had met some of the measures and were making significant progress on others. We also learned that we needed to add activities and measures to address some of the challenges identified in the external/internal data.

Now, our Vice-President will be finalizing our new logic model for another review by the Board to ensure we captured everything from the meeting. Once the new startegic plan/logic model is completed, it will be made available for all members on the Centennial Vision part of the website. The importance of the logic model is that it will guide the budgeting process which will begin soon and will be prepared for the June Board meeting.

I am so excited about everything that AOTA has accomplished and plans to accomplish in the near future as we progress toward the Centennial Vision. I will be reviewing our accomplishments in my final address at the AOTA Conference in Orlando. I encourage everyone to join me in learning about all we have done. We should be very enthused about what we can do as we move forward!!

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

Paradigm shift in AOTA Governance

Hi all,

I hope all of you are reading about the proposal for reorganizing the governance structure of AOTA. I want to talk about why now, what is the urgency for change? As I come to the close of my Presidency, I have been reflecting about what has been accomplished. One advantage of the Centennial Vision has been the change in focus on doing activities of the Association to investing in activities that are thought to have impact on moving us forward toward our agenda. We have had major opportunities and challenges to face in these past three years and more are on the horizon. The biggest issue I have dealt with is healthcare reform and how to ensure occupational therapy is included in any proposal. We had to mobilize many groups to take action by attending Capitol Hill days (there were four last year), engaging in virtual activism, keeping membership informed via web site and podcasts, and raising money from AOTA members for AOTPAC. The advocacy is never ending as now that healthcare reform is stalled, how do you make sure the CAPS exception process for Medicare part B gets reinstated? So, what does this have to do with reorganization? What I have learned is that human and financial resources of any organization are finite. In terms of human resources, our members are very busy people as are our staff. We have been increasing our membership numbers to over 40,000 members. We have to figure out how to increase members even more (140,000 practitioners), which increases both human and financial capital. We have to involve members in important activities that impact the profession. Members tell us they want to participate when they can, but when they do participate, they want it to be important but within a finite time period. Getting more people involved gives us the money and the people we need to get the work done to meet our profession's challenges.

Getting more people involved means we have to create a database so that members can self-nominate themselves for leadership that matches their interests, their skills, their time limits, and their need for growth and development. The reorganization proposal includes development of the Coordinated On-line Opportunities for Leadership database (COOL). Also, we want to invest resources into leadership development programs for those who want to lead and become involved. We have to make sure we have an ongoing pipeline for leadership that develops a broad range of members. By doing so, we also increase the diversity of our leadership, that is diversity of all types including racial, ethnicity, gender, years of experience, OTAs, more practitioners, etc. Therefore, the reorganization proposal includes a new standing committee, the Volunteer Leadership Development Committee whose purpose is to develop the COOL database by getting people to self-nominate, create leadership development programs, increase interest in running for office, nominate leaders for appointments to a growing number of ad hoc committee work groups, recognize the important work of leaders, etc.

So, all you have to do is to see the decline in the numbers of people running for office. We are starting to have more single slates for various offices. It is hard to get members to vote in races where there is only one person running.We need leadership now more than ever. We need to make sure that new practitioners see themselves as leaders and see AOTA as a place to gain more leadership skills and to feel competent that they can make a difference. We have to increase the average length of time new practitioners are members. The baby boomers are more likely to be life-time members, but they are starting to retire. Have we done our job to make sure AOTA is an inviting place to participate? Participation is the life blood of making sure our profession continues to develop and grow regardless of the challenges we face. Participation is the way we take advantage of opportunities and to mobilize accordingly.

I will install more entries on this proposal for reorganization.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

All's quiet in January? Are you kidding?

Well, I have not blogged in a while. Hope you didn't think I was taking a break from my role as AOTA President. I did have foot surgery and have been confined to a wheelchair. I was off work and thought I would be quietly working at home. Instead, I have been working on AOTA issues daily. Well, what is going on? January is always busy because we are reving up for the Conference in April held in Orlando this year. Prior to having surgery, in fact the day before, I flew to Chicago to attend a symposium on the implementation of the Model of Human Occupation in the mental health system of the United Kingdom. It was very interesting to hear how strong occupational therapy is in the area of mental health in the UK. I took many notes having some ideas about how to grow mental health practice in the U.S.

While being off, I have been working with the Ad Hoc Particiation Review Committee to communicate their proposal to the members and leaders about reorganizing the governance structure of AOTA. We have conducted multiple phone calls, sometimes twice, with such groups as the SISs, the Commission Chairs, Ethics Commission, Commission on Continuing Competence and Professional Development, AOTF, Representative Assembly, the Affiliated State Association Presidents, and the Assembly of Student Delegates. Other calls are scheduled with the Ethics Commission again and the Commission on Practice and the Program Directors for instance. The goal is to have ongoing dialogue with as many leaders as possible to gather their thoughts and to address their questions. All members are encouraged to read the President's Report to the RA which is posted on the website under the Participation Review Committee link. The representative assembly will deliberate on this issue both on OT Connections and during their meeting at Orlando in April. It is important for all members to be informed and express their views.

I also have been communicating with my U. S. Congressional delegation from Alabama about addressing the Medicare Part B Caps situation where the exception process has gone away. The exception process was included in the health care reform proposal, but since it has not passed, we have difficult issues yet to be addressed. I sent all of them e-mails off of the Federal Affairs Action Center site of AOTA . It is so simple to remain in touch with our U.S. leaders. I hope all of you have done the same and have watched the latest pod cast on our issues. We all have things to do to remain informed and to take action.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

Message about Haiti from President Moyers Cleveland

During my presidency, sadly, there have been many disasters I have written to you about. Some have been global. Some have been very personal, like floods affecting my hometown, or Hurricane Katrina devastating our own educational programs. Now we are faced with another significant challenge to our worldwide family. We are deeply saddened by and concerned about the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12. Our deepest sympathies go out to those who lost loved ones and friends in the disaster.

 For those members who have expressed concern and asked what they can do in response to the needs of the Haitian people, at this time, relief efforts are focused on the acute stages of disaster relief. To that end, we encourage our members to donate if they are able to the many legitimate charities gathering resources. Check to be sure the organizations are legitimate. On behalf of our members, AOTA is donating to the American Red Cross to support their efforts in Haiti. Volunteers may be needed in your home communities to organize other donations. Check local community resources.

 AOTA will keep abreast of any international efforts being undertaken by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) in response to the earthquake in Haiti and keep our members informed of any opportunities for involvement. We are aware of some occupational therapy students who have been to Haiti and are contacting them to get more information.

 Because the devastation is so significant, it may take a while for non-emergency volunteers to be dispatched. Check InterAction to monitor for many types of overseas volunteer opportunities. Clearly, occupational therapy has much to offer.

 Also, read:

·      AOTA’s paper on emergency response and disaster preparedness

·      An article talking with OT experts

·      An article for consumers about OT’s role

We can share with each other, too. Members who are interested in facilitating a grassroots discussion on the topic can respond to my blog, post on one of the forums on AOTA’s OT Connections or start a new discussion of your own.

Additional information and updates:

·      http://www.hhs.gov/haiti/

·      http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/01/20100118a.html

·      http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/

Did I meet my Goals set in Jan 2009 and what's next for 2010?

Well, when you set goals publicly, it is important to review them and to ask for feedback. Here are my goals from Jan 2009 with my comments about achievement:

1. Personally invite three persons per month to become AOTA members. I more than met this goal! I went to Connecticut, South Dakota, Michigan, Maryland, and California and encouraged state association conference attendees to join both their state association and AOTA. I spoke to students about membership via technology at Thomas Jefferson University, Kansas University, University of Oklahoma, and University of Illinois at Chicago. I attended two graduations, one at Columbia University and the other at Wallace State College in Alabama where I discussed the importance of lifelong membership. I also met students at Quinnipiac, Eastern Carolina, Governor State and University of Southern California. I talked to many students about the importance of involvement at the AOTA Student Conclave held in November in Baltimore, MD. I also discussed AOTA activities and the importance of membership with the Rehab Care employees and with the occupational therapy practitioners in the Army.  I recently sent out a membership letter with Florence Clark, AOTA President Elect and Carol Siebert, Chair of the Affiliated State Association Presidents, which highlighted the importance of both state association and AOTA membership. This letter has been posted on AOTA and various state association websites. The payoff of this effort is that we are well over the 40,000 membership mark!

2. Influence positively, great attendance at the AOTA National Conference as the best continuing education, advocacy and leadership development, and knowledge generating activity of the year!!! Houston is where it's at!!!! We had great attendance, about 3500 paid attendees. This was a success given the state of the economy. I know Orlando in 2010 will be even bigger!

4. Talk with as many senatorial, congressional, and agency leaders in healthcare as much as possible during President-Elect Obama's inauguration. I was very involved in the innauguration activities, attending senatorial breakfasts and parties. I also attended the Michigan Ball and met the Governor and the Michigan senatorial and congressional delegations. I attended a private dinner with Senator Grassley from Iowa.

5. Participate regularly in national healthcare reform discussions with Obama's administration, with Congress, and by forming partnerships with key professional associations. I worked with AOTA staff and the Board to ensure our lobbying staff had the resources they needed. We formed many lobbying partnerships to address our issues in healthcare reform involving, home health, extension of the exception process to the cap for Medicare part B, inclusion of rehabilitation and habilitation services, and workforce issues, etc.

6. Continue to lead and influence how we use OT Connections to interact with members and to develop leaders. I have blogged regularly and have encouraged others to participate. I have commented on the blogs of others as well.

7. Interact with state Association presidents to influence state budget appropriations for healthcare, mental health services, and education. AOTA continues to work on state practice acts, making sure OTAs are licensed in every state, as well as protecting scope of practice, and addressing issues of autism.

8. Work with Program Directors of OT and OTA Educational programs to influence curriculum, address emerging higher education issues, and to enhance our research capacity. We have passed the Model Curriculum, the Blueprint for the Education for the Future, and the Research Priorities for the profession.

9. Work with leaders and members in AOTA to enhance our efficiency and effectiveness in meeting the goals of our Centennial Vision. We are at half-time now in working on the Centennial Vision. We have launched the brand, Living Life to Its Fullest. We have increased our media presence. We have produced evidence-based practice guidelines, some of which have been accepted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

10. My ultimate goal is to make sure by the end of my Presidency that I have visited OTs and OTAs in every state of our country!!!! I haven't quite met this goal. I have not been to Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Montanna, Utah, Nebraska, North Dakota, or Oregon.

I will follow with my new list of goals, although remember, I have 6 months left as your President of AOTA. My main goal is to ensure a smooth transition in leadership from myself to Florence Clark, who assumes office on July 1, 2010.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

University of Oklahoma and University of Scranton Technological Visits

Hi all,

The past two days, because of technology, I was able to visit two Universities. At the University of Oklahoma I conversed via videoconferencing with the student occupational therapy association. This was a rescheduled visit as I was supposed to talk to the students the day I was stuck in South Dakota because of the wind. They were very kind to allow me to take some more of their time. I also attended Rita Castaldy's class at the University of Scranton. Both student groups were very prepared and asked me many questions. Their questions indicated how well-informed they were, their eagerness to learn, and their willingness to be involved and participate. I think I have repeatedly blogged generally how impressed I am with this new generation of practitioners, future educators, and potential scientists. They definately are interested in leadership. In fact, most ask me about my career path to leadership as a possible example. I think that the key ingredients are setting goals (both long and short-term), planning the best strategies to achieve the goals, seeking mentors and new learning, and taking advantage of leadership opportunities that come along the way. Leadership must be assumed while in school, on fieldwork, on the job, in the community, and in your family. In other words, lead where you are. Leadership is not a position but involves skills, critical thinking, strategic action, and a positive, can-do attitude. Leaderhsip can be learned and developed. The world is hungry for positive leaders. Yes leadership is risky and puts you out there for criticism. But, perhaps the greater risk is letting someone else lead you into a direction that is not right for you or your career or even for the profession!

 I approach leadership with the metaphor of being a turtle. I have a hard shell that keeps negativity from getting to my core being; if I get flipped over due to unexpected and unforseen circumstances, I can right myself; I may be slow at times in my progress, but I keep going and I can go the distance; and finally, if I need to protect myself, I can either bring my head into my shell for awhile, or I can snap and bite when I need to! In general, I am tough because I am confident in my education, my experience, my expertise, and most of all because of my relationships with many outstanding occupational therapy practitioners, members of other healthcare professions and disciplines, and community and national leaders. Basically, the message to the students was to decide one's career trajectory and make it happen (and of course it is expected you will make many revisions to the plan along the way). It will never be an easy growth path, but will be one that is full of meaning and self-satisfaction.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

What do you get when you mix energy, passion, and advocacy? The Student Conclave!

Wow! I have to add my report about the student conclave held in Baltimore this past weekend. I was so proud to be there just to soak up the energy of our OT and OTA students. Actually it was an ending to a great week. Before I left for the Conclave, we had a very special visitor to UAB to talk to our Student OT Association. Gail Fisher, Region Director for AOTPAC came to talk to us about healthcare reform and advocacy. She did a great job in helping the UAB students learn about how federal policy affects occupational therapy. Then I went to the airport to go to Baltimore. Four of the UAB students had already left for the Conclave. Per my usual travel experience, the computers of the FAA had been down most of the day so many planes were delayed. I sat for about two hours in the Birmingham airport waiting. Actually, I benefitted from the extra moment to put on the headphones and listen to great music while I caught up on e-mail. My e-mail is a constant stream of requests for some kind of action, even if it is to delete. Finally we left about 7:45 pm and I arrived to the hotel after 11:00 pm. Luckily my key-note address was ready as for once I had not procrastinated to wait until the last moment to make final changes and tweaks. I went to bed promptly, but I laid awake thinking about the next day.

The day started early with a capital briefing prior to the over 100 students loading on buses to travel to Capitol Hill. I planned on visiting the AL Senators and one representative, Artur Davis. The four UAB students had made these appointments. We split up as the Senatorial appointments were at the same time. We had great visits, with two of the students spending extra time with Senator Session's staff because it went so well. I went on ahead with the two other students who went to Senator Shelby's office with me. I am a slow walker and we did not have much time to trek across the Capitol to the Congressional offices. Evidence of the slow walking was when the two students who were delayed easily caught up with us. All five of us crammed into Congressman Artur Davis' office to talk to a staff member. The students explained occupational therapy to the staffer and did a nice job too. We really pushed the workforce issues during this visit. Then the five of us had lunch together in Union Station prior to getting on the buses to go back to Baltimore.

I was so tired when we got back. I needed to change my clothes prior to delivering the Keynote at 4:15. Unfortunately I made several trips up to my room and back to the desk as my door keys were not working. And, no, I did not have the keys in my purse next to my cell phone! On the third try, I finally got smart and asked for a Bellman to accompany me up to try the third set. They didn't work either so the battery in the keylock was apparently dead. He got engineering up to fix the door. Meantime, it was getting close to time to start my talk! Finally I get in the room and had a typical crisis over what to wear. I decided I needed to jazz up my outfit so I went to the hotel store and bought an orange shawl and a neat looking pin. I don't know if that helped my keynote, but I believe when you think you look good, you definately feel better. When I arrived at the ballroom, the staff looked relieved to see me. I think they were getting ready to send security to find out what could have happened to me. Anyway, the students all liked the speech and felt motivated to become involved in AOTA advocacy. So, proof that the orange scarf was what I needed to find my energy reserves.

Speaking of energy again, the main day of the Conclave was all that and more! I spent the entire day meeting students, getting pictures taken with them, and learning about their dreams and aspirations. These were very interesting discussions, which then provided a better context for the leadership panel in which I participated. (By the way, I wore the neat pin all day!) I then went to the AOTPAC, So You Can Dance contest. I was a judge. You know what happens when you spend the night judging? Well, the students expected me to dance. There are probably pictures of me on Face Book somewhere dancing the night away. Students can motivate you to participate! They have been taught well about activity engagement.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President

The Chef's Table in Michigan

Well, I am back from another trip, this time to the Michigan Occupational Therapy Association's fall conference. Attendance was great and there were many vendors. It was nice to see Fred Sammons exhibiting again, only now he was showing his Ambucs Trykes, special tricycles adapted for children with various diagnoses, like spina bifada or cerebral palsy. What a great charity to make sure children with disabilities have access to these specially designed bikes.

When I arrived at the Conference this past Saturday, I was in for a special treat. The Conference Committee reserved the chef's table at a great Italian restaurant where the chef prepared a variety of courses from various regions of Italy. He cooked several of the dishes in front of us, explaining the ingredients and the best method of preparation. Watching him use his special equipment and kitchen appliances made me aware of how the right tools are so important. Technique is essential as well as I watched him deftly and quickly slice the poached apples for the dessert tart he created. I couldn't help but go into occupational therapy activity analysis mode to assess the occupational performance resulting from the chef's capacity, skills, the task demands, and the environment. The food was fabulous!

I gave the keynote the next morning, on Sunday. I had a little trouble sleeping the night before due to eating so late and eating such a rich menu. Gastric distress aside, I was able to focus the next morning and relate the important progress AOTA is making in terms of advocating for client access to occupational therapy as a part of healthcare reform. This time I did not have to rush off after my presentation like I did after the MD conference and could hang out with the students from Western Michigan University. They were ambassadors to the conference in that they were assisting the conference committee. I got to talk to them as a group in more depth during the evening's reception. I loved hearing about their successes, their concerns, and their plans for their careers. They were so energizing.

Well, I have only a couple of days to rest and then I am off again, this time to the Student Conclave in Baltimore. I can't wait to lobby on the Hill with the many students from all over the country and see their passion at work. I will let you know how it goes when I get back. With the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up, I can tell you that I am so thankful for all the practitioners and students out there who work together to take us steadily toward the Centennial Vision.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President