Newsletter. Invitation from the President. UOTA Nominations. Important Dates: Inside this issue:

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1 Volume 13, Issue 1 February 2011 Important Dates: February 7 EB Meeting February 22 Region 1 Meeting March 14 EB Meeting March 18 Matter of Balance April 11 EB Meeting April 30 PUSH! May 2 EB Meeting May 17 Membership Meeting Inside this issue: News from the U of U 2 Region 1 Social 2 Regional Representatives 3 AOTF Scholarships 3 Invitation from the President By Pollie Price President Elections are upon us once again. The offices of President, Secretary, and COTA Representative are open for nominations. I personally have gained a lot from the various positions I have held, which include Secretary, Vice President and President. I have been involved with the Board for the last 6 years (minus 1 year in the middle), almost the whole time I have lived in Utah! The office of president has offered me many opportunities to develop and refine my leadership skills. Participating in the Affiliated State Association Presidents (ASAP) throughout the year and prior to the Annual Conference is a real highlight. Last year, the UOTA Nominations intermountain region recommitted to reciprocity (meaning as a UOTA member, you can pay the member rate to attend the state conference in Wyoming) and to moving toward shared meetings once we can get technology in place. These states include Utah, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada. I feel that we have stabilized and are now in a phase of growing the leadership and strengthening the collective power of the membership. We now have Regional and Special Interest Chairs who are beginning to Newsletter get organized. Almost all of our committee chairs are in place. These infrastructures are essential to create the network that will increase the visibility of and improve the quality of occupational therapy practice in Utah. Would you consider stepping into leadership? It s a good time to get involved. If you don t want to take on a Board position, or feel like maybe you aren t ready, getting on a committee or chairing a committee is a good way to get started in leadership. The Association will benefit from your ideas! Call me today- Pollie ! Medical Spanish 3 Art of Collaboration 4 Acute Care Continuing Education Matter of Balance 5-6 Legislative Update 7 AOTA 1-Minute Update 4 7 UOTA Nominations Committee is seeking candidates for the following offices: President, Secretary, COTA Rep Terms of Office July 1, June 30, 2013 If interested please contact: Ann Marie Darstein (801) or midwinters1@msn.com Response required by: April 1 Job Descriptions President 1. Shall be the chief executive officer of the Association and represent the Association to the public. 2. Shall be an ex officio member of all committees and task forces of the Association 3. Shall preside at all meetings of the Association membership. 4. Shall have full power and authority to vote on behalf of the Association at meetings where the President is representing the Association. 5. Shall appoint chairpersons of the standing committees of the Association. 6. Shall create ad hoc committees and task forces with the approval of the EB, and appoint chairpersons. 7. Shall prepare an agenda for Executive Board and membership meetings. 8. Shall vote in the affairs of the Association only in the case of a tie vote. 9. Shall delegate responsibilities (Continued on page 8)

2 UOTA Newsletter Page 2 Greetings from the University of Utah The Life Skills Clinic is committed to creating a supportive and collaborative experience that enhances each individual s participation in life By JoAnne Wright, Division of Occupational Therapy Chair Pollie Price, PhD, OTR/L after a 7-year process, has been awarded tenure and a promotion to the rank of Associate Professor at the University of Utah. She is the first professor to go up for tenure and we are very proud of her accomplishments. Spring semester is an exciting time for the Division as well as the students. Our third year students are completing their final fieldwork with graduation occurring May 4 th. They have done well in the program and we are very proud of them. The second year students are learning the important aspects of occupation-based treatment with adults. The first years are up to their necks or should I say spinal cords with neuroanatomy. They are also looking at research possibilities and at the all important psychosocial components of occupation. The search for a new Chair is progressing nicely but no announcements just yet. The completely on-line OTD is providing an exciting challenge to our students involved in this part of furthering their education ( The Life Skills Clinic has the shingle out and by the time you are reading this, should be treating clients who knew it would be this complex to start a clinic!!! The Life Skills Clinic is committed to creating a supportive and collaborative experience that enhances each individual s participation in life. The foundation and interactions are based on human values, innovation, and scholarship. Mastering Meaningful Movement (MMM) has moved to the clinic; Dr Bradley Freestone, a low-vision optometrist, has been hired as a part of the low vision component of the clinic. This component will be a cutting-edge collaboration with services to meet a growing need for people with low vision especially the elderly. Additional programs include groups related to mindfulness and groups addressing community transition for people with developmental disabilities. More components will be added in the coming months. Give us a call for more information or if you want to come see the place. It is located at 540 Arapeen Drive. Right across from the Division of OT. The clinic phone number is Region 1 Social Region I (Davis, Morgan, Weber, Cache, Box Elder) will be having a social to mingle with local OT practitioners. We will discuss the region's needs with regards to UOTA, con- tinuing education events, and interest for a specific practice area study group. It will be held at Utah Schools for the Blind in Ogden at 742 Harrison Blvd on Tuesday, February 22nd from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. Contact Jenn Mitchell for any questions. jennmitch@msn.com Place an Ad If you would like to post a job in our quarterly newsletter the posting fee is $25 for 1/4 page (approx. 3 x 5 ), $50 for 1/2 page (3 x 10 ) and $100 for full page (6 x 10 ). If you are interested, please prepare your advertisement and send it to Kelly Brown at kelly.brown@hsc.utah.edu. Please mail your payment to UOTA, PO Box 58412, Salt Lake City, UT Newsletter We are always looking for articles for the newsletter. Please take this opportunity to inform the membership about practice trends or issues that affect practice, spotlight your facility or highlight a fellow OT practitioner. Submission deadlines: May 2011 Issue April 23 August 2011 Issue July 25 November 2011 Issue October 24

3 Volume 13, Issue 1 Page 3 Regional Representatives The State of Utah is divided into regions to provide support to our members statewide. Regional representatives would like to hear from the OT practitioners within the region. If you are from Region 2 and would like to become the regional representative, please contact Pollie Price at Please take the time to contact your regional representatives listed in bold and enjoy participating in the group s activities. Region 1: Box Elder, Cache, Riche, Weber, Morgan and Davis counties. Jenn Mitchell Region 2: Salt Lake, Tooele counties. Vacant Region 3: Summit, Wasatch, Daggett, Duchesne, Uintah counties. Stephanie Polukoff Region 4: Utah, Jaub, San Pete counties. Heidi Wooley Region 5: Carbon, Sevier, Wayne, Kane, San Juan, Emery, Grand counties. Yda Smith Region 6: Millard, Beaver, Piute, Iron, Garfield, Washington counties. Jake Holm AOTF Scholarships for OT and OTA Students By Cathy Szumigala, Treasurer The American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) has asked UOTA to participate in a new incentive program to enhance our ability to provide yearly scholarships to UOTA and AOTA student members. This request comes at the heels of AOTF s need to be in compliance with legislation governing the management and protection of institutional funds at non-profit organizations. As many of you are aware, UOTA has had approximately $16,000 invested with AOTF to provide scholarships. UOTA and all state OT organizations have not had true endowments with AOTF. In order to comply with new legislation, we are at a crossroads to either remove our funds from AOTF or to sign an endowment agreement with AOTF. To fund a true endowment, UOTA needs to have a corpus (balance) of at least $25,000. This would allow us to fund a yearly scholarship of $ and pay the administrative cost of $200 to AOTF. If we wish to maintain our scholarship program of $ to an OT student and a $ scholarship to an OTA student, we would need to have a corpus of at least $38,000. To aid us in our efforts to create a corpus that would generate these scholarship endowments, AOTF has initiated the following incentives that would apply for this year only. Upon signing the endowment agreement AOTF would immediately contribute the amount equal to 20% of our scholarship fund balance as of September 201. This equates to ~$3,200. Then they would match 100% (1:1) any new funds raised to our scholarship fund up until December 31, We have three options with AOTF. The first option is to sign the endowment agreement and work on a fundraising program to raise our corpus to at least $25,000 or preferably $38,000. The second option is not to sign the endowment and request that AOTF immediately returns our current corpus (~$16,000). The last option is not to sign the endowment agreement and have AOTF continue to reward the scholarships until we run out of corpus. This must be accomplished by As Treasurer of UOTA, I recommend that we sign the endowment agreement and begin an fund-raising program to increase our corpus to $38,000. Using the formula(s) from AOTF, that would mean that we would need to raise an additional $9,000 by 12/31/11. While this may seem ambitious, I hope that you see that the incentive program offered by AOTF could help provide a meaningful scholarship to students. We don t have to sign the endowment agreement until December 2011, however if we wish to create a fundraising program, it would be in our best interest to start soon. Please take a moment and provide the Executive Board with some feedback on what you would like to see happen. I hope that you would contact me at cathy.szumigala@ccsdut.org. I have the letters from AOTF and FAQ pages on a PDF. If you would like a copy of this information, please do not hesitate to contact me....a new incentive program to enhance our ability to provide yearly scholarships to UOTA and AOTA student members. Medical Spanish By Nick Sidwell, Community SIS Chair I see an increasing need for Spanish skills in order to reach/educate so many in our communities. I was wondering if any practitioners would be interested in a "medical Spanish" course or perhaps forming a study group. If you re interested, let me know via sidwello@yahoo.com

4 UOTA to Explore Video Conferencing UOTA is currently exploring the use of a free video conferencing system that is operated by the Utah Education Network or UEN. This is a great opportunity for UOTA as it is becoming increasingly more difficult for the UOTA leadership to meet together. Some of the difficulties have included the time and distance to travel to Salt Lake City on a regular basis and the challenge of trying to communicate with multiple parties through conference calling. Over the past few months, I have been able to participate in the monthly leadership meetings using Skype which is a free software program that enables video conferencing over the internet. Unfortunately Skype is not a feasible solution for UOTA as Skype will not allow more than 2 users to communicate with the video feed at the same time, although the audio only calls can accommodate more than 2 users. UEN has been using video conferencing technology for more than a decade to provide educational opportunities throughout the state s high schools, applied technology centers and universities. This technology is also used for state and local governments when travel is not feasible. UOTA will attempt to use this technology for its monthly meetings, and if it s successful, perhaps regional reps and committees will be able to meet together using UEN s video conferencing system in the future. This technology may also be beneficial for continuing education events; however, many logistical questions remain before any of these options can occur. In an attempt to unite and promote participation of leadership throughout the state of Utah, UOTA will attempt to use the video conferencing system during the next monthly meeting which will be held on Monday February 7 th. I m currently working with UEN to schedule three groups that will be located in Salt Lake, Logan, and Park City. In a future newsletter, I will report on how this project is going. Throughout the state, there are over 700 potential classrooms available. However, not all of these sites are available at any given time. The building site many be closed or there may already be a class in session using the technology. Also, some sites may charge a fee to access the room and to pay for a facilitator. You can view a map to see which sites are close to you by looking up the links below. If you have questions, please contact Travis Chamberlain, UOTA Website Chair, at or Travis.Chamberlain@Utah.edu

5 UOTA Newsletter Page 4 The Art of Collaboration Two minds are better than one By Ginger Huerta, COTA Representative Collaboration baby! That is what s it s all about! In this ever changing world of healthcare occupational therapy professionals must learn the art of collaboration in order to survive. Now I am not just referring to the collaboration that takes place between the OT and OTA. It needs to involve all team members. We are talking nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists, social workers, teachers, parents, and the client themselves; the list of participants could go on and on. What are some of the key elements of collaboration you ask? No matter the setting (SNF, acute rehab, early intervention) they remain the same. First and foremost is communication. The sharing of information within the team regarding a clients care and progress towards goals is vital. In this way we can keep the ideal of client centered goals at the forefront. Also the communication between OTs and OTAs is imperative to the continued viability of our profession. This is one way we are able to bring positive light to our profession through showing a united front. Another element is conflict resolution. By establishing very clear responsibilities and roles of each participant we hope to avoid conflict all together. Unfortunately, we all know that this is not always the case. When attempting to resolve a conflict between any team members, we first need to make sure we keep an open mind. Our ideas are not always going to be the best ones. This is where the old adage of two minds are better than one comes in. We also need to make sure that our discussion is centered on the issues surrounding the conflict at hand and not the negative emotions attached to them. The last element I will touch on is professional ethics. Each profession has their own code of ethics that they are to uphold. If you haven t read the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics and Ethics Standards (2010), available on the AOTA website, then I encourage you to do so. The document in and of itself reeks, if you will, of collaboration. The document also very nicely ties all of these key elements together. There are of course other elements, but these three struck me as being the most important as well as the ones we are mostly likely to take for granted. But they are key elements of collaboration and they are what hold the team together. Much like the binder that an artist needs in order to adhere pigment to a support. Without it it is impossible to create such beautiful, enduring pieces of work. UOTA is currently in the process of forming an OT/OTA partnership subcommittee. This subcommittee will be involved in activities such as the promotions of OT/OTA partnerships via an annual award. If you are interested please contact me at huertax4_8@msn.com Acute Care Occupational Therapy (Rehab) UOTA Continuing Education Event for February Saturday Morning Stretch Learning Objectives: 1. Participants will be able to identify main precautions in treating patients in an acute setting including ICU 2. Participants will be able to identify main areas of OT intervention and precautions for patients with cardiac, neurological, orthopedic and oncology diagnosis 3. Participants will be able to identify and describe the different team members involved in caring for an acutely ill patient. Presenter: Florentina Gustai from Intermountain Health Care When: February 26, :00 a.m. 12 noon Cost: $10.00 for UOTA members, $50.00 for non-members

6 Matter of Balance Matter of Balance (MOB) is a group intervention designed to reduce fear of falling and associated restrictions in activity levels among communityresiding older adults. The program is based upon principles of cognitive behavioral therapy and designed to reduce fear of falling by increasing self -efficacy and the sense of control over falling. $ UOTA members OTA $ UOTA members OTR $ Non-members OTA $ Non-members OTR and non-ot Price included MOB manual, 2 DVDs, breakfast & lunch Location (More details on back) March 18, :30 a.m. Registration 9:00-12:00 Workshop 12:00-1:00 Lunch 1:00-4:30 Workshop Division of Occupational Therapy 520 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City Registration Form Please detach and mail with payment to: UOTA PO Box Salt Lake City, UT $ UOTA members OTA $ UOTA members OTR $ Non-members OTA $ Non-members OTR and non-ot Name Address City, State, Zip Phone Professional Affiliation Registration due by March 1

7 Matter of Balance By the end of the course, workshop participants will be able to: Explain the significance of falls in terms of prevalence, cost, and associated morbidity and mortality. Recognize that fear of falling is common among older adults and an independent risk factor for falls. Justify the need for individual assessment for fall risk given the interacting nature of fall risk factors. Summarize the development, evaluation and evolution of the Matter of Balance (MOB) program. Select evidence-based fear of falling assessments. Describe the central features of MOB (including its theoretical premise) and compare MOB to AGS/BGS recommendations re: best practice in fall prevention. Draw from the MOB facilitator s manual to describe content and processes associated with implementation of the program. Presented by Elizabeth Walker Peterson, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA Elizabeth Walker Peterson, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Department of Occupational Therapy. Dr. Peterson earned her doctoral degree in medical science from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm Sweden, a master s degree in public health from Boston University, and a B.S. in occupational therapy from the University of Florida. Her clinical experiences are primarily in the areas of gerontology and physical disability, in both hospital and community-based settings. She has worked at UIC since 1993 where she serves as primary instructor for several lecture and lab-based courses within the entry-level master s curriculum. Her research interests are focused on falls and fear of falling among community dwelling older adults and people with multiple sclerosis with emphasis on epidemiology, measurement of outcomes related to fall prevention efforts, and interventions designed to reduce fear of falling and/or fall risk.

8 COME LEARN ABOUT... THERAPYSM A Revolutionary Approach to Chronic Pain Relief & Functional Mobility In Occupational Performance PUSH Therapy is a specialized muscle therapy that increases occupational performance through treating chronic pain and tension, soft tissue injuries, and disorders, without sacrificing the practitioner s own body. With a strong emphasis in anatomy, physiology, and muscle behavior, PUSH therapists produce long-lasting change by treating more than symptoms- They treat, teach, empower and strengthen each client, addressing the true source of the disorder. Come learn about a comprehensive system that will: Eliminate pain and tension. Empower, and strengthen each client Make you a stronger and more powerful professional Presented by Michael Takatsuno, founder & creator April 30,2011 9:00am -12:30pm Hosted by the Utah Occupational Therapy Association University of Utah Division of Occupational Therapy Health Professions Education Bldg. 520 Wakara Way UOTA utahotassociation.org

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10 Volume 13, Issue 1 Page 7 Legislative Update By Kasey Mitchell, Government Affairs Chair Recently, the UOTA lobbyist brought a potential new bill to our attention. Senator Liljenquist was talking about remodeling Utah Medicaid. Our lobbyist reported that this bill would move Medicaid from a fee for service system where providers are paid per visit to a capitated system that would pay providers through Accountable Care Organization (ACO) using a lump sum per Medicaid member. The ACO would be managed by the large hospital corporations that service the State of UT. Initially there were several concerns for this system. First, if the hospital were the gatekeepers for Medicaid moneys, it is possible that all funding would be used in acute care delivery. Secondly, the Medicaid consumer access to community or outpatient services would be limited. Finally, the quality of care would be greatly reduced. Our lobbyist arranged a meeting with Senator Liljenquist and the above issues were discussed. Senator Liljenquist reported that the initial Medicaid moneys would be divided into two separate areas, acute and community, thus reducing the conflict of interest of having hospitals favor acute services. He argued that this approach may also improve the number of services that could be used by Medicaid users and act as means of controlling cost of Medicare for the State. The current Medicaid system needs revision, as services provided to Medicaid users fluctuate from year to year and are always in danger of being reduced or eliminated. Last year outpatient OT and PT services were funded with ongoing money, a battle won? Apparently not, these services are again in question as further funding cuts are examined. Rather than fight the same battles year after year a change to the way Medicaid is funded may be a better direction. Stay tuned, we will keep a close eye on the events of this legislative session and keep you informed on how potential changes will affect us as a profession, and on how the above bill unfolds. It s a simple solution...you change one thing, and suddenly you ve OT-COTA Alpine Transitional Rehab Center in Brigham City is seeking a PRN and part-time/full-time OT or COTA for our 16 bed, shortterm skilled facility. We are a 5 Star Medicare rated facility. Qualified applicants may call Leslie or Evan at AOTA Victories During Lame Duck Congress Courtesy of AOTA 1-Minute Update We weren't sure if the lame duck session of Congress would be a challenge or an opportunity, but with so many AOTA legislative victories for OT achieved over the past few weeks, it has definitely been a great success. The Medicare therapy cap exceptions process is extended through 2011 and AOTA's home health bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate, marking the first time in many years that the bill was in both the House and Senate. Read more about our legislative victories in the Federal Legislative Issues Update. AOTA is continuing to work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on the therapy cuts in the physician fee schedule rule. Read the AOTA analysis of the final rule here (log in). changed everything. -Rebecca Onie, founder of Health Leads

11 PO Box Salt Lake City, UT We re on the Web! UOTA Nominations (Continued from page 1) to other officers as needed. 10. Shall vote during Executive Board Meetings in the case of a tie vote or to establish a quorum. 11. Shall represent UOTA in the ASAP (Affiliated State Association Presidents) division. Secretary 1. Shall record the minutes of the meetings of the Association and distribute per the Association policy or procedure adopted by the members of the Executive Board. 2. Shall be custodian of the documents of the Association, including the Bylaws, policies, procedures, and other documents deemed necessary, per the Association policy or procedure. 3. Shall track all charges of the Association and report to the Executive Board. 4. Shall oversee, maintain and /or distribute membership and business correspondence. 5. Shall assume other responsibilities as directed by the President. COTA Representative The COTA Representative must (1) be certified by NBCOT, (2) have one-year minimum working experience and (3) be a member of UOTA and AOTA. Section IV. Terms of Office: The COTA Representative shall be elected for a term of two years and may be re-elected for one additional term. The two-year term will coincide with the term of the President. Section V. Duties: The COTA Representative will represent OTA member issues. 1. Act as a liaison for members to contact with questions and issues related to OTA/OT roles. 2. Be informed of Utah OT practice and license rules and regulations in order to field questions or refer questions to the appropriate contact. 3. Represent issues and concerns of OTA members to the UOTA Executive Board. 4. Disseminate information of particular concern to OTAs within the UOTA newsletter or on the web page. 5. Encourage OTA participation in the Association. 6. Communicate with SLCC OTA program concerning State Network and encourage participation of SLCC OTA students in UOTA. 7. Receive and review information sent from AOTA. 8. Disseminate information from AOTA to UOTA OTA/AOTA members. Additional information can be found on the UOTA website under, About Us, Bylaws