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Page 1
Message from the President:
RIOTA News Summer 2015
Volume 44, Issue 3
Inside this issue:
Message from the President 1
Executive Board 2
Membership Update 3
NAMI Walk 3
RIOTA Journal Club 4
Special Interest Groups 4
RIOTA Calendar 5
Educational Coordinator 5
Student Advocacy 5
Therapy Missions 6
Contact Us: [email protected]
or
www.riota.org
Dear Members,
RIOTA is gearing up for a new year and we hope to meet your needs with some exciting events and developments.
First though, I would like to thank Kim Gilbert for her excellent leadership as president over the past 4 years. She is a true powerhouse, full of energy and possesses a great mind for business that cleaned up many of the forgotten details necessary for running an organization. What a wonderful job she did in mobilizing the OT practitioners here in Rhode Island when OTA licensure was in jeopardy. She talked to the people at the capitol to ask all the right questions and get us a place on Hill Day to talk about Occupational Therapy and the need for licensure. It was empowering to see the response from our members to fight for our profession. Thank you Kim, for that, and for all your efforts.
We do have some fun things planned, or I should say, being planned for this spring. The first General Membership meeting of the year is right around the corner on October 19th. Hope to see you there. The annual NAMI walk is happening on Saturday, October 17th. Join us to support that great cause.
This spring, we hope to have a guest speaker. Dan Keplinger, aka King Gimp, has agreed to come and speak to us. For those of you who know who he is, I’m sure that is exciting news. For those who don’t know, we will be posting more about him so you can be excited too! Stay tuned for more information about him and his visit.
So come join us for the events this year. We are honored to serve you and hope to see you many times over the year. Let us know if there is some way we can enhance your participation, your continuing educa-tion, or any need within our reach.
Until Next Time,
Karen Albright Morgenstein
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RIOTA Executive Board
RIOT A News Volume 44, Issue 3
President
Karen Morgenstien, COTA/L
Vice President
Joanne Jones, OTD, OTR/L
Treasurer
Samantha McKanna, COTA/L
Secretary
Cristina Varejao, COTA/L
AOTA Representative
Mary Brinson, OTD, OTR/L
FAOTA [email protected]
Communications Co-Chair
Lucille Garcia, MS, OTR/L
Rob Iacono, COTA/L
Newsletter Editor
Courtney Crone, MS,
OTR/L
Nominations Chair
Open Position
Development Chair
Open Position
Legislative Chair
Open Position
Public Relations Chair
Lucille Garcia, MS, OTR/L
Reimbursement Chair
Open Position
Educational Resource
Coordinator
Sheila Sweeney, MS, OTR/L
Membership Chair
Keri Kinniburgh, COTA/L
Pediatric Special Interest
Group Co-Chairs
Sandy Lamchick, COTA/L, BA
Theresa Mergener,
COTA/L, BS
Mental Health Special
Interest Group Co-Chairs
Pat Donovan, EdD., MSOT,
OTR/L
Barbara Ostrove, MA, OTR/L,
FAOTA
Adult Special Interest
Group Chair
Open Position
Coming Soon:
The following positions remain open: Reimbursement chair, Adult Special Interest Group Chair, Development Chair, Legislative Chair and Nominations chair. If you
are interested please contact us at [email protected]
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Membership
RIOT A News Volume 44, Issue 3
Membership Update!
September is a big month for renewals at RIOTA. With our new online re-
newal system, which started last year, you can now renew your membership safely
and securely via PayPal payment system with a credit card. If you still wish to pay
by check you can still renew online and choose to mail payment to the RIOTA post
office box as well.
Thanks, Rob Iacono - Communications Co-Chair
On Saturday, October 17, 2015, RIOTA will be participating as a team in the annual NAMI Walk for the sixth year in a row! The Na-tional Alliance on Mental Illness works to raise awareness and de-crease the stigma around mental illness. We hope you'll consider joining us in supporting this cause! If you would like to join us, or make a donation, you can visit the team’s page at http://namiwalks.nami.org/RIOTA2015.
The walk is a great event, and your family and friends (and pets!) are welcome to join our team as well! Please register as soon as possible, so we can work on getting team T-shirts. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Stacey at [email protected]
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RIOT A News Volume 44, Issue 3
RIOTA Journal Club
Last year’s Journal Club participants discussed many topics of interest. There were seven meet-
ings, and the topics included: motor and cognitive recovery following stroke, ataxia treatment, fall pre-
vention, ALS, and dementia. We also discussed Glen Gillen’s Slagle lecture with regard to the im-
portance of occupation-based practice. We reviewed levels of evidence, how assess a peer-reviewed
article at a basic level, and ways that we personally incorporate evidence into practice. Phew! That’s a
lot for our first year.
In an effort to meet the needs of the membership, I am asking for your input with regard to fu-
ture topics. Please note that we focus primarily on adult physical disabilities, but if anyone is interest-
ed in creating an additional club addressing other areas, I would be happy to provide them with the in-
formation needed to get that started. I hope to schedule the first Journal Club in October. Please email
me [email protected] with topic suggestions.
Thanks! Joanne Jones, OTD, OTR/L
Special Interest Groups
The special interest groups are planning an exciting year of continuing educa-
tion opportunities! Currently we are still seeking a chair for the adult physical disa-
bilities group. If you or someone you know is interested in taking on this important
role please contact us at [email protected].
As always stay tuned to our website for future events!
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The Educational Resource Coordinator Corner: Hello Members, I am looking forward to the coming 2015-2016 year for RIOTA. This past spring has rejuvenated me on how strength in numbers can really make changes. What I am talking about is the keeping of the COTA/PTA licen-sure. All the e-mails, letters and the great crowd at our hill day showed the senators and the representatives that occupational therapists know how to fight. WE ROCK! I am in the process of re-scheduling the Community Resource Night to be presented at The General Member-ship Meeting schedule for 10/19/15. I am looking forward to working with the new president, Karen Morgenstein, the new Treasurer Samantha McKanna, and the rest of the new and remaining board members. As you know we are still looking for a volunteer for the Physical Disability Special Interest Group, if you are interested please come to a board meeting or e-mail at [email protected]. Please feel free to e-mail any ideas for contact hours or concerns that you might have on educational issues. I thank you for your time. Sheila R Sweeney, MOT, OTR/L Education Resource Coordinator
RIOTA Calendar
Annual Membership meeting October 19th time and place TBD
RIOTA events will resume in the fall visit: http://www.riota.org/event-sign-up-here.html for details!
For more information check out our website www.RIOTA.org or find us on Facebook!
Student Advocacy and Support
In light of a recent trend of occupational therapy students' requests, RIOTA has modified its webpage. From time to
time you may receive email blasts about occupational therapy students conducting research. Some of this research
involves surveying local OT practitioners. We have created a page on our website where these research requests will
be posted. In addition, we have had an increasing number of requests from high school and college students look-
ing for OT shadow opportunities. In order to meet the needs of these students we have created a page for OT shad-
ow opportunities. We have a limited number of local OT practitioners willing to take students. If you are interested
in hosting potential OT students please fill out the information box located on our OT shadow page: http://
www.riota.org/ot-job-shadow-opportunities.html Thanks and have a great year!
Lucy Garcia, Communications chair Public relations chair
Page 6
Therapy Missions Corner
Therapy Missions had a successful visit to Hogar Immanuel in the Dominican Republic this
past July. Hogar Immanuel is an orphanage for children with special needs. The team was led by
RIOTA’s own Lucy Garcia. She led a team of therapists from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and
Florida. The team consisted of three occupational therapists, one speech therapist, and one physical
therapist. While at Hogar Immanuel they worked with the residents, ranging from three years old up
to twenty one years old along with the staff. The visit focused on feeding, positioning, and transfer
training techniques. This will be an ongoing mission trip that will be occurring in June or July. We
are actively recruiting therapists who are experienced with medically fragile children and youth. In
addition, we welcome therapists who specialize in feeding, swallowing, wheelchair modifications and
adaptations, as well as positioning. If you are unable to travel, but would like to support this wonder-
ful organization, we welcome donations to fund travel and equipment expenses.
Please visit our website for more information http://www.therapymissions.org/
We thank you for your continued support!