Welcome to winter wonderland! I was on a conference call this week and the folks in Iowa were complaining about their snow. The folks in Phoenix were complaining they had to wear coats because the temperature had dropped to 60 degrees. I could only smile knowing it was a really nice day in North Dakota because the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky and only 5 degrees below zero. It is all about perspective.
Websters defines perspective as the ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance or quite simply a point of view. I think there is quite a variation in perspective in relation to healthcare these days.
The Healthy People 2020 initiative has a short vision statement with a tall message: a society in which all people live long, healthy lives. APTA strives for the same perspective with the new Brand promise: Physical therapists help you restore and improve motion to achieve long-term quality of life. I think this is an important concept as we move into 2010. In the unsettled world of healthcare reform, our profession stands strong in the pursuit of quality of life. The eighteen special-interest sections were developed in APTA to provide additional avenues for members to collaborate in an area of interest and gain expertise to improve quality of service. Each section has developed programming and publications to champion the cause for evidence-based practice and ultimately quality within the profession. I am amazed at the amount of work and dedication that members put forth in support of their specific section. It is this extensive assembly of minds and actions that create our perspective. Consider joining a section and take advantage of this knowledge base and add your perspective as well. APTA has many Committees and Board-Appointed Groups that need your perspective as a working professional. Take a look on the APTA web site to get involved.
Not everyone may share our perspective. Does Congress share ours to extend the therapy cap exceptions process and avoid the 21.2% cut in provider payments under the medicare physician fee schedule? Our profession is at risk if we do not get the support from Congress. You can contact the Members of Congress and share the PT perspective in support of quality patient care. We need to always be aware of other groups within the healthcare arena that do not like our perspective and work very hard to distort this to their benefit.
As we think about vision statements and goals for the years ahead, we have to consider a strategic plan for NDPTA. We will tackle this assignment at our winter meeting. The future of NDPTA should be based on the perspective of all our members. If you are not a member, then please join us because we are interested in your point of view.
Once again, I will identify communication as a "point of view." How do we want to communicate? What do we want to communicate? We have had some struggles with our web site and knowing if it is a useful tool. Our facebook site has not seemed to generate a great deal of communication to date. These are the methods of the future for sharing information. How do we do it to benefit NDPTA? We cannot improve our web site without knowing what members want for communication. We need to hear from students to add their perspective as we plan for Vision 2020.
I would like to wish everyone a very prosperous and healthy New Year. Please keep in touch; my door is always open.
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