The RT News
Newsletter of Division 11
June 2007
MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIR
Results are in! By-laws amendment ballots were mailed to the current 385 members of our Division on April 2, 2007. We had a return rate of nearly 40%. The amendment to change the Division name to Vision Rehabilitation Therapy Division passed overwhelmingly, with 85% of the ballots in favor of accepting the change.
The new name aligns the Division with the certification mark of Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapist. Although members struggled with the idea of giving up the historical name, the need for a unified professional identity took precedence. Next steps include designing a new logo and changing the names of the RT News and website.
AER-Lift Tidbits:
Please read the very informative AER-Lift Report by our Chair-elect, John McMahon, elsewhere in this issue. I’d like to mention a few specific items as well:
The Call for Papers for the July 2008 AER Conference will open this Summer with a deadline of September or October. It’s not too soon to start thinking about a topic for a presentation or poster session.
AER is in the process of providing more support to Chapters and Divisions for mass e-mails and newsletters. The Division Board will be discussing the possibility of an electronic newsletter in the future. Your feedback on this topic to myself or any board member is most welcome.
AER is also focused on continually improving the website. Our Division chose to have our own website several years ago. We need to weigh the current pros and cons of continuing a separate website versus being a part of the AER website. (Another topic for the Division Board.)
One last thing…
The election of new officers is a year away, but it’s another topic we could start thinking about. I’ve been concerned that all recent officers in the last several cycles are from east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon Line. I have a dream that our next election will have at least two candidates for each of the offices (Chair-elect and Secretary-Treasurer) and that we will have candidates who represent a wide geographical area. A couple of the Utah Conference attendees already expressed interest in joining the Nominating Committee. Anyone else who may be interested should contact me or Past-chair Nancy Paskin, who will be serving as Nominating Committee Chair.
Have a great summer!
Mary Beth Harrison, CVRT, CLVT
Your Executive Team: 2004-2006
Mary Beth Harrison, Chair: marybeth.harrison@med.va.govJohn McMahon, Chair-elect: john.m.mcmahon@wmich.edu
Susan M. Dalton, Secretary/Treasurer: smdtvp@joltmail.net
ATTENTION MEMBERS
We are about to publish a new Membership List of Division Members.
IF You do NOT want your contact information shared with other members CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY
IF Any of your basic contact information has changed...like email, work phone, work site, fax, etc. CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY Thank youContact either: Susan Dalton at smdtvp@joltmail.net OR Nancy Paskin at NanVRTinAER@optonline.net
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CONGRATULATIONS To CERTIFIED And RECERTIFIED MEMBERS
We last recognized Certified and Recertified Vision Rehabilitation Therapists in the June 2006 issue which listed certificants who were approved during the December 2005 Quarter. This list includes everyone who has been approved and listed in the ACVREP Newsletters through January 2007.
March 2006: Newly Certified VRTs:
Merrie Bramlett, Eva Crowder, Lis Geoghegan, Ginger Lancaster, Patrice Lariccia, and Nathan Tierney.
June 2006: Newly Certified VRTs:
Linda Chung, Johannah Echevarria, Linda Fugate, Ellen Harris, Mark Matthiessen, Lori Miller, Christine Robbins, Ken Smith, Patricia Tassie, and Brendan Tedrick.
September 2006: Newly Certified VRTs:
Donna Blumel, Ana Carruth, Marsha Farrow, Jane Fore-Mather, Song-Jae Jo, Jean May, Mary McAndrews, Natasha Mlotok, Linh Pham, Kristin Reinhart, Alice Ritchhart, Michael Triplett, Laura Wright, and Mary Zelinsky.
December 2006: Newly Certified VRTs:
Jane Elliott, Diane Estrella, Beth Hiseler, Wendy Lundstrum, Sally Meyers, Grace Quinones, Anna Studencki, George Studencki, and Mary Winkler.
Congratulations to our 39 newly certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapists
March 2006: Recertified VRTs:
Christi Bean, Rosalind Byers-Lang, Brenda Godwin, Gretchen Good, Jared Grant, Connie Henshaw, Carolyn Hoppe, Nancy Lacock, Lois Mann, Brian Muvany, Jewett O’Connor, Celecia Phillips, John Rempel, Sharon Schwalm, Kristine Tompkins, Kay Townsend, Diane Weiss, and Janet Winsett.
June 2006: Recertified VRTs:
Juliana Albertie, Deanna Austin, G. Catherine Bryce, Mary Beth Caruso, Joyce Dyer, Valeria Foreman, Julia Halpern-Gold, Samantha Green, Elizabeth Heidhues, Beverly Kolb, Jayne Meekings, Georgeanne Morris, Karen Orosz, Nancy Parkin-Bashizi, Karla Piper, Carol Sarge, and Nancy Scharpenberg.
September 2006: Recertified VRTs:
Susan Anima, Constance Arends, Bonnie Betz, Glenda Farnum, Isabell Florence, Leanne Ford, Carol Marriot, Roberta McCall, Anne McDevitt, Stanley Mosser, Nancy Northard, Eileen O’Donnell, Timothy Panula, Nancy Paskin, Anna Pekarski, Annie Presley, Sandra Rosen, Marilyn Sanders and Paula Southerland.
December 2006: Recertified VRTs:
Paula Abbott, Melissa Blyveis, Elizabeth Camerlin, Jane Charlton, Elida Gares, Don Golembiewski, Jacqueline Hill, Zhengping Jiang, Karen McKenna, Pura Michel, Etsuro Nishiyachi, Christie Peel, Cheryl Richesin, Rebecca Simpson, jay Stiteley, and Laurel Tucker.
This listing, which reflects all of 2006, recognizes 109 Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapists from ACVREP’s records, is about one quarter of our Division membership.
However, you need to also realize that certified vision rehabilitation therapists are not necessarily members of the Division. Similarly, members of our Division are not all vision rehabilitation therapists. Our division membership is made up of people who are interested in the work of our Division but may come from a wide variety of backgrounds. It is interesting then and of some concern why our Division membership stays slumped at about 400 members. It should be MUCH higher. Dues for our Division is NOT exorbitant, so it can’t be that. Our newsletter and Division Days at conferences have won compliments and been consistently well received. If you have ideas to further improve our Division and to encourage all VRTs to become members LET US KNOW. We want to improve and do more for YOU our members. Contact the Executive Staff with your ideas, desires and hopes for more !!!!!
AER-Lift 2007 By John McMahon, CVRT, CLVT
Approximately 100 professionals in the field of blindness and low vision gathered recently for the annual AER-Lift conference. The conference was held April 13-15 at the Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C.
The first general session began Friday evening with opening remarks from a variety of AER staff and Board members including Jim Gandorf, Executive Director of AER, and Mary Beth Dean, Chair-Elect of AER’s Board of Directors. The opening session culminated with a humor-filled game of AER Jeopardy and a lot of laughs. During this activity we discovered attendees at this conference ranged in years within AER from less than one year to 38 years (I think the 38 year mark was achieved by both Rick Welsh and MaryNelle McLennon).
Saturday was divided into two different sessions. The morning session was devoted to issues related to creating more interesting newsletters, more active chapters, and marketing of our chapters. This was done by having attendees grouped by AER Division, Office held, and/or chapter representatives. The second portion of Saturday was comprised of a variety of facilitated activities moving us through a process for creating a new Strategic Plan for AER. Participants had the option of staying in the hotel for dinner, or going to Georgetown to explore the local sights, sounds and tastes.
Sunday was used to continue farther into the strategic planning journey. While the final report is not yet available, participants gained a strong idea of where the leadership of AER Divisions and Chapters would like to see emphasis placed from AER. The issues that were identified as top priorities included:
- More and better trained professions in the field.
- Better dissemination of evidence based research by AER, and use of this research to create practice models of standards of care/education.
- A better Expanded Core Curriculum (including areas of daily living and standards of care) being implemented.
- More knowledgeable administrators, legislators and public, which will lead to more appropriate salary, benefits, professional development, and recognition for practitioners in the field.
John Mc Mahon, CVRT, CLVT
Chair-Elect of the Vision Rehabilitation Therapy Division
PCO Announcement
Pennsylvania College of Optometry announced the appointment of a new Director to head their Master’s program in Vision Rehabilitation Therapy... Meet and welcome Almeda P. RugerEducation:
Certification in Ed. for the Visually Impaired, anticipated Summer 2007
M.S. Rehabilitation Teaching, PA College of Optometry
M.S. Vision Rehabilitation, PA College of Optometry
B.S., Home Economics, Drexel University
Role at PCO:
Director, Master of Science and Certificate Programs in Vision Rehabilitation Therapy (formerly Rehabilitation Teaching)
Coordinator of low vision rehabilitation services in the Feinbloom Center
Affiliations:
American Association of Family and Consumer Science, since 1978
Pennsylvania Association of Family and Consumer Science
Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Divisions 7 & 11
Contact:
Pennsylvania College of Optometry
Department of Graduate Studies in Vision Impairment
8360 Old York Road
Elkins Park, PA 19027-1598
Phone: 215-780-1362
Fax: 215-780-1357
E-mail: aruger@pco.edu
http://www.pco.edu