It's an Advocacy Time of Year: March Event write ups

Your Northeast District officers have been busy over the last few weeks helping to advocate for our profession.  We started off with a National Advocacy Dinner on March 22 hosted by UOP PT students and sponsored by our Northeast District.  Matthew Downey, Lauren Leporini and I acted as panelists.  It was a great panel Q & A session that encouraged participation regarding PT advocacy.  There was good discussion and I was excited to see students so interested and passionate about advocacy.

And then on March 25th the Northeast District sponsored an evening with Assembly member Dr. Jim Wood of California Assembly District 2 at a pre-legislative day District meeting. That was just in time for PT Legislative Day at the Capitol where our very own Northeast District Chairperson, Ruth LeBlanc, gave opening remarks and welcomed PT professionals from all over the state to our District.  It was a great day with over 200 physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and students learning about interacting with legislators and their staff members.  Our goal was to walk the halls of the capitol building and deliver our message regarding SB 537 (regarding third party payers in the Worker’s Compensation arena) and AB 1592 (regarding athletic training) to every legislator’s office.  And I think we came close!  If you didn’t get a chance to join us, plan on it for next spring.  It’s inspiring to see so many of us working towards educating legislators about physical therapy and helping to protect our profession. 

~Shelley Marchetti

Northeast District, Advocacy Chair

Here’s a blurb from this year’s SPT organizer, Pooja Pal of University of the Pacific.

The 2019 Northeast District National Advocacy Dinner was held at the University of the Pacific (UOP) in Stockton. Thirty-six PT/Pre-PT students from UOP and Samuel Merritt University attended the dinner to learn more about PT advocacy. The dinner was funded and supported through the Northeast District of CPTA and UOP's Department of Physical Therapy. The event started with dinner then transitioned into the introduction of our three panelists (Dr. Shelley Marchetti, Dr. Matthew Downey, Dr. Lauren Leporini). Rest of evening consisted of Q/As with prepared discussion questions and open floor for students to ask any questions to our panelists. Student attendees walked away knowing more about PT advocacy. Attendees learned that it is easy to get involved in PT advocacy through our legislators, patients, and organizations that help students stay up to date about PT advocacy.