Pictured: Selfie of Kelley Kubota (CPTA Vice President) with CPTA Delegation.
Physical Therapy Leadership in Action on the National Scale
Northeast District member and California Delegate, Ben Braxley, reflects and shares his experience at the 2022 APTA House of Delegates.
The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) held the 2022 House of Delegates over the past weekend, and I had the privilege of serving as one of thirty-seven California Delegates.
If some of that did not make sense, that’s understandable, because there is a lot to unpack.
What is a House of Delegates?
What does it mean to be a Delegate?
Why is California represented by 37 individuals?
Why is it a privilege?
What is a House of Delegates?
The House of Delegates is the highest policy-making, deliberative body of the profession of physical therapy in the United States of America. Huh, you say? When you think about policy at the APTA, at the professional level, think about the Code of Ethics guiding PT and PTA behavior, think about the bylaws that dictate the origin and function of our Academies, Sections, and Chapters, and think about our vision:
“Transforming society by optimizing movement to enhance the human experience.”
Pictured: Dr. Terry Nordstorm. This 2:30 minute video about the “human experience” is worth the watch.
That vision was adopted by the APTA House of Delegates in 2013. Here’s a quick shout-out to Dr. Terry Nordstorm as he spoke about adopting that vision as a California Delegate in 2013. #PTJediMaster
That video of Terry Nordstorm discussing the “human experience” gives you a little flavor of the type of issues that come up and the conversation that occurs within the highest tier of our professional discourse. But yes, we also get into the weeds on where a comma should or should not go, what word has been defined where, and DEFINITELY whether or not our professional association should make statements and adopt policies on politically contentious topics. #TwitterFight vs #BetterTogether
The House of Delegates also elects the members of APTA’s Board of Directors and members of the national Nominating Committee. I previously served on that Nominating Committee and, yes, the House also serves as a great opportunity to catch up with [read: have a beverage with] colleagues and network with the movers and the shakers of our profession.
Pictured: Ben Braxley (third from left) with former members of APTA’s Nominating Committee.
What does it mean to be a delegate?
Being a Delegate means that I was elected at the Chapter level (California) to represent your voice and opinions at the national level. I was elected by the general membership (all California PT members who voted) following last year’s CPTA Annual Conference. Other Delegates were elected or appointed by their CPTA District. If you do the math on that, it means I was one of twenty-five CPTA elected Delegates and that the remaining twelve come from each of our twelve districts.
why is California represented by 37 individuals?
I have had the honor of serving as a Georgia Delegate (nine delegates at the time) and now also as a California delegate through two cycles. California by the way has the most Delegates of any part of APTA. At thirty-seven, which is based on the ratio of members in our state relative to nationwide membership in all other states, California wields tremendous influence within the House of Delegates and during elections. 37/~450 is more than 8% of the votes. And for perspective, this weekend we had one vote decided by TWO votes. California is a powerhouse, and when we speak, others listen.
Pictured: California Delegates and Kelley Kubota (CPTA Vice President) during an address from US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra.
why is it a privilege?
Now the big question: Why is it a privilege? Well, someone has to be in the room to advocate for us. And by “us” I mean our State, our District, our area of practice, our vision for the future, and our special populations (be they patient populations, such as individuals with suboptimal social determinants of health, or professional populations, from Neurologic Clinical Specialists #NeuroNerd to PT Proud members to clinicians treating pickleballers).
Carrying your voice is a privilege in much the same way that caring for a client is a privilege. Each client entrusts some aspect of their wellbeing to us as clinicians, as their care provider.
Well, in the context of APTA’s House of Delegates, each member of the Association trusts us with their future and by extension, each nonmember does too. Yes, I’m talking about that other 74% of clinicians out there who could care less who has their back at negotiation tables ~or~ who just disagree with APTA tactics. They rely on us to see the profession, as a whole, evolve and grow. Carrying that voice, those expectations, and those ideals make serving as a California Delegate and APTA APTA leader, an absolute privilege.
Pictured from Left to Right: Laura Gull (Massachusetts delegate), Ben Braxley (California Delegate), James Spencer (Academy of Orthopedics Chief Delegate).