Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science
News
Capitol Hill Day: Record Attendance and Legislative Success
Stephanie Yamkovenko
Nearly 200 practitioners and students attended
this year’s Capitol Hill Day—the largest turnout in more than 10
years—on Monday, September 22. University students, the American
Occupational Therapy Political Action Committee (AOTPAC) Board
of Directors and Chairperson Amy Lamb, and state association
presidents traveled to Washington, D.C. from across the
country—some as far as California—to meet with their
representatives on Capitol Hill to promote occupational therapy.
Towson University in Maryland had the largest turnout, with more
than 50 students attending the event.
After a packed and standing-room-only
legislative briefing, students and practitioners made hundreds
of visits to members of Congress to advocate for the
occupational therapy profession and to discuss health policy.
During the morning briefing, attendees learned about the major
issues affecting occupational therapy and bills that AOTA
supports, such as the Mental Health Parity Act and the Medicare
Home Health Flexibility Act, to help focus the discussions with
their representatives. Evidence of the effectiveness of visits
to Capitol Hill and political advocacy for the profession was
demonstrated the next day, when both the U.S. House of
Representatives and Senate passed Mental Health Parity
legislation.
Capitol Hill Day attendees had the opportunity
to hear Heather Parsons, an occupational therapist and the
Legislative Director for Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC), speak
about the importance of being politically active for the
profession of occupational therapy. Parsons urged the students
and practitioners to use their occupational therapy skills in
providing education to inform and influence policy.
The most important message for attendees to
bring to their members of Congress was what occupational therapy
is and how it benefits consumers and society. Some attendees
were able to continue this conversation Monday night at several
political fund-raisers.
After the events on the Hill, students from
St. Francis University in Pennsylvania toured the AOTA
headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. The student tour will become
a formal part of Capitol Hill Day next year for all interested
attendees.
Due to the success of the event and the
record-breaking attendance, AOTA is considering hosting two
Capitol Hill Day events in 2009, one in the spring and one in
the fall.
Political advocacy has the ability to
influence the public policy that can affect practitioners on a
daily basis, and Capitol Hill Day is a great way to get students
and practitioners involved in this process. “[Advocacy is] about
opening doors and having supporters in Washington to help
prevent bad policies from being established,” says Lamb. “It
promotes initiatives to move the profession forward.”
Stephanie Yamkovenko is
AOTA’s staff writer.
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US News and World Report Lists OT as Top Job of 2008For
the second year in a row Occupational Therapy was listed in US
News and World Report's 2008 "Best Jobs" list. The 31
careers chosen "offer strong outlooks and high job
satisfaction". Five main criteria were listed as the determining
factors for being named to the list. The factors were;
Job satisfaction,
defined as spending a high percentage of time on
activities that many people would consider rewarding
or pleasant.
Training difficulty, defined by the length
of training typically required, adjusted by the
amount of science and/or math involved. Prestige,
based on an informal survey of college-educated
adults. Job market
outlook, based on data from the U.S.
Department of Labor and professional organizations,
with the career's resistance to being offshored
considered. Pay,
with data provided by payscale.com, which has an
extensive database of individual employee
compensation profiles.
2008 MOTA Conference
Every year the Maryland Occupational Therapy Association (MOTA) hold a
conference and this year, several of our students and faculty members attended.
As part of one graduate student's project, a webpage and slide was created
highlighting some of the events of the conference.
Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science
Enrollment Services, Room 245
Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5 p.m.
Phone: 410-704-2762
Fax: 410-704-2322
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