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Colorado Athletic Trainers' Association |
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CATA Newsletter
2007 CATA FALL SYMPOSIUM IN VAIL Denver Nugget High School Athletic Trainer Excellence Award COMING Soon
Dear CATA Members
I hope this newsletter finds you and yours well and that your Fall sports season is moving right along relatively injury-free. While most athletic trainer’s work-load does increase a lot in the fall season it does not necessarily mean that the needs and business of the CATA decreases during that time. As you will be able to see through this Fall 2007 newsletter a lot of work continues to be done on behalf of OUR association.
If you would like to learn more about any of our efforts or are interested in serving OUR association please feel free to contact myself or any other CATA board member. (Go to the Leadership page for CATABOD contact information.)
Sincerely,
Chris Mathewson President, Colorado Athletic Trainers Association
2007 CATA FALL SYMPOSIUM IN VAIL
The 2nd Annual CATA Fall Symposium will be held in Vail, Colorado on Saturday, November 10, 200 from 8 am to 5 pm. Co-Sponsored by Vail-Summit Orthopedics, this symposium will offer 8.5 CEU's to those in attendance. Cost is $30. The registration deadline is October 28, 2007.
The brochure containing the symposium schedule, speakers and directions to Vail Mountain School can be found be clicking here.
The Evergreen Lodge in Vail is providing accommodations at a reduced rate ($90/night) to those attending this conference. Call 1-800-284-8245 or go to www.evergreenvail.com. Be sure to mention you are with the CATA/VSO conference.
Chris Mathewson
I have been told that the definition of insanity is to repeat the same action over and over all the while expecting a different outcome. So why would I even bring up the “L-word” to the CATA members?
Believe me I am TIRED of thinking about legislators, bills, amendments, compromises, funding requests, e-blasts, etc. I am ready to move on to the next chapter. Yet I would not be completing my role as President, of the CATA if I let my personal bias and issues affect the advancement of OUR profession in the state. So let me report on legislation here in Colorado…
Athletic trainers still operate under the exemption to the medical practice act. Our two legislative defeats did not change that. What also has not changed is that that law is woefully inadequate for what an athletic trainer can and does do in our state. It is better than having NO law regulating athletic trainers but not by much.
Our most recent defeat was completely and totally unexpected. We had been lead to believe by both DORA and the governor’s staff that our bill was not on the kill list. Yet we had asked that if he was evening considering vetoing our bill that they contact us and let us plead our case. When we received the call 26 minutes prior to the close of business on the last possible for the bill to sit on the governor’s desk, we were FLOORED to hear that Governor Ritter vetoed our bill.
After all the dust settled from the legislative session we challenged his staff as to why they did not let us plead our case, they responded that they are a new administration and “still learning the rules of the building”. We have let them know that type of dealing with us is unacceptable.
I have been asked several times why we did not meet with the governor. The simple fact is that our association is not big enough to garner the attention of the governor in a personal meeting. We filed the requests, and jumped through all the hoops, but we always ended up with a staff member. That stinks, but it is politics. I know for a fact that he received more than 300 personal letters from athletic trainers, associates of athletic trainers, physicians, all the major college and universities, all the professional sports teams, coaches, ALL asking for support for SB 24 yet it was not powerful enough to garner attention.
When we started this quest four years ago a legislator told me that lawmakers like to feel like they are “solving a problem” by passing a law. Governor Ritter’s staff has told us that he simply did not see a large enough problem to require the highest level of state regulation for athletic trainers. I have always worried that our incidents of harm were not compelling enough. While I do think we turned every stone over in the state that we know of, I am certain that many harm cases, due to the lack of regulation, just don’t get reported and recorded. Usually harm cases just end up in the athletic trainer being removed from his/her position, and more than likely those institutions are not able or willing to disclose the details of “cases”.
So where do we go from here?
Right now we are in “active negotiations” with both the Governor’s office and DORA. We are working with each group to see what they would consider to be appropriate and necessary regulation and EXACTLY what they would support through legislation in 2008. Any type of licensure bill would receive the same veto response from the Governor, so we are discussing “lesser” forms of regulation. What we have proposed to them is a form of state-registration “with some teeth”. We would be able to regulate WHO practices the profession, and if they practice inappropriately they could be sanctioned. The differences between registration (in our proposed form) and licensure is just how many things the athletic trainer could be sanctioned for. In the previous licensure bills offenses that could receive sanction and the process through the investigation and punishment took 11+ pages of a 24 page bill. We are proposing sanctions for only major offenses (sanctions in other states, major negligence and sexual offenses).
We have expressed our desire to both the Governor’s office and DORA that we use the same definitions, scope of practice, educational standards and BOC certification in our “registration-bill”. We have told them that we worked very hard with groups that expressed interest and initial opposition to our previous bill(s) to create compromise(s) that both sides were happy with and we hope to honor those original agreements with those groups. Both offices said they were fine with those portions of our bill, which is good for the CATA as we would not be starting over with any group, we would be starting where we left off!
Lastly, you should know that Governor Ritter did sign a bill this past session that allows to “streamline” the sunrise review process. I am not sure as to all the specifics BUT it could allow the CATA to re-apply for a sunrise review and possibly not have to go through the entire 18 month review process. If DORA was agreeable to our application for sunrise we could present a bill in the 2008 legislative session. So in addition to working with DORA on EXACTLY what they would SUPPORT we are also working with them on this “streamlined” sunrise review process.
That is where the “L-word” currently stands in Colorado. Many members have congratulated us on our effort and said we should be proud. I know that the CATA board appreciates the praise but it is a hollow victory when all we ended up with was a pile of paper. Through the past few years I have learned that we can improve the legal standing of athletic trainers in the state of Colorado, and we are capable of advancing OUR profession. I have also learned that it is not easy, and it is not over until it is OVER! I have seen that many people across the nation are cheering for us and the fell our pain. But the BEST thing I have learned is how many CATA members are sooooooo passionate about athletic training and soooooooo many who are concerned with advancing OUR profession in the state.
So in the end it might be insane to keep trying, but maybe, just maybe everything will line up and we will succeed down at the capitol. I would be very interested to know what ALL of our members feel.
Call for Nominations
As directed by Article IX of the By-Laws, the positions of Vice President, Secretary and one At Large Member will be open for election in the spring of 2008.
Nominations were opened during the 2007 Annual Business Meeting and may be submitted in writing for a period of 5 months following the meeting. Nominations will close November 24, 2007.
All officers must be certified members of the NATA for a period of no less than five (5) years immediately prior to their nomination and shall have resided and practiced in the State of Colorado for a period of no less than two (2) years immediately prior to their nomination.
Nominations may be mailed or e-mailed to Robert Ryan, Election Committee chair.
Robert Ryan Mesa State College 1100 North Ave Grand Junction, CO 81501 Phone - 970-248-1374 e-mail – rryan@mesastate.edu
Denver Nugget High School Athletic Trainer Excellence Award COMING Soon
The Denver Nuggets will once again be sponsoring their Excellence in High School Athletic Training Award. CATA members should be receiving an information brochure in the mail in the next month. The brochure will have instructions on how to apply for the award and application deadlines. The winners will be presented their at a Nuggets game sometime in March in conjunction with “Athletic Training Month”.
The CATA has two open volunteer positions: State Representative on the Committee on Revenue & State Representative on the Clinical, Industrial, Corporate, Committee. If you are interested in serving in either of these capacities OR serving the CATA in another capacity please feel free to contact any CATA board member. (Go to the Leadership page for CATABOD contact information.)
Chad Schmidt Appointed CHSAA Committee Chair
In July 2007 Chad Schmidt was unanimously appointed by the CATA Board of Directors to serve as the CATA – Colorado High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) Committee Chair.
Chad will bring a wealth of experience of working with CHSAA on many different items/events. Several CATA board members considered him “the perfect choice” to fill this position. We look forward to seeing the results of this selection.
If you are interested in help Chad on this committee or any other CATA committee please feel free to contact any CATA board member. (Go to the Leadership page for CATABOD contact information.)
Chris Mathewson
While at the district meeting this past April in Denver, CATA member Bob Tim and I spoke about the strong financial status of the RMATA. He asked why the RMATA did not subsidize state’s legislative efforts. I think Bob was actually pretty tired of me, hitting the CATA membership up for funding for our current and past legislative efforts. J I explained the Bob that the district is responsible for the advancement of athletic trainers in all five states and to offer financial support to one state over the needs of other states would not be “balanced support”. Bob being a former CATA board member understood and was fine with my explanation, yet he did get me to thinking.
In May I submitted a proposal to the RMATA board of directors asking for funding for each of the five states of the district to purchase computers and software for the state associations. I based my proposal on the notion that we (state associations) NEED computers and software to effectively run a modern association, yet the financial disparity of our district (the CATA and AZATA have operating budgets of around $10,000 while the WYOATA has an annual budget of less than $1000) does not allow the state associations to meet our technology needs as most states have active or pending legislation issues which requires a LOT of the annual budget.
I am happy to report that at our semi-annual business meeting in Anaheim the RMATA board approved $2,500 grants for each state to address “technology needs”. It was left to each state to decide what exactly their most pressing need was. The CATA board decided to use our grant to purchase three laptop computers and Microsoft Office 2007 suite software. The computers will be used by the CATA president, secretary and our newsletter/webmaster manager. They will be passed along as those positions turn over.
Computers and software were a significant need of OUR association and we are very grateful for the support of OUR district. I would like to thank the RMATA board for approving the proposal, and providing much-needed support to the CATA and thank you Bob Tim for planting the seed of this idea.
If you are like me, then I will bet you OFTEN wonder why there is nothing about Colorado or very little from District 7 in the NATA News – Cross Country section. I know by the calls and e-mails I receive from many of you; you do wonder. The short answer is … nobody ever submits anything to be published. The NATA News can’t publish news IF they don’t receive them.
If you would like to have a news item published to other members of the NATA the simple mechanism is to send as much detail (with photos if possible) on the item(s) to Andrew Heinrichs, RMATA Newsletter Editor, he will then submit it to the News on behalf of District 7. His e-mail address is newsletter@rmata.org.
Public Relations Committee News Kevin Margarucci
We are in the process of setting up regions within our state organization for PR purposes. Our goal is to get a regional representative for each area so that PR events are more organized and uniform throughout the state. This project is in it’s infancy, but if you are interested in being a regional representative please let me know. My goal is to have this in place by the end of the year so that we can be ready to put together events for National Athletic Training Month.
Jason McWilliams
Corporate sponsorship is soliciting for 2008 sponsorships we have had a few recent renewals. We are hoping to get all of our sponsors to exhibit at the fall meeting in Vail. Please support them by visiting their booth at the conference. You can also learn more about them by going to the Corporate Sponsor page and clicking on their links.
BOULDER CENTER FOR SPORTS MEDICINE
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