March 5, 2009

CATA Members

LETTERS

LETTERS

LETTERS

Let’s flood the capitol with letters.

In addition to ALL members of the CATA (hopefully) writing letters and/or emails to their legislators   we need many, many, many Colorado citizens writing letters to their state legislators.    We would like to have all CATA members asking their neighbors, friends, family, team physicians, bosses, supervisors, professional peers,  etc writing letters in support of SB 26 – Regulation of Athletic Trainers.

Will you please ask any and all of the above people to write their legislator a letter asking him/her to support SB 26.  The letters can simply ask for support of SB 26 or they could use some of the talking points that Charlie (CATA lobbyist) created:

• Athletic trainers are employed throughout the state and work in junior high schools, high schools, colleges, and clinical settings. There is no background check performed, yet athletic trainers work with many adolescents and young people on a relatively intimate level - discussing their bodies physical functioning, and assessing physical abilities or injuries.

• Current law is very restrictive - it allows athletic trainers to work only in organized athletics, which limits many of them from being able to practice their profession. Today a substantial number of athletic trainers work in health care settings such as sports medicine clinics or PT clinics, which may be technically illegal in this state.  This statute was passed in 1991, and needs to be updated!

• Colorado is one of only 7 states in the country that does not regulate athletic trainers. This means that individuals who have been disciplined in other states can come to Colorado and legally practice.

• The bill represents minimal regulation, consistent with the Colorado tradition. It establishes a requirement for registration by athletic trainers, and limits discipline to the most egregious infractions, such as sexual exploitation of a client.

• We have been working on this bill for three years and at last, everyone is in agreement! The Governor, DORA, other professions, and us!

I think it is safe to say that most people don’t know WHO their state legislator is.  The CATA recognizes this and have put plans in place to make this as easy as possible for those people who we are asking a favor of.    To help alleviate this issue Dominic DiManna has volunteered to be our “letter master”.

Please have your friend(s) write a letter seeking support of SB 26.  Make sure they mention they are a constituent.  HAVE THEM INLCLUDE THEIR HOME ADDRESS – so that he can get the letter to the appropriate legislator.  Then will you have them either email it to Dominic barkley1963@yahoo.com or snail mail 13253 West Utah Cir, Lakewood, CO  80228 and Dominic will ensure they are delivered to the appropriate legislator.

If your friend knows who their legislator is, just have them send a letter directly.  Make sure they mention that they are a constituent.    We would certainly like a copy of that letter for our notebook that we are going to give to the governor.  Please use either the above email address or snail mail address to get Dominic a copy.

We would ask that these letters get submitted in the next two weeks.

Thank you for your time and efforts.

Sincerely,

Chris Mathewson

President,

Colorado Athletic Trainers Association

Please send all questions and comments to: Kelly Brick, ATC, Webmaster