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Colorado Athletic Trainers' Association |
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Today (May 5,, 2007) the Colorado Athletic Trainers Association is happy to launch “Operation Ritter” this our ten-step plan to SB 24 being successfully signed by Governor Bill Ritter and becoming the 44th state to have licesensure of athletic trainers. (Washington state just signed their licensure bill on Monday making them the 42nd state and Montana successfully passed their licensure bill on Friday making them the 43th state) Charlie Hebeler has worked hard with our board of directors in the development of this action plan. A few of the ten steps are specific to the board, some steps are for certain Colorado athletic trainers. FOUR tasks are specific to EVERY member of the CATA.
In order to focus our energies and concentrate on ONE task at a time I will be sending several communications to members over the next week to ten days. Each letter or e-mail will have instructions for separate tasks. We ask that you attack EACH task when you receive the instructions and complete it as soon as you can.
Through these past years, on our legislative quest, several times we have sent letters or e-mail to our members expressing the importance of their involvement in such and such task. This is BY FAR the most crucial of anything we have asked of our members. Governor Bill Ritter NEEDS to hear from people all across Colorado that this is needed and wanted legislation. Charlie has developed the below outline that letters from our members should follow. Following this outline, will send a uniform message, but not appear to be mass produced letters. It is important that each letter be original. No more than TWO pages!
1. Introduce yourself (who you are where you work, etc) 2. Ask Governor Ritter please support SB 24 and sign it into law 3. Explain why you support the bill and would like to see the bill signed into law 4. Give another example or two of the NEED for the legislation 5. Provide other “interesting facts about the bill and/or athletic training” 6. Close your letter reiterating your request for his support of SB 24 7. Note that he can either contact you or the CATA (Chris Mathewson 720.233.3233 Chris_Mathewson@msn.com for more information) 8. Thank him for his time
Utilize these bullet points in your letter OR use your own reasons DO NOT CUT AND PASTE!:
Athletic Training Basics: · 31,123 certified athletic trainers nationwide · 622 in Colorado; 579 (93% are members of the CATA) · 38% work in some “clinical” setting · 30% in junior high or high school · 20% in college or university setting · 44 states have licensure of athletic trainers 2 others have some other form of regulation; only 4 states have NO regulation of athletic training
Specific to SB 24: · The bill ran unopposed this session · Passed out of the Senate and House with bipartisan support · Contains specific stipulation that schools or an entity offering or sponsoring an athletic event or regular athletic activity not be required to hire an athletic trainer (this was important to the small rural schools) · Nor do we want to prohibit routine first aid or necessary emergency assistance by a person who is not a licensed athletic trainer · Includes a provision to exempt PERSONAL trainers (this was requested by DORA) · EVERYTHING IN THE SCOPE OF PRACTICE of athletic trainers is based on PHYSICIAN direction. OUR PROFESSION IS BASED ON A RELATIONSHIP WITH A PHYSICIAN!!!!
Need: · Currently under our exemption to the medical practice act ANYONE who has a BS degree can call themselves an athletic trainer and be hired as such REGARDLESS of their education or certifications (even it were revoked in another state) · Under the current exemption there is no mechanism to ensure that those who are treating our injured athletes actually do possess the unique skills and education in injury prevention, treatment, management and have passed and maintained their national certification of a licensed athletic trainer · Athletic trainers who have been sanctioned in other states with regulation can easily move to Colorado and find a job; there is no means to limit the “bad apples” from moving here and repeating the same actions that had them sanctioned in other states 45 states HAVE REGULATION · SB 24 will create a mechanism to sanction or eliminate those who may possess our unique skills and education in injury prevention, treatment, management and have passed and maintained their national certification but who have done wrong
Other: · 5 accredited athletic training educational programs in Colorado colleges or universities: University of Northern Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College and Colorado State University – Pueblo
PLEASE WRITE YOUR LETTER AND SEND IT TO THE ADDRESS BELOW ASAP! The Hon. Bill Ritter Jr. Governor State of Colorado State Capitol Building Denver, CO 80203
Thank you for all your time and energy and commitment to OUR profession.
Sincerely, Chris Mathewson President, Colorado Athletic Trainers Association |
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Please send all questions and comments to: Kelly Brick, ATC, Webmaster |
