MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO ATTENDED THE AUGUST HEALING CONNECTIONS CONFERENCE!!
Our annual AMTA VA Chapter Meeting and educational presentations were well attended and provided a meeting ground for massage therapists to recharge their energy and see old and new friends. Our excellent presenters got high marks from their enthusiastic students: Doug Nelson, of Champaign, IL., Jean E. Middleswarth, of Asheville, TN., and Glenn Hakey, of Harrisonville, VA.
Hats off to all our volunteers, who put their hearts and souls into creating an outstanding event for our therapeutic community: Beverly Adams, Lucia Kaestner, Bernadette Binns, Becky Getz, Karen Binney, Wil Johnson, Polly Vaughan, Aisha Oxendine, Mary Janick-Smith, Bea Wilcher, Linda Rhett, Cynthia Parsons, Terry Kahn, Rich Rieger, Franciska Pocanic & Diana Simonton.
Thanks for a great job to our support staff, Judy Harris, our Chapter Administrator & Becky Bowers-Lanier, our Chapter Legislative Consultant.
Healing Connections August Thank You Letter
Warm thanks and gratitude go out to these generous donors to our 2009 Chapter meeting. They made our event so special and exciting.
Aura Cacia www.auracacia.com
Polly Lazaron www.pollylazaron.com
Biofreeze www.Biofreeze.com
Heel (Trumeel) www.heelusa.com
Sombra www.sombrausa.com
Soundings of the Planet www.soundings.com
Massage Ware House www.massagewarehouse.com
TriggerPoint Performance www.tptherapy.com
The Rossiter System Kathy Howard kathy@rossiter.com
Erik Dalton www.Erikdalton.com
Talus Publications www.clinicalmassagetherapy.com
O’Malley & Potter www.feelgoodproducts.com
Ruth Werner www.RuthWerner.com
NCBTMB www.ncbtmb.org
The Thomas Family & A Moment to Remember Restaurant, Luray, Virginia
Testimonials
It has been a while since I last attended a massage therapy conference, but I found the Healing Connections Conference to be wonderfully welcoming and full of valuable information. The quality of the workshops I attended was outstanding and the facilitator/instructor was a powerful and knowledgeable presenter. I am so glad I attended.
~ Jody Wager, Falls Church
The Healing Connections Conference was wonderful! The speakers and the content of the sessions were great. I was able to grasp the information quickly and apply it to my practice immediately. Also, it was affordable — I’m looking forward to next year’s conference!
~ Crystal Craighead, Alexandria
HEALING CONNECTIONS SUMMER CONFERENCE 2009
WHAT A CELEBRATION! Commemorating Virginia Chapter’s 60th Anniversary, massage therapists from near and far gathered together in Charlottesville Sunday, August 23, 2009. Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted, given gift-filled totes, and mingled at a site created to highlight the events du jour. We were able to view candidate and award recipients’ biographies, read about exciting Chapter projects, and learn about volunteer opportunities. Courses offered by presenters Glen Hakey, Jean Middleswarth and Doug Nelson covered topics such as Kinesio-Massage, Ethics of Relationships, Mystery of Pain, and PNMT Headaches. Class-takers raved about their instructors, lessons learned, and all those CEU’s! A delicious luncheon buffet was available to everyone, with seating provided in an elegently-set dinning room where the Chapter Annual Meeting was held simultaneously over a two hour time period. The opportunity to see, hear, and sit next to, members of our hardworking Board of Directors, Unit Officers and professional support principals was particularly delicious. Following a lively keynote speech, a Chapter meeting was held, including elections of officers and delegates, and a “presentation” of our financial information by retiring Treasurer “Rapper” Rich Reiger. Delightful entertainment!
After the newly elected officers were installed, well deserved Chapter Awards were presented and even MORE gifts were handed out to attendees holding lucky raffle tickets! The Summer Conference was an exceptionally well organized event and, best of all, a great opportunity to boost the viability of our professional practice and mingle with therapists from all over Virginia.
Dianne Rand, CMT
Richmond, VA
2009 Election Results
National President Judy Stahl giving award to Dianne Rand
Our 5 delegates at HOD
Whitney Lowe, presenter and Gwen Meyer
VA Chapter members at Sat. PM Party
“It is the position of the Massage Therapy Association that massage therapy can improve the quality of life for those in hospice and palliative care.”
2009 House of Delegates Report Back
by Guinevere Meyer
Okay, second time around as a delegate offered a familiarity as to what to expect at the national conference, and also an opportunity to contribute by running for one of the four open positions as a member of the House of Delegates Operations Committee (HODOC). And although my candidacy was unsuccessful, I learned a lot about myself and the experience opened doors to other new and exciting volunteer opportunities.
I’ve always felt it to be an honor and privilege to contribute to the growth and evolution of our profession. And attending conferences like this has given me a unique occasion to do just that. The environment is exhilarating, for it puts one in direct contact with the core movers and shakers.
It is quite evident to me that for this profession, and specifically our Chapter, to prosper, we have to increase our credibility and relevance to the health care community at large. This came into sharp focus at the conference. A world of prospects is waiting to be “discovered.” And discovery was the theme of this year’s AMTA national convention in Orlando, Fla. Colleagues old and new joined together to discoverthe power of community, education, inspiration and networking interaction.
The conference was simultaneously exciting, challenging, daunting and sobering. There were four proposed AMTA Position Statements and two proposed Recommendations on the agenda. Two of the four Position Statements and one of the Recommendations were adopted. All of the Position Statements dealt with the ameliorating effect of massage on pain and its effects. One statement specifically talked about “aid in pain relief.” Another stressed “reducing lower back pain,” and yet another addressed “reducing anxiety.” The most compelling, in my opinion, is one of the two that passed: “It is the position of the Massage Therapy Association that massage therapy can improve the quality of life for those in hospice and palliative care.” I know this to be true based on the work I have done in hospitals, hospice and with family and friends in their final stages of life.
The effect of passing this Position Statement cannot be overestimated. In its simplest terms, it gives our profession the validation that we so desperately need in the eyes of the health care community. It is a consensus I am surprised took this long to achieve. Now in place, it becomes a powerful tool that bolsters our case for massage therapy as a vital component in health care.
As we all know, AMTA is a volunteer-driven membership organization. I think that we all would agree that with more money we could accomplish more. In light of this, a Recommendation was presented to the delegates to foster increased membership in our association. In due course, the House of Delegates voted in favor of setting aside 2010 budget monies to train field representatives to travel to massage therapy schools promoting AMTA and its benefits to graduating students. This Recommendation could potentially bring new life to our association, which, in turn, keeps us current and on the cutting edge of our beloved profession.
