Legislative Awareness Days 2004
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Legislative Awareness Days 2004 was a
rousing success for the FSMTA and AMTA! We should all be particularly proud
of Tampa's Legislative Awareness Days Team, as they again represented the
Tampa Chapter with professionalism, hard work, and provided exceptional
goodwill not only to the legislators, but their staff, and the general
public too. The following members sacrificed a lot to participate in this
event and they gave their all to help keep massage therapy and therapists in
the minds of our legislators, especially with important bills coming up. A
very special thanks goes to the Tampa's LAD 2004 team: Ruth Ann Baumiller,
Denise K. Galbreath, Gale Klein, Linda Linkous, Debbie Sotomayer, Theresa
Shinohara, and Frank Vizzone. From the appointments with legislators and
staff on Tuesday, to the general public work in the Rotunda on Wednesday,
our team was actively working hard, sweating, and getting their own physical
aches and pains. However, the team's physical and economic sacrifices
provided very positive results for all massage therapists that cannot be
expressed enough as they have further laid out the rising stature of massage
as a health profession.
Both the FSMTA and AMTA therapists were given the honor to visit the Senate Chambers and actually sit in the chairs of their senators. The therapists were also acknowledged and thanked by not only Senator Dennis Jones, who was the host of the visit, but also by an impromptu surprise visit from Senate President James King as well. Finally, if that wasn't a thrill enough, the group was also invited to the Governor's office where Governor Jeb Bush offered his own thanks and provided photo ops with the therapists. The FSMTA, under President Michael McGillicuddy, and AMTA, under 1st VP Maria Turk, have spearheaded a renewed and active cooperation between the two major massage therapy associations for the unity of the massage profession and especially during Legislative Awareness Days. Therapists from both associations worked side-by-side to form a strong united front for issues confronting therapists to our legislators now and in the future for the betterment of all therapists. This year during LAD, the only pressing agenda for the therapists to share with the legislators had to do with HB 807 by Rep. Patterson. The bill would affect 518,000 healthcare professionals regarding continuing education requirements. The FSMTA and 21 other health organizations support this bill which will do several things: 1) does away with the electronic tracking requirements and offers a better system to enforce the taking of CE's; 2) provides for the monitoring of compliance of continuing education requirements; and 3) authorizes each of the licensing boards to tailor monitoring and enforcement of their respective regulated health care professions that will best accommodate each board's unique requirements. When LAD started over 13 years ago, therapists were known as masseuses and the images of what the profession was and did among the legislators are not what it is today. Massage therapy is now a recognized professional health field and is the most welcomed group to visit the Capital each year. All of this goodwill and understanding of the profession is due to the diligent and hard work of the FSMTA at the State level and individual Chapters. For example, on this LAD trip, legislators were asking our therapists "What are you lobbying for at this time?" When told about HB 807, they were fully supportive of our position. The importance of Chapter participation in this event cannot be overstated enough as the impact has been, and is, tremendous on our legislators, especially at the grassroots level. |
