| For Immediate Release
October 29, 2003
November 2-8 is Allied Health Professions
Week. This article is one of a series on issues relating to
allied health professions.
Allied Health: A little
known moniker for essential profesisonals
Allied Health Professions Week, November 2-8, 2003
If you tell people that Allied Health Professions
Week is Nov. 2-8, you’ll probably get a blank stare. Yet those
same people almost certainly have used services provided by
allied health professionals.
“Because allied health professionals constitute such a diverse
group, persons in these fields are frequently overlooked and
unidentified." said Dr. David Yoder, executive director
of the Council for Allied Health in North Carolina.
“Yet, should one suffer a stroke and lose the
ability to walk, talk and feed himself or herself, suffer a
traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident and be paralyzed,
or be born with cerebral palsy and have need of an occupational
therapist, physical therapist and speech-language pathologist,
one would find the need for an allied health specialist for
rehabilitation purposes,” Yoder said.
Nationally, allied health professions make up
approximately 60 percent of all health care providers, according
to the Association Schools of Allied Health Professions. They
encompass disciplines ranging from dental hygiene and art therapy
to respiratory therapy and nuclear medicine technology.
"Our lives are affected by these people daily,
not only when we visit a doctor,” Yoder explained. While many
allied health professionals do work in health care settings,
such as hospitals, private medical practices, and nursing homes,
many more work in private industry, research institutions, and
in the education sector of public and private schools.
“You’ll find allied health professionals doing
diagnostic work. But you’ll also find them inspecting equipment
to ensure workers’ safety, conducting research in Research Triangle
Park, and serving as technical advisors in the manufacturing
of medical equipment,” said Yoder. “The work these well-trained
professionals do is exceptional. They certainly deserve to be
recognized.”
Also, Yoder, added, “The opportunities for people
in the allied health professions are tremendous. This is especially
so now as the U.S. faces an aging population. And, because many
in health care are among those aging baby boomers who soon will
retire, employment options for younger professionals are in
a 100 different disciplines and thousands of health care environments.”
In an economy in which many people are looking
for employment, health care – and particularly allied health
professions – continues to grow. As an example, projections
by the U.S. Department of Labor and the NC Employment Commission
predicted increases of more than 30 percent in radiologic technologists,
22 percent for radiation therapists, and 28 percent in nuclear
medicine technologists between 1998 and 2008, according to a
July report on radiologic science in North Carolina.
The report, Scanning the Radiologic Sciences
Workforce in North Carolina, was a collaborative effort by the
Council for Allied Health in North Carolina, the NC Area Health
Education Centers, and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health
Services Research at UNC-Chapel Hill.
“Radiologic sciences is one of the many allied
health professions that continues to grow,” Yoder said. “While
many persons receive the services of a radiologic technologist,
and a myriad of other diagnostic and rehabilitation services
performed by allied health specialists, it is important to realize
these allied health professionals are instrumental in maintaining
high standards of health care and responding to health care
needs of the citizens of North Carolina.”
Contact: Vivian Lail-Davis, (919) 966-8566, vlail@med.unc.edu
Dr. David E. Yoder, Executive Director, (919) 843-6176, dyoder@med.unc.edu
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