Home > Minutes & Media > May 3, 2005
 
  Minutes & Media  
     
  About the Council  
  Newsroom  
  Membership  
  Committees  
  Workforce Studies  
     
  Contact Us  
  Sitemap  
  Home  

The Council for Allied Health in North Carolina
September 7th, 2005
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
UNC General Administration Board Room, Chapel Hill

Council Member Attendees:
Judi Ashbaugh - NC Dept. of Health & Human Services, Office of Research, Demo., & Rural Health Dev.
 Rees Jenkins, Immediate past Council Chair
Thomas Bacon, Chair; Director, NC Area Health Education Karen Luken, Treasurer, NC Office on Disability and Health
Alan Brown, Data Committee Chair; NC AHEC Program Carolyn Mayo, NC Health Careers Access Program
Allison Bordeaux, Assoc. Direct., NC AHEC Allied Health Representative, Wake AHEC Patricia Porter, Government Liaison
Rebecca Bullock, Allied Health Professional Rep, Group 3; NC Association of Blood Bankers James Sadler, UNC Systems Representative; UNC General Administration
Carolyn Cusic, Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina Martha S. Taylor, Allied Health Prof. Rep., NC Dental Hygiene Association
Chastity Glover, NC Association of Health Care Recruiters Steve Thomas, UNC Systems Allied Health Programs Rep.
Diane Groff, Allied Health Professional Rep. Group 1, Dept. of Recreation and Leisure Studies Edna Williams, NC State Education Assistance Authority
Elizabeth Haile, NC AHEC Allied Health Representative, Greensboro AHEC David Yoder, Executive Director
Kathryn E. Heilig, Vice Chair, NC Hospital Association  
Guests:
Andy Berner, NC AHEC Jean Middlesworth
Carl Boles Marge Ottofy
Diana Burton Alice Schenall, Area L AHEC
Terry Cordell, Mountain AHEC Joshua Smith, NC Academy of Physician Assistants
Daniel Dore, President, NC Physical Therapy Association Carolyn Taylor, CLMA – Blue Ridge Chapter
Lee McLean, Chair, Allied Health Dept. UNC-CH David Wysocki, North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association
I. Welcome & Introductions

Dr. Thomas Bacon, Chair of the Council, began the meeting. by welcoming participants to the annual Presidents’ Meeting.

II. Approval of May 3, 2005 Council Minutes

A motion was made and seconded to approve the May 3rd Council Minutes. A voice vote was taken. The minutes were approved by voice vote.
III. Presentation

A presentation was made by Jim Kessler, Director of Disability Studies UNC-CH, entitled “Reasonable Accommodations for Service Providers with Disabilities.” The presentation provided an overview of the historical and current efforts to provide “equal access” to facilities and educational services for students with disabilities.
IV. Business of the Council: Discussion and Action

Report on the Council Budget Request
Tom Bacon

Bacon recalled for the Council that the last time the Council met (May 3rd), the council was requesting funding from the General Assembly as part of the AHEC budget. The three-year grant from The Duke Endowment to support the Council ended April 30. The Council did not receive funding from the 2005 General Assembly. Bacon spoke with Mary Piepenbring, Director of the Health Care Division of the Duke Endowment whether the Duke Endowment would consider a continuation grant for two more years Mary Piepenbring recommended that the Council should submit a request with 50% matching funds. In actuality, the Council has a substantial match thanks to the support of a few of its partner institutions, namely: East Carolina University, Western Carolina University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Health Care Facilities Association, NC Hospital Association, and the North Carolina AHEC program.

The grant to Duke Endowment was submitted by the August15 deadline. The Duke Endowment advisory committee will not review it until November. Assuming it is approved, funding will start January 1st 2006.

Bacon said that the likely funding schedule left us with a six month “hiatus” in necessary funding. He said that AHEC has committed funds through September 30th, but that we are still working out a means of funding the Council through December 31st in order to avoid an interruption in Council services.

Bacon commented that he was optimistic that the Duke Endowment grant would be funded. He explained that the Council’s request to the General Assembly was substantially larger than the prospective Duke Endowment funding because the Council had other plans of what could be done with additional staff, the funding of additional workforce studies, and other work such as recruiting young people into allied health careers. Projects such as these will have to be put on hold until we can identify more funding sources.

Bacon stated that despite this, the Duke Endowment support would allow the Council to continue at a substantial level of activity with its current staffing compliment.

Looking to the future, Bacon said that getting funding out of the next years “short” session of the General Assembly would be a challenge. State budgets are reviewed on a biennium basis. The next real shot at funding, therefore, would be in the spring of 2007.

Even though it would be challenging to acquire funding in the short session, efforts will be made by the Council to do so.

If the Duke Endowment grant is funded, it would keep the Council going until December 2007 and would overlap with the Council’s prospective request for funding from the General Assembly in the spring of 2007.

Reaffirming Bacon’s comments, David Yoder said that the Council would certainly go back to the NC General Assembly in the “short” session and make an effort to acquire funding.

Bacon said that any monetary support that a partner institution could provide in to keep the Council funded in the final three months of 2005 would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

Bacon then asked for comments/questions concerning Council budgetary matters.

Alan Brown pointed out that the budget that we had now was limited and that more had been allocated for workforce studies in previous years.

Bacon agreed, saying that we had over $50,000 a year in the past for studies that produced workforce reports and that we would have to cut back on that substantially now. He said that the UNC President’s office had made some commitments to support some additional studies but that direct dollar funding was limited.

Yoder pointed out that there was no representative from the Sheps Center at the September meeting. This is because Erin Fraher, who had been representing the Center, has gone back to graduate school full time. This means that there is presently no allied health workforce person employed at the Sheps Center, Yoder stated.

Bacon commented that this did not mean that the Council would do nothing on workforce issues; it just means that the Council does not have a dedicated staff person committed to workforce studies.

Kathy Heilig asked if there was an estimated amount of money that will cover the last quarter of expenses. Yoder responded that $30,000 was a good estimate.

Election of New Officers 05-07: Report from the Nomination Committee
Rees Jenkins

Rees Jenkins, chair of the Nomination Committee for New Council Officers, said that he had three candidates who were highly qualified for Council leadership, and that he was pleased to recommend them to the Council. The first was Kathy Heilig for Chair. Jenkins said that she was an employer representative on the Council and that she was currently serving as Vice-Chair. The second was Karen Luken for Vice-Chair, who is a professional representative on the Council and currently serves as treasurer. Finally, Jenkins recommended Alan Brown as the new treasurer.

Bacon called for any further nominations for these offices from the Council, but there were none.

The motion to vote for the election of the recommended persons was made and seconded.
They were all elected by voice vote.

The election results in summary are that:

  • Kathy Heilig is the new Council Chair
  • Karen Luken is the new Council Vice-Chair
  • Alan Brown is the new Council Treasurer

Bacon noted that the election of new officers moves Rees Jenkins off the Executive Committee as the immediate past chair.

A certificate was presented to Rees Jenkins for “14 years of distinguished contribution to the Council in the roles of representative of the NCHCFA, Vice Chair, Chair and Immediate Past Chair.”

Bacon commented that Jenkins was in a leadership role of the Council at a pivotal time; and that during his years of service the Council went from being a loosely associated, voluntary group to becoming a more established entity that has sought larger funding and has hired staff for the Council. He urged Rees to continue to attend and participate in Council activities even though he doesn’t have an official title.
V. Reports

Workforce Task Force
Alan Brown

Brown stated that in doing future workforce reports he would like to continue along the lines of the model of the past Vacancy Report. He said that some dollars for workforce studies are still allocated in the budget and that the Council still wanted to do workforce studies. Brown then asked if anyone had anything that they would like to add concerning workforce studies.

Yoder said that he had discussed the issue of workforce studies with Erin Fraher, who formerly coordinated the allied health workforce studies. Some points she strongly recommended in doing future studies was to:

  1. increase the number of professions studied;
  2. look not only in newspaper want ads but also in hospital and other health care facilities web site ads for personnel vacancies.
  3. Seek what information is available from the DPI

The overall goal of doing these things would be to broaden the survey of the state workforce.

Bacon said that the Sheps Center was hiring new staff with federal workforce study dollars. Therefore, there will be staff that the Council can turn to as we have some funds to do reports.

Federal and State Legislative activity affecting Allied Health Professions
Pat Porter

Porter said that there was not much to report on that directly impacted Allied Health. Two items of notes were that:

  • The General Assembly authorized certification and licensure for recreation therapists;
  • The Occupational Therapy Practice Act was amended and licensure fees were expanded.

These were the only legislative acts that were passed that concerned Allied Health.

Activities of the Executive Director
David Yoder

Yoder reported that the better half of his activities in the summer was meeting with persons to help with the Council’s budget request of the General Assembly. Unfortunately, the budgetary request did not materialize.

Yoder said that he has had post-budgetary meetings with Peyton Maynard, Lobbyist. They will both try again next year. He stated that he would stay on as Executive Director at least for the next year, if that were the desire of the Council.

Yoder said that he had been in consultation in the past with allied health organization in Georgia who wanted to establish their own Council for Allied Health based on the CAHNC model. He reported that this trend appears to be catching on in other states. On September 26 he will be traveling to Tennessee to meet with a group interested in forming a Council based on the CAHNC model. In November he will be traveling to Kentucky for the same purpose.

Also in early November, Yoder, Steve Thomas and Lee McLean will attend the Workforce Future Points Summit Meeting at the University of Missouri.

Yoder stated that he would continue to work with Alan Brown and anyone else to try to implement workforce study activity before January.

The Council’s brochure is out of date. Andy Berner of AHEC will be working with Yoder and others to create a new brochure. The Council display that is used for conferences will also be updated.

National Allied Health Week is coming up in November (6th-12th). Yoder said he would draft a proclamation to the Governor concerning Allied Health in NC. He also added that he had made contact with the Raleigh News and Observer. The goal here was to produce a supplement to the newspaper in celebration of Allied Health Week. Yoder said he wanted it to be along the lines of what the nurses had in the paper for national nursing week in May. He said that he was willing to also work with other newspapers to increase allied health profession visibility by running features on allied health. He ended his report by reminding the Council that its next meeting was November the 2nd.

Bacon noted that the Workforce Future Points Summit Meeting is the same date as the Council’s November 2nd meeting. Yoder will therefore miss the next Council meeting. Bacon expressed that he thought it important that Yoder attend the Summit for two primary reasons:

  1. To increase the national visibility of the Council’s work
  2. The more we are exposed to the National Conference of Allied Health and to the allied health workforce the more the Council will be better off because of such exposure.

Bacon also commented that Yoder’s agreement to stay on as Executive Director of the Council was good because:

  • The Council is still in a crucial period of development,
  • It would help maintain stability during this time.

Yoder asked Council members and guests to look at some of the items in their folders. One item was the “Primary Points” summarized from the May 3rd Presidents meeting. Yoder called particular attention to the points of the Dental Hygiene Association. He said it was of particular note because there is an expressed willingness for providing dental services but because of licensure restrictions at the present time the group is unable to provide some of those services. Yoder also pointed out other items in the folder such as:

  • Council Year in Review
  • Calendar of meetings this year and in 2006.
  • A listing of Council members and association presidents. Yoder said that any inaccuracies in the listing should be brought to the attention of Scott Boyer, the Council’s Assistant.
VII. Round Robin
  • Lee McLean, Chair of the Allied Health Dept. at UNC-CH, said she wanted to provide an update on the online Bachelors of Science in Radiologic Sciences consortium program. She explained that both the curriculum and program were in place, and that they were going through the program approval process at UNC-Chapel Hill. She also reported that the Radiologist Assistant program has been approved and will be accepting students starting in January. She also noted that the Dept. had a new Physical Therapy Division Director, Dr. Richard Segal (recruited from Emory) and that he would be reaching out to other physical therapy programs in the state.
  • David Wysocki of the NCOTA, said that the CMS office has sent out a rule designating that to get mobility assistance equipment one needs to get a recommendation from a physician or physician’s assistant. This completely eliminates the therapist from the procedure of obtaining mobility assistance equipment. CMS is having their open door forum on Sept. 13th. This offers an opportunity to anyone concerned, such as consumers or health professionals, to speak their mind in regard to this new rule. Wysocki said it was important to get on the record what the public believes the policy should be in this area.
  • Rees Jenkins, encouraged everyone to watch the television program “60 minutes” on Sept. 11th. The Program featured a story on a new potential cure for patients with Parkinson’s disease.
  • Diane Groff of the Dept. of Recreation and Leisure Studies at UNC reported that the recreational therapists would be having a conference in Charlotte from Sept. 18th through the 20th. She then spoke about the CHASE (Chapel Hill Adaptive Sports Experience) program, which is a new student program at UNC for which she is a faculty representative. She said the Program’s aim was to provide more opportunities for individuals with disabilities (or even without disabilities) to get involved in recreation and adapted sport. She explained that exercise sport science majors, pre-PT students, recreational therapy students and others were starting to get involved. The Program features such activities as adaptive climbing and wheelchair basketball. She concluded by saying that all students are welcome to get involved.
  • Steve Thomas, Dean of Allied Health Sciences at East Carolina University, provided an update of recent developments in ECU’s Allied Health Science program. He said that the adapted physical therapy program graduated 30 students last May and that the physical assistant MS program graduated its inaugural class in July and was expanding its enrollment. He said that the health services management/health information management program graduated its inaugural class this past May. He finished by saying that the Allied Health Science Program at ECU was scheduled to move into a new building in March 2006.
  • David Yoder announced that a new dean of Allied Health Sciences has been appointed at Winston-Salem State University. He had not yet obtained the individual’s name but that he would contact the newly appointed person and invite them to come to the next Council meeting.

    Yoder also told those in attendance that he had brought “Allied Health Associations of North Carolina” booklets to the meeting and that they were available to those interested.

    Bacon closed the meeting by telling members to not forget to celebrate Allied Health Week occurring Nov. 6th –12th. He also reminded members that the next Council meeting was Nov. the 2nd.

    The meeting adjourned at 11:48am.

website questions?

Copyright © The Council for Allied Health in North Carolina