• Letter from the Leader of the Executive Committee
• MiOTA Scholarship Winner
• Election Results
• 2021 Conference Updates
• Financial Report
• MiOTA Regional Chapters
• Membership Update
• Advocacy During a Pandemic
• A Letter to the Supervisors of Occupational Therapy Practitioners & Students
• Special Education Advisory Committee Update
• Compact Act
• A Note to Our Student Members from Our Student Volunteers
• Upcoming Events
• Job Openings

Happy New Year to all MiOTA members!

I welcome in the new year hoping for health and safety of the consumers we care for as well as for all of you.

It is hard to believe we are coming on a year into this health care emergency known as the COVID -19 pandemic. I am however extremely proud of how this organization adapted and adjusted our practices to continue to uphold our mission of advocating for the profession of occupational therapy within the state of Michigan and act as a communication vehicle for the members.

How did we adjust?

• By holding a very successful, engaging virtual conference was held in this fall with great speakers, fun engagement activities and continued recognition of members for their contributions. THANK YOU to the conference committee led by Denise Justice!

• When many members took on alternative roles in healthcare, our organization communicated the rationale and expressed the capacity for OT to be essential during the throws of the pandemic.

• We explored, educated, and advocated for telehealth type service delivery in venues where consumers needed their OT services. Rallied and lobbied to legislators to recognize the need for all insurance carriers to recognize virtual services; their value and effectiveness especially in times where many consumers were isolated and quarantined.

• Continued on with engagement and education activities addressing pertinent clinical and practice issues that are facing us today and in the future.

We adapted, compensated and in many ways restored practices during this past year. Many of you are back to work and have become proficient treating patients while wearing PPE, using gestures and effective body language and eye contact to communicate, and have become experts in infection control practices.

Now is the time for OT to put our foot in the door and educate on our essentialness, how we can address how consumers safely and effectively reengage in community work, volunteer, and life roles for their health and overall well-being.

Think about how you can exude the essential and distinct capacity of our profession in your interactions on a day to day basis with your friends, supervisors, co-workers, and community.

Cathleen Johnson, OTD, OTRL – Leader of the Executive Committee

The 2021 MiOTA Student Scholarship Committee included clinicians, a past MiOTA student scholarship winner, academic faculty members, OTs and OTAs. The volunteer committee selected Michelle Roldan as the winner!

Michelle is a second year OTD student at the University of Michigan-Flint. She graduated from Grand Valley State University (GVSU) with her bachelor of science in psychology. During her time at GVSU, she founded and ran the It’s On Us as Lakers student organization, which aimed to educate and spread awareness on sexual assault, domestic violence, consent, and bystander intervention, and co-developed a consent-ed/sex-ed curriculum for 11th and 12th graders. Now at UM-Flint, her special interest area is studying occupational therapy’s role in working with survivors of abuse and trauma, and Michelle hopes to continue to shine light on this emerging practice area of occupational therapy.

Michelle is the former Vice President of the Student OT Association at UM-Flint. Michelle has a strong passion for cultural competence and social injustice pertaining to racism and ableism. Michelle is dedicated to learning what we can do to create true, long-lasting change at individual, communal, and systemic levels. Michelle is a member of a volunteer faith-based racial reconciliation small group whose members volunteer both at a local warming shelter and with disadvantaged 2nd and 3rd graders facing poverty advancing their literacy skills.

MiOTA has been a space where Michelle truly feels like she can learn so much about the broad field of occupational therapy, including specialty and emerging practice areas! Michelle has had the privilege to speak at two conferences for MiOTA. In April of 2020, Michelle co-presented on “Recognizing Signs of Abuse” at the Flint Chapter meeting, and in September of 2020 she presented on “Recognizing Signs of Abuse and What We Can Do About It” at the MiOTA annual conference. Michelle is incredibly grateful for the support she has received from MiOTA, and looks forward to continuing to advance her knowledge and abilities in research, education, and advocacy to inspire authentic change.

92 total voting

Advocacy:

• Jeannie: 67 (W)
• Karen: 24
• no vote: 1

Membership:

• Sonny and Cathleen: 91 (W)
• no vote: 1

Member-at-Large:

• Jayne: 91 (W)
• No Vote: 1

I think it has been said far too often, 2020 has been an unprecedented year of change, uncertainty, and a total and utter uproot of the familiar comforts that our pre-pandemic usual routine we were accustomed to. Occupational Therapists know and understand all too well how disruptions in habits, routines, and the daily rhythm of our lives can be difficult to adjust.

The MiOTA Fall Conference planning committee rose to the challenge to provide a sense of continuity and normalcy by ensuring the networking opportunities, best practice highlights, and high-quality continuing education seminars you’ve come to expect continued by hosting MiOTA’s first virtually delivered annual conference.

This year’s conference hosted over 100 speakers, 101 sessions, 24 posters, 12 Special Interest Section conversations, and 158 attendees. This is the year when “Finding Balance for a Healthy Practice” couldn’t be more timely. Nor could the need be greater for advocacy efforts to ensure our continued seat at the “table” as the forefront leader connecting function with creative interventions that facilitate “participation and engagement in occupations, the meaningful, necessary, and familiar activities of everyday life.”

Rest assured you can rely on your state association to continue to provide timely dissemination of health innovation, emerging policies and changes affecting practice, and advocating for our Occupational Therapy profession. Your registration fees helped generate income for MiOTA ensuring continued access to resources that protect Occupational Therapy practice in the state of Michigan. Thank you for your continued support.

Missed the excitement? No worries – recorded sessions are available for purchase in the near future.

With great optimism we are planning for next year’s conference to be held in-person at the Radisson Hotel in Kalamazoo from September 30, 2021 to October 2, 2021. If we learned anything this last year it is to plan ahead and create multiple solutions or alternative plans. Therefore, we are considering a hybrid option and a fully virtual format depending upon the state of the state or virus.

Be on the lookout for information on the 2021 conference “Call for Presenters” in February. If you’re looking for volunteer opportunities and would like to provide input as we prepare and plan for next year’s conference, we are accepting new committee members. Please email Denise Justice at djustice@umich.edu, to express interest and receive additional information.

Onward and upward colleagues!

Stay safe and be well this holiday season and into the new year.

Sincerely,

Denise Justice and the Fall Conference Committee members

I would like to thank our membership for your support during the very challenging 2020 year. MIOTA members have kept our association going through membership, conference and supporting each other throughout the year. Through the challenges of 2020 we ended with a negative balance of $2,472.11. This negative balance was offset through a very positive balance in our checking account left from 2019.

Our finances as of December 31, 2020 are as follows:

Income: $63,403.31

Expenses: $65,875.42

MIOTA Checking Balance: $36,353.78

MIOTA Savings Balance: $14,508.63

MIOTA Scholarship CD: $23,602.05

Submitted by, Cindy Klinger, MIOTA Finance Director

I am so excited to have Sonny Grendel as the co-director for the wonderful Membership Committee comprised of Nancy Hock, Ray Roche, Jennifer Schank, Latoya Thomas, and Cydne Johnson. Sonny has worked on the membership committee for many years supporting on-site student education about MiOTA for colleges and universities as well as attending many conferences sharing the benefits of association membership.

Welcome Sonny Grendel to the Co-Director role of Membership Director! Well-deserved. I am excited for your leadership of this committee.

Sincerely,

Cathleen C. Johnson, co-director of Membership and Leader of the Executive Committee

Senate Bill 898

Throughout the pandemic, MiOTA has been working to make sure telehealth has a reimbursed future in our great state. To that end, we have been supporting SB 898 (introduced by Senator Adam Hollier), a proposed bill to ensure telehealth is equitably reimbursed by private insurance companies beyond the current public health crisis. MiOTA Executive leadership and members used Zoom meetings to meet with legislators to discuss the impact telehealth has had on their practice and clients. MiOTA leadership and members met with the following legislators over Zoom:

Senator Adam Hollier

Representative Bronna Kahle

Representative Angela Witwer

Senator Paul Wojno

Senator Sylvia Santana

Senator John Bizon

Senator Winnie Brinks

Legislators were supportive and grateful to hear how occupational therapists supported our clients throughout the government shutdown and beyond. MiOTA continues to support the efforts for Senator Hollier to pass SB 898.

To review the legislation, go to the following link:

https://legiscan.com/MI/bill/SB0898/2019

If your practice has been impacted by telehealth, please reach out to your legislator and let them know of your experience throughout the stay-at-home orders:

House Representative: https://www.house.mi.gov/mhrpublic/frmFindaRep.aspx

Senate Representative: https://www.senate.michigan.gov/fysbyaddress.html

Virtual Lobby Day 2021

Have you always wanted to participate in Lobby Day but couldn't take the time off? Now is your chance to advocate for our profession from the comfort of your own home or the convenience of work!

MiOTA's first Virtual Lobby Week will be held throughout the week of February 22-26 through online teleconferences. The meetings should take no more than 30 minutes with your representatives. Our goal is to meet with every district in the state of Michigan! Our focus will be on several pertinent issues this year, such as telehealth, mandatory reporting, interstate licensure, and of course, What is OT?.

Although we’d prefer to be in-person to meet all of you, we hope this will open new advocacy opportunities for our members who have not been able to attend previous in-person lobby days due to work schedules, child care, and other personal/professional conflicts.

Sign-up through the MiOTA Website at https://miota.org

When: February 22-26, 2021

Where: Wherever you are - work or home!

What: Meetings should take no more than 30 minutes with your representatives.

Our goal is to meet with every district in the state of Michigan!

This year, we will be educating members of the legislature on What is OT, telehealth, mandatory reporting, and interstate licensure.

Who: You! OTs, COTAs, OT students, and COTA students!

We hope to “see” you there!

Interstate Legislative Compact

MiOTA is moving forward in support of an Interstate Legistative Compact to support therapists hold licenses in multiple states. At this time, MiOTA Advocacy Team members are scheduling meetings with the Tri-Alliance to determine how Michigan’s Allied Health Care Professionals can work together to educate our legislators on the value of such a compact.

Jeannie Kunz, MOT, OTRL, BCP

MiOTA Advocacy Director

MiOTA has sent a delegate to the Michigan Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) for three years.

All states are required to have a special education advisory committee as part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Donna Case has been the MiOTA delegate and Kirsten Matthews the alternate for the past three years. Donna is the chairperson of the Executive Committee of SEAC this year having been the vice chairperson last year.

SEAC’s priorities for this year are:

• Priority 1: Advise our members to speak with their constituents to ask Congress to fully fund (40%) costs for students with disabilities. (They generally fund between 15-17% of the costs of special education.)
• Priority 2: Assist SEAC members by locating and cultivating special education resources for sharing with their constituents and posting on SEAC’s website. (All information regarding COVID are found at https://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140-6598_35706-524932--,00.html .)

SEAC is also providing feedback to the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report which spell out what data Michigan will be collecting and reporting to US Department of Education. This year we are required to update a significant number of our indicators instead of the 2-3 in a normal year cycle.

For questions about school based practice and SEAC please contact Donna Case at casedon@umich.edu.

Dear Rehab Managers, Leaders or Directors of Rehabilitation Departments,

The Michigan Occupational Therapy Association (MiOT ) would like to extend an invite for you and your occupational therapy practitioners to consider membership of our professional organization. MiOTA is a comprised of volunteer leaders that work to advocate for the profession of occupational therapy in the state of Michigan. We act as a communication vehicle for its members to through lobbying, attendance at Michigan OT Board meetings, and collaborating with AOTA.

Our vision is that MiOTA is acknowledged by occupational therapy practitioners and all stakeholders as a premier resource of knowledge, information, and expertise for the profession of occupational therapy in the state of Michigan.

During this past year, MiOTA has served its members by advocating and lobbying for the essentialness of occupational therapy during a pandemic while also providing a great deal of information about telehealth practices due to the public health emergency. We receive a number of questions on a regular basis regarding practice issues, billing, reimbursement, and practice acts. These questions are responded to by our volunteer leadership on a regular basis.

As a leader in rehabilitation, we hope that you encourage your staff members to be a part of their professional organizations to help them as individuals and a department of staff to be informed and apprised of any potential threats to practice or changes in rules or regulations.

Sincerely,

Your Membership Committee of MiOTA

Students make up a great portion of our overall membership! MiOTA is excited that so many students and educators find value in membership as a part of their occupational therapy education. Since you are a member you are receiving this newsletter; hopefully you are finding informative details about the profession.

Share with your fellow cohort the fact that you are a member and the many associated benefits of membership. MiOTA offers many opportunities for resume building, development of your professional identity as a future OT, as well as understanding how you can advocate for the profession!

Some of the many benefits of MiOTA include…

• Opportunities to attend continuing education webinars

• Attend regional chapter meetings to encourage networking within the profession

• Learn of other occupational therapy specialties, as well as joining special interest sections to expand your knowledge of a specialty

• Gain access to new job openings within Michigan and surrounding states

• Find awesome student scholarship opportunities!

• Explore a variety of research opportunities

• Identify resources to secure housing for your Level II Fieldwork

• The ability to attend the annual fall conference!

• Gain access to these resources and benefits for only $30 a year – this includes your first two years as an OT practitioner!

If you think that a MiOTA membership could benefit you and your student cohort, members of the MiOTA membership team can further introduce you to our organization! MiOTA can meet with any cohort or students of an occupational therapy program, which includes meeting with those in your student occupational therapy association.

Please contact either Cydne Johnson @ Cydne.c.johnson@wmich.edu or Toya Thomas @ thomlato@mail.gvsu.edu to schedule a time to discuss sharing information about MiOTA!