Membership Hits New Milestone

The Academy membership crossed the 2700 mark just prior to the declaring of a moratorium on processing new memberships for 90 days. The move was taken to allow time to collect information and deliberate on how ABC’s announcement to accept BOC certifees may impact Academy members and existing membership categories as defined by the bylaws. The moratorium only affects new members wishing to enter the Academy. Renewing or returning members are not affected by the moratorium.

ABC’s invitation to grant all BOC practitioners in good standing the title of ABC certification in a given discipline is sure to directly impact the Academy. The Academy bylaws define those eligible for Active Membership as being orthotists and prosthetists certified by, and in good standing with the ABC. Deliberations on how this development may impact the Academy, existing membership categories, and the profession in general have begun. In addition to discussing the involved issues and possible scenarios, the Board is also reviewing how other associations have handled a similar blending of memberships and/or categories of membership.

Website Also Sets New Record

More than 63,000 individuals visited the Academy’s website last month, breaking the previous record by more than 6,000. Visits to the website (www.oandp.org) have been significantly increasing since the site was redesigned in March 2003. The most popular destinations on the website continue to be the homepage, JPO, Education (Annual Meeting info), Online Publications, and Members Only area. The website also includes additional information on chapter activities.

Residents to Make Career Visits to High Schools

Beginning in July, residents will have to perform one community/in-service project to further the awareness of the O&P profession as part of their NCOPE residency requirements. Residents can make presentations to service clubs or to students, ranging from grades six through twelve as well as the college level. The requirement was added by the NCOPE Board of Commissioners at its meeting in February. Residents will also have to prepare and present at least one orthotic and one prosthetic presentation to be presented to employees of their sponsoring facility.

Early this summer, students will receive materials from the Academy to support their career visits. Each kit contains: O&P career brochure, O&P career poster, handouts with bulletin board display pieces on orthotists and prosthetists, O&P fact and statistic sheets, an “opcareers.org” website pen, plus a PowerPoint presentation with talking points. The kit was created as part of the National O&P Awareness and Recruitment Campaign, one of the activities within Project Quantum Leap.

Recent Board Actions

Membership Pilot Project - A virtual Academy membership pilot project is underway with students at GA Tech participating. The project examines ways the Academy could offer an alternative membership at a reduced cost. Results from the pilot will be reviewed by the Board in 2005.

Technician Education Standards Adopted - The Board adopted the NCOPE “Standards and Guidelines for an Accredited Educational Program for the Orthotic and Prosthetic Technician and the Orthotic and Prosthetic Assistant.”

Thanks... to the following individuals for assisting with recent high school visits:

• California: Peter Harsch, CP

• Connecticut: Residents: Stephanie Porter, Angela

• Montgomery, Gabrielle Bossarte

• Washington: Kate Allyn, CPO, Kaia Holvorson, CPO,

• Garth Shippen, CO

• Illinois: David Krupe - prosthetic residents

• Minnesota: Scott Tjaden, RTP (lower-extremity

• specialist), Heather Hoyt, OT

• (upper extremity specialist)

• Texas David Holt, CP

• Georgia: Stephen Schulte, CP, FAAOP

MEMBERS ONLY Area of Website Offers Exclusive, Valuable Info

If it’s been more than 90 days since you last visited the Members Only portion of the Academy’s website (www.oandp.org) you are missing out on a great deal of valuable resources. The Members Only area, as its name implies, is opened by a member’s password. Members who do not have or cannot remember their password may obtain one by emailing Andrew Francis.

Online Learning Center - A comprehensive system that provides practitioners access to exceptional educational programming 24/7 from the comfort of their home or office. Each course is a self-paced online learning experience worth 1-4 PCE credits. New courses are in production and will be added to the inventory shortly.

Online Learning Center - A comprehensive system that provides practitioners access to exceptional educational programming 24/7 from the comfort of their home or office. Each course is a self-paced online learning experience worth 1-4 PCE credits. New courses are in production and will be added to the inventory shortly.

Best of the Resident Research Series - Each year the Research and Development Committee chooses the best research papers by residents to share with Academy members.

Best of the Thranhardt Lecture Series - The series includes those papers chosen by attendees at the Academy’s Annual Meeting and the AOPA National Assembly to receive the Thranhardt honorarium. Archived papers are also available.

The O&P Research Reference Guide - One of the best, straightforward compendiums of information pertaining to research papers. Contains information on the different kinds of research, literature reviews, methodology, statistical analysis, funding sources, and websites for O&P research - a total of 36 helpful articles.

O&P Research Project Guide - Most O&P practitioners have little, if any, experience with research projects. This handy, how-to guide is written as if the author is sitting across the kitchen table and explaining how to get it done. Very readable!

Spotlight

Paralympian Dennis Oehler gives high school students in Skokie, IL an “up close and personal” look at a BK prosthesis. Oehler, Todd Shaffhauser, and prosthetic resident David Krupe talked about the impact technology has had on many amputees and career and schooling opportunities in O&P. The former Paralympians are midway through more than 40 school visits as part of Project Quantum Leap outreach programs.

Members, Chapters Asked to Continue ‘Accelerated Pace’ of Project Quantum Leap Activities

In an appeal to members and other certified practitioners Academy President Donald Katz, CO, LO, FAAOP asked for individual contributions to maintain the “accelerated pace” of Clinical Standards of Practice consensus conferences, the national awareness and recruitment campaign, development of a Master Agenda for the profession, and other Project Quantum Leap activities.

The Academy has invested more than $200,000 in the development of Project Quantum Leap and will continue to support its goals. Much of the financial resources necessary to conduct PQL activities are derived from outside funding sources such as the one-time U.S. Department of Education grant. “However, grant money can only be spent on specific activities and tasks authorized by the grant,” explained Katz. “It does not cover all expense areas.” Support from individual contributions is used in the development and oversight of activities, and also to support the Academy’s efforts to obtain additional grant money.

You can visit the Academy website at www.oandp.org/pql to make a secured donation online at any time. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and will help maintain the growing momentum of Project Quantum Leap. Feel free to contact the Academy at (703) 836-0788, or pql@oandp.org with any PQLrelated questions.

In Memoriam . . . Milton Needham Hinnant, CPO

Milton Hinnant began working for his father William Turner Hinnant at the age of 13 with the Charlotte-Minneapolis Artificial Limb Company. Shortly after high school he was asked to become an instructor at Lawson General Hospital near Atlanta to teach prosthetics to the staff. He attended the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, was drafted during World War II into the Army, and was immediately assigned to the O&P division of Walter Reed Army Hospital. Following the war he completed his degree and was certified by ABC. His practice included half a dozen states, which he covered by flying his airplane loaded with artificial limbs, parts, and tools between clinics. At one point he was fitting as many as 162 limbs per month and struggled to keep up with the demand. A strong supporter of continuing education, Milton received a lifetime achievement Award of Excellence in prosthetics from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists.