Call for Presentations for the Fall Conference Has Been Extended
It's time to prepare for our fall conference in Orange Beach. The last three years have been dynamite. Low cost, excellent presentations, and location, location, location. Are you interested in presenting this year? The call for presentations has been extended. Click here to read the submission criteria. Don’t delay. We want to include you in the lineup at the beach! We will have the brochure posted here before you know it.

A Summary of the Athletic Training Issue
As you’ve read here throughout this spring, ALOTA has been actively lobbying against proposed changes in the Athletic Trainer Practice Act (to get caught up on what has happened to this point, read our news section). The regular session ended on May 19th, 2008, and the AT bills are officially dead. The House Health Committee never brought HB565 up for a vote which suggests that the members of the committee saw the bill for what it was: an inappropriate expansion of athletic trainer’s scope of practice that was potentially detrimental to healthcare consumers in Alabama. The Senate never voted on SB457; the bill was kept off the calendar that would have allowed that happen. Since the education budget did not pass, there will be at least one special session. ALOTA will monitor this issue, and make you aware of what you can do to help should bills be reintroduced at that point. Just another way ALOTA is serving all of the occupational therapy practioners and healthcare consumers in our state.

ALOTA Elections
We have three openings on the Executive Board for this coming year, specifically Treasurer, Secretary, and Vice President. Qualified candidates include occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants who are active members and whose membership in ALOTA has been maintained in good standing for a minimum of two years prior to election; candidates should also have served as a state or district officer, chair of a standing committee or SIS, COTA liaison or RA representative to AOTA for a minimum of one year. If you have not met these criteria but would still want to be considered, let us know! The ALOTA Executive Board has the authority to waive the minimum qualifications for person with comparable qualifications. Follow the Contact Us button on the left hand side of your screen for links to email addresses.