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In this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Jenna Kantor guests hosts and interviews Adrian Miranda on the Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy.  Adrian Miranda, class of Ithaca College Physical Therapy '07, was born and raised in Manhattan. He currently practices at Windsor Physical Therapy in Brooklyn, NY. In addition, he is a medical consultant and content creator at a Virtual Reality rehab start-up called Reactiv. In this episode, we discuss: -Educational resources available at the Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy -Diverse mediums used to disseminate research to clinicians -How to be involved in advocacy on the state and federal level for the PT profession -The importance of research for both advocacy efforts and clinical practice -And so much more!   Resources: Email: AMiranda84@Gmail.com Cell phone: (585) 472-5201 Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy Twitter Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy Website JOSPT Website   A big thank you to Net Health for sponsoring this episode!  Learn more about Four Ways That Outpatient Therapy Providers Can Increase Patient Engagement in 2020!                                                                      For more information on Adrian: Adrian Miranda class of Ithaca College Physical Therapy '07 was born and raised in Manhattan. He currently practices at Windsor Physical Therapy in Brooklyn, NY. In addition he is medical consultant and content creator at a Virtual Reality rehab start up called Reactiv. In the past Adrian has also worked in media including video producer and a television host for BRIC TV ("Check out the Workout") a local television station in Brookyn. Previously he was a faculty member in the TOURO College Orthopedic Physical Therapy Program as the Director of Clinical Residency education. He also was an instructor for Summit Professional Education teaching continuing education (Shoulder Assessment and Treatment) He is currently the Chair of the PR/Marketing committee for the Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy (APTA) and contributes to APTA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. He previously held positions in the NYPTA as Chair of the Minority Affairs committee of the NYPTA, member of the programming committee, and Brooklyn/Staten Island Legislative liaison. He also teaches media including video editing, video production at Brooklyn media non profit BRIC. In his spare time he swing dances, does crossfit, has a web series called Gross Anatomy on Firework, and dabbles in theater.     For more information on Jenna: Jenna Kantor (co-founder) is a bubbly and energetic girl who was born and raised in Petaluma, California. Growing up, she trained and performed ballet throughout the United States. After earning a BA in Dance and Drama at the University of California, Irvine, she worked professionally in musical theatre for 15+ years with tours, regional theatres, & overseas (www.jennakantor.com) until she found herself ready to move onto a new chapter in her life – a career in Physical Therapy. Jenna is currently in her 3rd year at Columbia University’s Physical Therapy Program. She is also a co-founder of the podcast, “Physiotherapy Performance Perspectives,” has an evidence-based monthly youtube series titled “Injury Prevention for Dancers,” is a NY SSIG Co-Founder, NYPTA Student Conclave 2017 Development Team, works with the NYPTA Greater New York Legislative Task Force and is the NYPTA Public Policy Committee Student Liaison. Jenna aspires to be a physical therapist for amateur and professional performers to help ensure long, healthy careers. To learn more, please check out her website: www.jennafkantor.wixsite.com/jkpt   Read the full transcript below: Jenna Kantor (00:00): Hello. Hello. Hello, this is Jenna Kantor. Welcome back to another episode on healthy, wealthy and smart. I am here with Adrian Miranda who is a physical therapist who you have probably seen on social media quite a bit. Adrian, would you first tell everyone exactly what your job is that we are going to be discussing and in which section of the APTA? Adrian Miranda (00:21): So my name is Adrian Miranda. I am the chair of the public relations committee for the Academy of orthopedic physical therapy. Jenna Kantor (00:30): Yes, that's right. A mouthful in which I could not get off. So I had Adrian saved for me. Well Adrian, first of all, thank you so much for popping on today for a nice little interview. So I want to first just dive in because I don't know anything about the orthopedic section in the sense of what is it is that you guys are doing for me as a new grad, I'm always thinking the JOSPT, that is a great resource and that is it. So we're going to be diving into more of what the orthopedic section is doing at this point so we can all learn and better appreciate it. And also for those who are considering joining the section, you'll go, Oh, this is for me. Or actually it's not for me. I'm just gonna be sitting with other sections instead. So first of all, what is the big focus for the orthopedic section? Adrian Miranda (01:23): Well, the orthopedic section does a lot of things. But let's talk about the focus on education. So as you said, the JOSPT that is actually a joint collaboration between the Academy of orthopedic physical therapy and Academy of sports physical therapy. One thing, so I became the chair, I guess I spent two years I believe now or going into my second year, but I was part of the community for about six months before that. And one thing I would challenge anyone or ask anybody to do is actually go to the website, orthopt.org. Look at all the tabs, scroll through it. And you can find so many things that when I became the actual a chair and I went, I'm just perusing and just looking at what the Academy does. Cause my goal was like I think the Academy does a ton of stuff that not many people know about. Adrian Miranda (02:12): You're going to learn so much about how much work and effort goes into and how many resources you can find for yourself or your colleagues educationally. There's a lot of independent study courses. The one that you may know if you've either going through residency finishing residency and taking your OCS, but it's the current concepts which is of, I say it's a staple. If you want to take the OCS, you should have the current concepts, you should be looking for the current concepts and reading through it. That's going to be a huge, huge resource and who get better to go to then the Academy itself. Besides that, cause there's so many courses, even things that I didn't know about. For example, there was actually a concussion independent study course. As you know, many of us, even myself in the clinic are starting to get more and more referrals for patients who have had a concussion diagnosis. So that's out there. There are other courses that are older. Some you get the current courses you get see you use for their courses that you don't get. For example, there is a triathlete course, there is a postoperative course, there is a work related injuries course, auto accident, all these are resources that anybody can use. And that's just kind of the tip of the iceberg as far as courses that you can purchase. And moving forward there are some free resources as well. Jenna Kantor (03:31): That's very helpful. So for somebody who doesn't have time, Oh, I feel like I'm speaking for everyone when I say that than going, Oh my God, I have to go and like playing the tabs. How much time is that? I have other things on my to do list. You just gave an overview of the education part, but what are some highlights on things that stood out to you personally within that that's being offered? Adrian Miranda (03:54): So none of us have time. You're right. And so I think one of the things that you're going to start to see is easier access to information. So for example, even if you look at any of our social media threads which if you’re looking at orthopedic within a you're gonna find, for example, we had a patellofemoral infographic. You're going to start to see some more smaller snippets because the Academy has realized that yes, people don't know how to digest the information and put into clinical practice right away. You have to really large clinical practice guideline is 70 pages or 50 pages. And then how to kind of digest that and to put it back out in the clinic. We’re trying to create easier versions of that, whether it's infographics. We are also partnering with podcasters like yourself to disseminate information from the authors themselves to give you the information so you can have passive listening. Adrian Miranda (04:46): In other words, you don't have to read, you can actually be driving to work going on the subway. You can be on your lunch break and listening to information from authors or researchers of these publications. So we're trying to make smaller tidbits to make it digestible in a form that's also accessible to most people. So we've been looking to long form writing. But right now it's infographics are trying to get onto podcast and educate more people, but we are looking into the fact that there is a time constraint in our physical therapy profession. Jenna Kantor (05:20): Yeah. That's excellent to learn. So for the orthopedic section, with the information that you have provided that they're already offering, which is incredible, who is your audience when you're creating the infographics or the infographics for us to better understand, are they infographics where we can reshare it to patients? Adrian Miranda (05:45): So good question. These are for us. So the push is actually for us clinicians to get a better grasp of this literature and a cliff notes initial format. However, if you look at JOSPT and I think moving forward, we're trying to also create a little bit of public awareness. So have you seen in JOSPT patient perspectives? That's one way that you can utilize and share it. And I actually remember when they first came out in my clinic, I printed them out in color, put it on the walls and the rooms and patients actually read it and ask questions about it. But as far as what you'll see further moving forward, like the infographics, it's going to be more for us, for the clinician so that we can actually suck in the information and be able to distribute it out to our patients in the easier manner. Jenna Kantor (06:27): Yeah, that's a big deal. As a clinician myself or I'm putting together a lot of dance research and creating it on this long form document with links to different research to have it disseminated will be great because the time is taking me to create that. It's a lot of time. It's a lot of time. And I know other clinicians don't have that, so I'm creating this for the dance community at large. So I think that's a really big deal that you guys are looking to make that information more available because there's always regular research and I just want to point this out because nobody can see it. Adrian Miranda (07:05): Anyways, I just wanted to put this out there before we continue. Another question. We are also looking for ideas. We want to engage with our members. So if you have any ideas about how to disseminate this information in a different way, we're talking about even long form writing. Some people love to read and that's totally fine. We're trying to look into different options. We're definitely looking for suggestions, people to collaborate with us people to a similar to what you are doing Jenna. To collaborate with us, give us new ideas. We're definitely looking for innovative ways even some old ways that we can bring back to help our clinicians better understand this information and be able to utilize it. Jenna Kantor (07:44): I love that. So this is a newer concept, but we have discussed about it. How is the orthopedic brainstorming, how to bring in other people who are providing information and education to help what we bring to patients. Adrian Miranda (07:58): I think it's people who are doing the work. Researchers, also clinicians, people who are in the clinic and researching, you know, we're in the clinic and researching. But the Academy definitely has some of the top researchers, people who have their pulse on newer topics. And one of the things that, that also stand in me was when the concussion dependence study came out. And I think that's to show that right now we're going to see an uptake in physicians referring concussion patients to our profession. And we have to be ready for that. Jenna Kantor (08:31): You are on the PR committee, so you know a little bit about the public and the relations. You're like Samantha from sex in the city, but not anyway, so I digress. What is it that you guys are doing and focusing on within the marketing committee alone and who is your audience for that? Adrian Miranda (08:50): We just want to show you stuff. We want to show you and teach you things. For example, if you look at our recent posts, we wanted to share what happened at CSM. We actually have the Rose award, which if you were in a, for example, a rural setting, if you're doing home health care, you can actually watch his full speech on his study. That had to do with how many visits was optimal for home health, physical therapists. So those are the things that we want to kind of bring you inside and say, Hey, look, this is what we're doing. We are finding committee members who are have skills in different aspects of the media. Which like I said, we're looking for people, we're always looking for people and new ideas. But when I came in, as I told you I wanted to share everything that the Academy was doing at one point I will look there's actually even some certification for imaging. Adrian Miranda (09:43): If you are interested in imaging or you think you want to dive into any type of imaging for your research, your PhD or even if you're a new graduate who says, Oh, I really want to learn more about imaging. There is a special interest group for imaging with resources and there's I believe there is either a discount or something and you can again, you can kind of scroll through the social media cause we did post it at one point. We just go through so much information that I can't tell you everything on the up the top of my head. But we're trying to share information that you would actually have to go and scroll and look for on the website. We're trying to make it more accessible. So there's just so many things that we want to it's like a media company really. Adrian Miranda (10:23): We're just trying to share what things we do and what opportunities. Oh, another example is the federal advocacy forum. So there is the money into the Academy will provide to a student to actually attend the federal advocacy forum. I believe the deadline has passed for that to apply for the scholarship or the grant. But those are things that we're trying to do. Before I was at CSM and the chair of the practice committee came up to me and said, Hey, is there any way that you can share this? And so those are things that we, even through email marketing, you may have seen it. There was also other programs like CoStar, which you'll have to kind of look it up or go online or go on the website or social media to find out about it. Adrian Miranda (11:07): It was about innovation and science. And it's not just for physical therapy. So there's a lot of opportunities, volunteer opportunities, ways to get involved, resources, educational materials. So the peer committees, just trying to say, Hey, you know, those of you on social media, there's all this stuff that you can do. Right now if you look online, soon enough there'll be like a residency Q and A. So there are many of you who are interested in going into residency or currently in residency and we're trying to reach out to that population as well. So there's a target population. It's really the Academy members. So we don't have new grads or old grads. There is a little bit more of a push to get attention from new graduates and students, but we want to be able to share as much information that will help our members. So we are a member facing organizations. Jenna Kantor (11:58): That's really great. That's actually fantastic. Okay. I'm going to ask a controversial question more because the concept and idea is definitely backwards was what we're pushing for in the physical therapy profession regarding research. We want to be research based, we want that these studies to back up everything we do. We're doctors for, you know, for sake. So what about physical therapists who are just going, I don't need the research in order to treat these patients and get them better. I'm not saying this to criticize them. I'm not saying this to separate us. For somebody who's not interested in all this data and everything, what do you guys have to provide for them that they would be specifically interested in where it is, where they treat primarily orthopedic cases. Karen Litzy (13:00): And on that note, we're going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor and be right back with Adrian's response. This episode is brought to you by net health net house outpatient EMR and billing software. Redoc powered by X fit provides an all one software solution with guided documentation workflows to make it easy for therapists to use and streamline billing processes to help speed billing and improve reimbursement. You could check out net health’s new tip sheet to learn four ways that outpatient therapy providers can increase patient engagement in 2020 at go.net health.com/patientengagement2020 Adrian Miranda (13:34): Well, I mean, you can believe that, but it's the cases that you need research to show data, to show numbers, to go to Congress, to go to insurance, to push things and push agendas. Jenna Kantor (13:44): Oh, I like what you're saying regarding going to Congress advocating, thank you. Continue. Yeah. Adrian Miranda (13:48): So you need to prove that things work. Now there's many things that you cannot get data on or you just haven't created the right methodology for it. So you haven't created the right structure, the right research methods, the right way to capture those results. We're in a big data-driven time right now. So whether you believe that you don't need research and that it's there and we have to utilize it and it is actually necessary to help with reimbursements. So it might not hit you right in the face when the patient walks in, but it's going to hit you somewhere. So yes, research is extremely important. And it's not the end all be all as well. The way we get research is from an evidence case reports from the things that just occur. And then you go back and say, Hey, why did this work? Adrian Miranda (14:34): It didn't work. Or it did work and it worked because for all the wrong reasons. But if you don't have a scientific method for that, you're never going to know. Listen in the PR committee. So I'll tell you something. And many of you may be in the technology sector, marketing sector and digital marketing. We analyze what our members were engaging with and it turned out that CPGs our members were engaging with and we actually pivoted a bit more to give you more of that content. And we're seeing that you are engaging with it more. So if we didn't have that data, we wouldn't be able to give you what you want or even what you need. It is very important. You may not see it right away, but there are things that help agendas be moved forward and prove our worth. Adrian Miranda (15:20): As physical therapists, you can say it all you want, but if you have numbers, you really can't argue with numbers unless you're dealing with larger entities that have bigger pockets than you. But even at the end of the day, you fight hard enough for it. You're gonna get it. Direct access is moving along okay. And they're saying, we don't have any restricted direct access, but if we didn't have studies that are coming out saying that early intervention, but physical therapy reduces costs of healthcare achieves healthcare savings, we can't push that bill forward because we didn't have the data. Now we do have the data. So I would say that the sometimes or the reason for not agreeing with research has, you know, personal experiences and negative experiences. Maybe not even understanding research and what it does. Maybe you're wasting money on. These are one large universities doing all this data and research, but you need to think about it a little bit differently. Adrian Miranda (16:17): And the more research we have, the better research and better data. The more that you'll see we're helping more people in the community. The more that you're seeing businesses, physical therapy, business thriving, and being able to kind of give back to the community and give back to their employees as well. So it's this kind of circle. It's almost like a spin diagram that without research, without the community, without the clinicians to enforce it, we're not going to go anywhere. So I would say those people that don't believe in research it's like air. It's there. You need it. Love that. Jenna Kantor (16:50): Start to touch upon it. I want to dive into it. More advocacy. What is it that the orthopedic section, say three things right now that you know of, that they're advocating for on Capitol Hill? Adrian Miranda (17:03): Okay. So one of the things that did for the 40th anniversary was create almost like a mini documentary. Which was eyeopening to me. I didn't realize how much the Academy of orthopedic physical therapy advocated for States and governor and national issues. They actually were very instrumental in practice things all over the country and even helping with the right access bills right now at this moment. I couldn't tell you specific things. But if you go look at that video, which I think it was ast year, CSM I interviewed a lot, most if not most of the past orthopedic presidents who actually served on the APTA board. And yes, and some of them currently do it will be enlightening to see how much advocacy in the Academy actually provides. So having said that I couldn't tell you on top of my head exactly what they are working on at this moment legislatively, but just know that they are and they're also helping other components with their efforts and their resource. So if you, again, maybe you don't want to be in the public relations and marketing, but if you have some type of legislative issue or some type of issue that you have reached out to the Academy, they might be able to either guide you, steer you or help you connect with the APTA itself. Anybody in the government affairs, we actually have a committee directly for government affairs. Jenna Kantor (18:38): That's great. And you can even go on the website I'm seeing right now there is a tab for governance. It's literally on the major main page, so you go to governance and when you put your little mouse or a little hand on there, it'll go down and you can get information on what they're doing in their strategic plan. You click on that and it will take you into vision statement and goals so you can really see what they're doing right now for the lines with you and what you want them to be fighting for or if you want, there are points you want them to address in which you can then reach out to them to make that difference. Thank you so much, Adrian, for coming on to speak and educate about the orthopedic section. I really am a beginner with this myself because I've been a member for, since I was a first year student and never looked into any of the resources until this conversation right now. I think this is literally with the exception of joining the performing arts special interest group. The only time I've really gone into the the webpage. Oh look and we just opened it up. So current practice issues right now. Jenna Kantor (19:43): In what month, we are March, 2020 direct access imaging, dry needling, mobilization versus manipulation and practice issues state by state. And then you can get more details on that as well on orthopt.org. You just click on that governance and it'll get you there. Adrian Miranda (20:03): Is that answering the question about what issues are being dealt with by the Academy? Jenna Kantor (20:08): Yes, that does. That does. And the one who clicked and fell and grabbed that page. So we could just go onto practice, current practice issues and boom, bada bang. Thank you for coming on. Are there any last words you have for anybody who is considering joining the orthopedic section? But they're on the fence right now. Adrian Miranda (20:27): Join. There's really no drawbacks. If anything, here's what I recommend to anybody. If you have, there's two aspects. If you really want to get involved, there's someone who has been involved in school or someone who really wants to help other PTs. You wanna help the profession get involved. There's ways to get involved. You can be a member and do nothing and just hang back however you can make such an impact. I've had people recently asked to join or to be able to assist in the public relations committee. If you are somebody who has a lot of gripes and is really upset with what we're doing, go ahead and join anyway because you could actually be a change. I remember having this conversation with somebody in New York state. I was at a PT pub night and they were complaining to me about what this time I was actually in the NYPTA and what the APTA does. Adrian Miranda (21:11): And I let him go and just vent. And finally after like 20 minutes of venting, I was like, you know, I'm the chair of this committee, I'm a part of this committee. I'm on the MIP team that the board needs. I thank you for saying all that stuff. And his whole face going to drop. Like, Oh my gosh, I'm talking the wrong person. And I said, no, no, no. The fact that you're that passionate about it, you should join and you should make a change. All of a sudden, you told me you should bring it up at meetings or talk to your district. That's at the state level. At the Academy level. You can do this same thing if you're upset at the laws of dry needling and your state joint Academy, see how you can be part of the practice committee if you're upset about direct access, if you want to get involved in writing, if you want to get involved in editing you know, there's small, obviously there's very few worlds for that, but there are opportunities if you wanna get involved with pure committee, please join. Adrian Miranda (22:04): But there's so many things that you can help fix if you're upset about something and there's so many things that you can help improve if you're pleased with it. So I think there are so many opportunities to also enrich your life, enrich some of your skills and goals and even your practice. So I don't think there's any drawbacks to joining. And then we would love to have as many members as possible. You also want to have members that engage. I think when I talked to the board, we have meetings, our main goal and the people who've been around longer is that our members engaged with us. And you're not just someone who's going to sit back and just watch. Although that is okay, we want to be members. But I think it's also important to if you have a skill, if you have a passion and if you want to help our profession or your community get involved in and find where your spot is. Adrian Miranda (22:48): There's so many areas. There are seven special interest groups, there's several committees. There are several task force that you can be a part of. So I would definitely encourage you to reach out and listen. Organizations are challenging. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of need out there. There's a lot of different opinions and even it might say, this is an issue in my practice is an issue. My employees is my employers. That reimbursement is patients, this the demographics. There's a lot of things that we can help with numbers. Just like we're talking about research, we have a lot of numbers can be powerful. So if there's anything I can impart is that you can help be part of improving or be part of a change.   Jenna Kantor: I love that. Thank you so much. Adrian. How can people find you on social media and do you also have an email even for them to reach out to you? Adrian Miranda (23:36): Well, how about this? I'll do you one better because I learned it because usher and Gary Vaynerchuk are doing it now. I'll give you my cell phone. Feel free to reach out. I will give you my email just for sure. The social media Academy of orthopedic physical therapy. And my name is Adrian Miranda. You can find me at AMiranda84@Gmail.com. And my cell phone is 585- 472-5201. I'm very available. So I happy to talk on the phone cause sometimes, actually nowadays that's quicker than an email or even texting back and forth. Send me a text message. I would love to hear your input and hopefully we want to hear how we could be better as well.   Jenna Kantor: Wonderful. Thank you so much for coming on. Have a great day. Everyone.   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

On this week’s episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Jenna Kantor guests hosts and interviews Lynn Rivers on Robert’s Rules. Dr. Rivers is currently the Speaker of the Assembly for the New York Physical Therapy Association (NYPTA) and sits on the Board of Directors for the NYPTA. She strives to facilitate the active engagement of the students in becoming advocates for the patients/clients they will serve and their profession. In this episode, we discuss: -What are Robert’s Rules and how debate is conducted at the House of Delegates -Different ways to collect votes from the delegates -Point of Order, Point of Inquiry and Point of Information -Can a guest speak during a meeting? -And so much more! Resources: Email: riversl@dyc.edu Robert's Rules for Dummies For more information on Lynn: Dr. Lynn Rivers has 25 years experience as a clinician and 20 years as an educator in higher education. Her clinical experience has focused on adults with neurological disorders and traumatic injuries such as head injury and spinal cord injury while working in a Level I Trauma Center. Before becoming chairperson of the department in 2001, Dr. Rivers was Director of Clinical Education for the physical therapy program. Dr. Rivers is currently the Speaker of the Assembly for the New York Physical Therapy Association (NYPTA)and sits on the Board of Directors for the NYPTA. She strives to facilitate the active engagement of the students in becoming advocates for the patients/clients they will serve and their profession. For more information on Jenna: Jenna Kantor (co-founder) is a bubbly and energetic girl who was born and raised in Petaluma, California. Growing up, she trained and performed ballet throughout the United States. After earning a BA in Dance and Drama at the University of California, Irvine, she worked professionally in musical theatre for 15+ years with tours, regional theatres, & overseas (www.jennakantor.com) until she found herself ready to move onto a new chapter in her life – a career in Physical Therapy. Jenna is currently in her 3rd year at Columbia University’s Physical Therapy Program. She is also a co-founder of the podcast, “Physiotherapy Performance Perspectives,” has an evidence-based monthly youtube series titled “Injury Prevention for Dancers,” is a NY SSIG Co-Founder, NYPTA Student Conclave 2017 Development Team, works with the NYPTA Greater New York Legislative Task Force and is the NYPTA Public Policy Committee Student Liaison. Jenna aspires to be a physical therapist for amateur and professional performers to help ensure long, healthy careers. To learn more, please check out her website: www.jennafkantor.wixsite.com/jkpt   Read the full transcript below: Jenna Kantor:                00:00                Hello and good morning. This is Jenna Kantor. I'm here with healthy, wealthy and smart and I get to interview Lynn Rivers who knows so much about Roberts rules. Okay. Robert's rules. You know I'm going to actually hand over the mic because I can already imagine me describing it and Lynn going, well not exactly. So would you mind first just defining what Robert's rules is and where it is in applied within the APTA? Lynn Rivers:                  00:26                Sure. Well Good Morning Jen. Thanks for the opportunity. Thank you for the opportunity to be able to share just about 28 years that I have sort of gotten myself involved and love Robert's rules of order. So what is Robert's rules of order? It goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. It is the philosophy and the construct of how do organizations, any organization, whether it's a small church board or it's Congress or its parliament in England, how does a civil society with lots of divergent opinions, how do we conduct our business so that there are two principles that are met and the two principles are that the will of the majority will rule, but we must protect the rights of the minority. So it is for the voices of everyone in whatever society, whatever group, whatever meeting that every opinion gets heard and heard with respect. And that there is civility so that when very strong, strong opinions can equally be heard, both sides of the debate can be heard. Lynn Rivers:                  01:41                But there is civility and respect. And then when the decision is reached that the minority will agree that the will of the majority will rule. So that those are the two principles. So then the rules, holy smokes, there's, you know,  I'm sure if people have looked into it, the 11th edition is 800 pages long and there are so many minutia rules. But the bottom line is that the rules guide how people make decisions about what gets heard and how we make choices. So there are just the word motions is a tenant of Robert's rules of orders. So what is a motion? A motion is just an ask. It is an idea that someone has, that they want the society, the group, the organization to do. I want to ask that we pursue buying a piece of property or I want my APTA to look into this or work on this legislation, create a document for us to help us write. Lynn Rivers:                  02:56                It's an ask and then there's a way to make the ask. And so they give guidelines on how you make the ask. And then there are rules of then how do people debate. So you have to write out your ask. It becomes a motion. And then it's agreed during the meeting. It will be, they call it lay it on the table, but it just means say it right. Make the ask for the whole body to hear. And then there is the leader of the meeting who is neutral and just trying to facilitate the discussion and they have different titles. Then everyone respectfully just raises their hand or makes a motion. They have to be recognized to speak. And then when you speak to the motion there are just rules of civility meeting respect that you aren't shouting that you are just speaking to the facilitator of the meeting and you are making your case but you tend not to speak only about the motion, not who made the motion and don't speak ill of any other opinion. You just state your own opinion and the debate goes back and forth and then there's a vote. Jenna Kantor:                04:16                Actually could we go on this a little bit more with the ask, cause there's some things in this that I think is so fantastic with the civility that you are discussing and you guys, anybody listening, all you new grads, anybody who hasn't done house of delegates or been to any of these type of meetings before. You know how easy it is for things to get heated when it should, when it's a touchy subject. And of course within physical therapy we're extremely passionate about what we do. So those issues can get personal very easily. So would you mind going into the process of who is actually getting the eye contact, when you are standing up to speak about something and say it might be something you are quite passionate about, you have a written out exactly what you want to say. Who do you make eye contact with? And how do you address or refer to somebody who may have spoken before? Would you mind giving an example of that so people can get a better idea of how important and valuable it is to keep this going? Lynn Rivers:                  05:18                Be Glad to Jenna. So I'm just going to think back to the most recent house. The American Physical Therapy Association taking a stance against firearm violence. And there are some very passionate opinions in the room. So what will happen is in order to not hurt feelings or offend anyone, what happens is that the individual who wants to now speak passionately against the APTA taking any kind of social stance, they make direct eye contact, the room is full of 400 people, face forward. You're looking directly at the speaker of the house, which is the title of the individual who's standing up in the front, who has recognized you to speak and you say, Madam Speaker, I would like to speak vehemently against this. I respectfully disagree with the previous speaker from Oregon who made this claim. Lynn Rivers:                  06:22                And I disagree with that. So you don't say, I think Henry is an idiot. You say, I respectfully disagree and you speak about people in the third person and it's amazing how that sort of takes the emotion out. You can be emotional, you can feel passionate about your stance and you could be angry about the thought of an action being taken, but you are looking at the neutral speaker of the assembly and you are referring only in the third person to previous speakers or to a speaker from another state. And it is amazing how that can really deescalate the emotion. Jenna Kantor:                07:08                And then for such a very important debate and which I'd like to say that, you know, it's nice that there's an opportunity for every single motion to be debated on. So whether or not you think it's important, it still doesn't obliterate the opportunity for other people to debate on that, which I think is wonderful as well. But of course these things can go on forever. So how is it handled to end, you know, as a group cause you have a group of 400 people you know, for us at the house of delegates. So how is it handled, you know, to rightfully decide when it's appropriate to stop the discussion and move on to a vote? Lynn Rivers:                  07:48                Yes. So again, what happens is, you know, people have raised their hand or we do it electronically now in the house of delegates with a blackberry, you can put yourself what they call in the queue. So you're in line to speak. And so the speaker will monitor and you must indicate to the speaker whether you're speaking for or against it. So they try to balance debate. And at times after a bit of discussion, the speaker will say, at this time there appears to be no one who is in line or in the queue to speak. Are you ready for the vote? Other times, the speaker that we do have an opportunity and in Robert's rules there is a motion it to what is called call the previous question. And all that means is that person has put a motion to say, I think I've heard enough. Lynn Rivers:                  08:38                I have heard both sides of the debate. I am ready to vote. And so then if the speaker of the house, the leader of the meeting, observes that there are many people who think it's time to vote, then he or she will ask the body, that group at the meeting, are you ready for the vote? And if there's no objection, then you move to the vote. So it can either be everyone has stopped talking or there has been a lot of balanced debate hearing both sides of the story and enough people have spoken that the group feels they can make a vote. Jenna Kantor:                09:16                I also saw in the meeting, and we're not gonna hit all 800 pages of the book, but I'm just pointing out some interesting things. Sometimes the voting switched between standing between saying Aye and then also the electronic vote via the device. So how does, in this case, the speaker of the house who was running the meeting, how does the speaker of the house decide which way to do the vote? Lynn Rivers:                  09:43                Yeah, so certainly, what happens is each organization has also something that's called the standing rules. So we use set rules at the beginning of the meeting. And one of the key rules you decide is how much agreement does there have to be in order to pass that motion to say it's going to go. So for normal business, the actions of the house, we agree in the house of delegates, a simple majority, so just over 50%, 51% of the group. So the default or easiest for 404 was our voting strength yesterday, that the speaker starts with a voice vote. All those in favor say Aye. So she listens to the volume of the ayes compared to the volume of the no’s. And many times it's very clear if 300 people say Aye and 100 say no, then it's pretty clear by voice. Lynn Rivers:                  10:42                And that's the simplest and quickest. If it's still a vote for simple majority and she couldn't tell by the voices, then we have to use the electronic voting. Within that everybody has their clicker and they vote Yay or nay and it comes up. The standing vote is typically done when there is a vote that is more precious than just a normal business action. It's any vote that is going to hurt the rights of members. And I'll give the example then if you need to know, if two thirds of the people agree, many times the speaker will do a standing vote because that is much easier to see two thirds clear by standing. And that is when there is an objection to calling the question, meaning stopping debate. And because that is a right of the minority to continue to be heard, that is when the speaker calls for a standing vote. And then there was one time, even in the standing vote, she was not 100% sure it was two thirds. So she had us sit back down and do the clickers. Jenna Kantor:                12:05                This is great. So, you know, it's so funny, earlier you mentioned the word Henry and now I'm thinking of the Henry Bar, the candy. And I'm like, oh my gosh, what do these conferences do to me? I'm like, I need sugar all the time to like stay awake. Can we get into some of the language, just the intro that people say when they say parliamentary inquiry, like why do we say that instead of something else? Does it make it more efficient? Lynn Rivers:                  12:35                So again, there is a protocol to how one introduces a motion. And one of the first again for civility is whenever you are recognized to speak, you start by introducing yourself so speakers know who you are. We also ask them to state what component they are from, component or state. So I'm Lynn Rivers from New York would be how I would start. And you must be recognized in order to speak. There are three instances, and someone can shout out and not wait to be recognized. Point of order, point of inquiry and point of information, point of order. They there is shouted out and you are allowed to shout it out if you believe what is happening right now is not following Robert's rules of order. We are not doing it correctly and we believe that we have to ask the speaker that. Lynn Rivers:                  13:45                So if someone shouts out point of order, all debate stops immediately and the speaker says state your point and that person comes up to the mic and says speaker, I believe it is not in order for this motion to be heard. And there is a reason why we did not have due notice before this motion came. I don't think it's right that we are hearing it and then they would confer and decide whether that member is correct or the speaker rules. No, I do believe it's in order point and I'm sorry I misspoke. Point of inquiry or point of information are very similar. There is no real difference between that. A point of inquiry is sometimes said because people are really wanting data and facts, point of information. People tend to say they just have a question. They don't really understand why the makers of the motion wrote it this way. They don't really understand the intent of the motion. So they are asking a question to better understand the motion point of is just a little more precise if they want to. If someone wants to ask someone else other than the maker of the motions, they understand the motion but their point of inquiry is we'd like to hear from legal counsel is what the maker of the motion asking us to do. Is that legal in all 50 states? So then the speaker will say, is there an objection? Does anyone object to legal counsel addressing the body and answering this person's inquiry? Jenna Kantor:                15:16                Yes. That honestly makes more sense for me. Now listening to that because there was a motion on creating a virtual historical museum and there was a lot of point of inquiries to the board to find out how much work would this be putting on them. Would this be possible for them to take on? And also what would the game plan, where would the financial resources come from? What would we be taking away from? So that makes even more sense. And it's also respectful way to be like, it's just clarification. It's not going to be an attack. We just have a question to like know what this means. And of course, it's pointed in a very professional way of just saying, we really just need to know to get the full picture on if this is a good thing to vote on. So, I'm getting some massive light bulbs here right now. And then I think I want to finish with one more or the Lord knows we could go on forever with Robert's rules. And, honestly, if I really do recommend, yes, it's an 800 page book, but if you're interested in it, read it. Why not? Lynn Rivers:                  16:30                Well, and I'm going to say the caveat. Please don't start with that book because you will run away screaming, but please know, and you can just Google it. Robert's rules for dummies is one version. There are about four levels of books. There's Robert's rules simplified, right? So Google Robert's rules and look at the different books and start with the first one and then move up to the next one. That gets a little deeper into it. If you really think you want to fully understand it, you want to join be a member of the national parliamentarian society. That's when you buy the 11th edition of Robert's rules. Nearly revised. Yes. Jenna Kantor:                17:17                Awesome. Thank you so much. And See, this is a perfect example. Why bring the expert on to help? Correct me as I'm going, why don't we just do this? You're like, Whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa. Well, thank you for helping prevent people from walking away and pulling their hair out. Trying to read it going, oh, I give up. So that's good. I love those dummy books. Those are amazing, Lynn Rivers:                  17:36                I guess. But I just want to say the dummy books are not always helpful. Right. But I can assure you for Roberts rules, that book is a great start. If you just want to be able to be a voice at a meeting, not necessarily run one yet. You know, you just want, you want to write a motion, you want to get up and state your opinion and don't want to look foolish. Start with Robert's rules of order for dummies. Jenna Kantor:                18:03                Love it. Love it. Oh, I've been forgetting what my last, Oh yes. So for those who don't know, so at the house of delegates, I'm not sure if this is elsewhere, so you can definitely clarify this, Lynn. So at that house, all the people who are elected delegates sit in, I want to say an organized clump with their states and everything. But then there can be guests attending the event and they are sitting in the gallery in the back. And these are, it's separated in the back of the room. Is it true that they can come up and say point of order or speak to a motion or ask a question and so on and following Robert's rules and when or how, if that is appropriate? Is it appropriate? Lynn Rivers:                  18:49                Yeah, no, that's a good question. And the short answer is no. A guest in the gallery does not have the right to state point of order. Point of inquiry, they cannot shut out. But with the permission of the group permission has to be asked, can a guest speak? So guests can be invited to speak. A guest in the gallery can ask a member of the group to request permission for them to speak. So, so there's two things. There may be a member in the audience that knows there's a lawyer in the audience or in the gallery and they may initiate the request, but the lawyer may be sitting there antsy thinking, I have something to contribute. There are guests in the gallery. They are allowed to walk up to a member and say, would you ask the speaker of the House to request permission for me to speak? Because I have something to say. And almost always the body would say yes. If someone really wants to speak. I've never seen a guest be denied, but there must be permission given. Jenna Kantor:                20:07                Thank you. That's very helpful. Well, me as a performer first I see this mic sitting in front of us that's clearly not pointing to the people. You know, anybody sitting in amongst the delegates. And I remember staring and going, I mean, do they want us to sing? What is this opportunity? This mic Beholdeth on us? So no, they give them one for clarifying. But thank you Lynn, thank you so much for coming on and clarifying. Just even giving people a little glimpse of what Robert's rules is and just really learning how valuable it is. I think this will be such a good thing for so many, even experienced physical therapists to really know more of and understand what goes on behind the scenes and why we are following such rules. I'm new to this, but honestly, I really do believe in them because it is not easy to have these hard discussions in a nice manner. Jenna Kantor:                21:01                You don't want to leave pissed off. You want to leave like, okay, that was fair. That was a discussion. I can see why we might be moving a little slowly on this matter or why we might move quickly on this matter. It was eye opening in a very positive way. So I was wondering, Lynn, if people wanted to reach out to you or find you to learn more or maybe even get more guidance if they start finding themselves passionate about getting much more involved in this whole parliamentary process, how could they find you? Lynn Rivers:                  21:31                Thanks Jenna. Well, I'm in Buffalo, New York at D’Youville College and I am happy to share my email. It is riversl@dyc.edu. Jenna Kantor:                21:48                Thank you so much for coming on.     Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!

On this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Jenna Kantor guests hosts and interviews Megan Sliski and James Nowak on the New York Physical Therapy Association Student Special Interest Group. Megan is the NYPTA SSIG President, National Student Conclave Project Committee Chair and NYPTA Central District Conclave Committee Chair. James is the NYPTA SSIG Vice President. In this episode, we discuss: -The roles and responsibilities of the President and Vice President of the NYPTA SSIG -A few of the highlights and accomplishments of the SSIG this term -What Megan and James look forward to in their future leadership roles -And so much more!   Resources: NYPTA SSIG Website Megan Sliski Twitter James Nowak Twitter                                                                      For more information on Megan: Favorite PT Resource: PT Now School: Utica College: DPT 2020; Utica College: Health Studies, Healthcare Ethics “I’m excited to see the team grow & work together to create opportunities for DPT/PTA students around New York.”   For more information on James: Favorite PT Resource: New Grad PT School: Utica College: DPT 2021; Utica College: Health Studies “I’m so excited to be a part of a growing team that has the opportunity to truly enhance the student physical therapy experience in New York State.”   For more information on Jenna: Jenna Kantor (co-founder) is a bubbly and energetic girl who was born and raised in Petaluma, California. Growing up, she trained and performed ballet throughout the United States. After earning a BA in Dance and Drama at the University of California, Irvine, she worked professionally in musical theatre for 15+ years with tours, regional theatres, & overseas (www.jennakantor.com) until she found herself ready to move onto a new chapter in her life – a career in Physical Therapy. Jenna is currently in her 3rd year at Columbia University’s Physical Therapy Program. She is also a co-founder of the podcast, “Physiotherapy Performance Perspectives,” has an evidence-based monthly youtube series titled “Injury Prevention for Dancers,” is a NY SSIG Co-Founder, NYPTA Student Conclave 2017 Development Team, works with the NYPTA Greater New York Legislative Task Force and is the NYPTA Public Policy Committee Student Liaison. Jenna aspires to be a physical therapist for amateur and professional performers to help ensure long, healthy careers. To learn more, please check out her website: www.jennafkantor.wixsite.com/jkpt   Read the full transcript below: Jenna Kantor:                00:00                Hello, this is Jenna Kantor here with healthy, wealthy and smart. And I'm here to interview Megan Sliski and James Nowak. First of all, thank you so much for coming on and agreeing to speak about drum roll please. The student's special interest group. You're here in New York and you two are a power duo and Megan here is the president and James is the vice president and you're halfway through now. Is that where you're at? About halfway through. So I would love for those who don't know, when people say, what does this SSIG do? That’s the student special interest group. Could you start from the elections? Don't worry about taking me through the whole year. I'll ask you questions as we go through. So you got elected. What happens next? I'm going to hand it to Megan and then when you need help you can pass it over to James. Megan Sliski:                00:57                So when we first got elected, Jenna, a lot of it was just trying to figure out what the dynamic of the new team was going to be and how we were going to encompass the goals of the SSIG into the individuals that we were introducing into the SSIG. And so the beginning of the term involved a lot of transitioning and a lot of, of trying to make sense of, you know, what we were going to do and how we were going to progress forward. And the SSIG being just only in its infancy, only two years old at this point. You know, we had a lot to consider. We had to, to figure out, you know, what had worked the previous year, what hadn't worked, how are we going to move forward? How are we going to make this organization successful? How are we going to pair with the NYPTA and, and really make this an organization that was going to succeed. Megan Sliski:                01:44                And so at the beginning we really focused on trying to get to know each officer individually as well as trying to get to know the positions individually. And so the nominating committee chair from last year did a wonderful job slating candidates. And we were very fortunate that the candidates that we had were so wonderful and that all of the individuals who are elected were just so great for their positions. And you know, we're really lucky for that. And so what we did was move forward. We got to know the individuals on an individual basis and we figured out how we were going to make the organization work for us. That being said, you know, there were times where there were hurdles, but when aren't there hurdles will a new organization, especially when the organizations only in it’s second year. And we were fortunate enough that, you know, James and I actually go to the same school. Megan Sliski:                02:32                And so we were able to meet almost weekly to talk about some of the challenges we were having in some of the successes and how we were going to make sure that the successes continued. But at the same time, how are we going to approach the challenges that we were having? Again, with it being a new organization. And I happen to think that we're very lucky that James and I went to the same school because in the second year of this organization, we were able to work through some things that were a bit challenging that we hadn't maybe thought about before, that maybe weren't issues the year before. And I think that we've been very lucky so far with the caliber of people that we've had and the team that we've had. And I think that the rest of the year it's going to be so wonderful. I love that. Jenna Kantor:                                        So, James, for you, when you got elected, what happened? Was there a meeting? Was there, I mean, you already knew Megan, I'm assuming. I would love to know. James Nowak:               03:26                It's actually a really funny story. So I'm wrapping up in my first year of DPT school and I remember, It's the fall with heavy musculoskeletal stuff. And then this girl by the name of Megan comes in and does a little introduction on this state organization, state student special interest group called the NYPTA SSIG. And immediately within, probably within a couple of minutes of her presenting it, I said, oh my God, this like, like this is for me, this is what I want to be a part of. And at the time, I probably saw Megan around a little bit, but I had never talked to her. And I gathered up the courage and I introduced myself and I said, you know, this right here is something I want to be a part of. James Nowak:               04:13                I want to make a difference, not only at my school, but on the state level I want to interact with students and professionals both throughout the state, you know. And so I said, I went up to her and I said, how do I get involved? And then she kind of talked me through the election process and how that was gonna be coming up. She did a little presentation right before elections ran. And so from there I decided to apply. And thankfully I got slated. Luckily, luckily enough, I got elected as the vice president. And I was very, very thankful for that. And I think my process after that really my first initial thought was, okay, so now I'm a part of the state organizations, such a phenomenal opportunity. I wanna be able to work with students throughout the state. James Nowak:               04:58                I'm here in central New York. You know, if you think of a map of New York state, you put a dot right in the middle. That's where I am. And I'm going to get to work with people who are all the way down south in the city and all the way up towards Canada. And getting to being able to really get the wealth of knowledge and experience from them. It was very exciting to me. I hadn't had the opportunity to interact with the students yet. So I think my first thing was really getting to know my team, you know, getting to know the people who were elected. So initially it was phone calls, just to get to know them. Eventually as the year turned to the start of our term. James Nowak:               05:41                We had a nice transitional meeting, so we had a transitional meaning from our board from the previous year and the people who are elected for this year that we're currently in. And that it wasn't just a phone call on the phone, it was face to face through the computer. Really, it's almost like Skype, but they use, it's a platform called goto meetings that we use. And I got to see the past president of the SSIG and I got to see all the people that I was working with throughout the year and it was such a unique opportunity to be able to interact on that level. Even though I'm sitting in my apartment in Utica, New York, I got to talk with students who were from, you know, places like Columbia all the way down in the city. And that was such a unique opportunity. Jenna Kantor:                06:25                I love that. So for you, James, what have you been doing? Cause you look over all the regional reps. So for those who don't know, I was part of the SSIG, so I'll educate you guys on this. So there are regions within New York in which there is a student that represents several schools and we'll handle the communications with several schools because New York is huge and we have a lot of schools here. So when you're working with the regional reps, how often do you meet and how do you run those meetings? James Nowak:               07:00                So I think that's a great question Jenna. As of right now, we try and meet on a monthly basis. And with that being said, coming up towards our midterm here where, you know, something we really put at the forefront is getting immediate feedback on things and we're going to get feedback from students and see is that something that's working? Is this something that's not working? You know? So that's something we're going to see. But as of right now, that's kinda how we do things and enables us to really, on a monthly basis be able to say, okay, so these are the things we're working on. How can we contribute? How can the representatives throughout the state really add various ideas to your advocacy dinner? Let's say for example, that you're planning, you know, how can we bolster this? How can we support you to make this a reality? Jenna Kantor:                08:11                I love that. I love that. So they're not thrown to the wolves. Megan, for you, we went a little bit backwards because I jumped to the interactions with the regional reps. You're working with the board. So I always forget because there's the main board and then there's the extension people. What are the terms? The advisors and the advisory panel. I should know this because I was on the advisory panel but, but so in these meetings with the advocacy chair, somebody who's in charge of volunteering and somebody who's in charge of events. What do you guys discuss or what even did you guys discuss and how was it passed along to James to be passed along to the regional reps? I mean just throwing out 5 million ideas. Megan Sliski:                08:56                So I think that that was something that was a challenge last year. We were trying to work through how do we communicate from the executive board and advisory panel to the Board of Representatives. And that's something that James and I did not take very lightly this year. We worked very hard to figure out how we were going to communicate with the board representatives. The Board of Representatives and the liaisons are our main contact with the schools. And without them, our structure falls apart. We need them, we need the communication with them. They need to know what's going on. And so the way that we worked through this was yes, we had our executive board meetings where the executive board talked with the advisory panel and we figured out the plans for everything and we figured out, you know, what we were going to do for the rest of the term or even for just the upcoming months. Megan Sliski:                09:53                Not even extending until the end of the term and just focusing on the now. So we would talk through that. But what we added this year, Jenna, that I think you'd be very happy to hear is that the board of Representatives were invited to every single executive board meeting. And so not only do they know what's going on at the executive board meetings, they have active voices in what's going on at the executive board meetings. So the board of reps have become this voice for us, the voice of we know what's going on in this region, we understand our schools, we can give you the information that you need to help the SSIG be successful right now in these regions, in these schools. And I think that that was what was crucial and that's what we added in, that's really been beneficial to our organization is that we've been able to encompass all of our officers and we've been able to involve all of those officers in the decisions and we've been able to hear all the different perspectives and I think that's been great. Jenna Kantor:                10:55                How did you narrow down exactly what you were going to be doing this year, Aka advocacy dinners or even conclaves? Megan Sliski:                                        We haven't actually, we haven't narrowed that down and I think that maybe that's one of our strengths is that we're trying to figure things out as we go. I talked earlier in the podcast about how this organization is in its infancy and how we don't actually know exactly where it's going. And I think maybe that's the best part of this organization right now is that we don't know. You know, so we've thrown off ideas, we've talked, we figured out what everyone's strengths are. We figured out where we can go with the ideas that we have. And from that we've decided that, you know, we have a very strong advocacy chair who's really great at working with the student assembly and working with you as the past advocacy chair. Megan Sliski:                11:47                She's had wonderful mentorships. Which I can say for a lot of our officers, actually all of our officers, they've had wonderful mentorship to be able to guide them to what we've done now. I think that talking about the strength and talking about, you know, what succeeded last year, you know, what we can do better from last year. We had such a strong board last year and they left us with such monumentous advice and you guys were so wonderful in guiding us to where we needed to be for the next year. And we've taken that and we've run with it, you know, and everyday we may not have the answer to what we're doing tomorrow, but I think that right now the plans that we have in place are wonderful and I think they're great for enhancing the student experience. Megan Sliski:                12:36                And I think that as the term continues, we're just going to keep coming up with more ideas and we're just going to be able to keep invigorating students to be able to get involved with the special interest group. And personally, that's what I love about it. I think that every day we just grow more and more as an organization and I love that. Jenna Kantor:                                        So what have you guys accomplished this year so far? You share some and you share some split the mic. Megan Sliski:                                        So I’ll start. I don't want to sell so much of James’ thunder, but I think so far one of the wonderful things that we've come up with is that we've voted in the establishment of an advocacy task force. And we've also voted in the establishment of a service task force. Megan Sliski:                13:21                The advocacy task force is going to promote legislation nationally and statewide to help students become more informed on the issues that really pertain to us as physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. And the service committee, the service Task Force, I'm sorry I should use the right language, is going to really focus on helping our service chair with implementing a really great day of service project. Something that we really hold to high standards in New York state. And I am so excited to see what they accomplish. So I'll give the mic to James and I’ll let him talk about more of our successes. James Nowak:               13:55                Well, without further ado, so I think really two things stand out to me early on. One first is it's really a continuation of last year and it's really implementing the advocacy dinners. We've really tried to put a focus on students networking not only with themselves but with professionals as well too, to really advocate for our profession out always. PTs with PTAs as well with one common goal of, educating folks, educating just our regular public along with educating our legislators. You know, that's put a focus on is initially, you know, extending that to things such as lobby day.  And really just letting students know that, hey, this is something, you know, your classroom education has relied on. It's very important, but you also should be concerned about some of the legislative issues that are going on cause it's really going to impact your future. James Nowak:               14:48                So we've already had a couple of advocacy dinners. We've had some standout speakers such as former NYPTA president, Dr. Patrick VanBeveren. He gave a phenomenal presentation at Utica College. And really I want to say with that is a huge shout out, not only to our advocacy chair Liping Li for, for really making these things happen, but also, our regional representatives, down to the liaisons at each individual school. Really Planning and being our boots on the ground. We're making these things happen. They did a phenomenal job. And I would say our second accomplishment of this year, which I really feel strongly about is connecting with the NYPTA and specifically the NYPTA districts. Something we've really made a push for is to start to really try in and promote similar events, you know, and get students involved in mingling with the professionals in their various regions. We had our regional representatives actually reach out to the district chairs and the NYPTA and really trying to foster that relationship. So then you know, in the future we have that great connection with professionals who are in the field, and that will really provide students with phenomenal networking opportunities that they might not be able to get at their individual programs, but they can receive that from us. Jenna Kantor:                16:16                I freaking love that. Okay. So I am going to move you both forward into the future. The future of when your term ends. What are you going to miss most? Megan Sliski:                16:36                I think what I'm going to miss the most is being able to inspire the students in New York from my leadership position as the president. I'm going to miss talking with them on a weekly basis and you know, hearing their thoughts and hearing their opinions on how we're going to better things for the physical therapy profession in New York state. But I say I'm going to miss that. Although I have a feeling that those relationships aren't going anywhere and I have a feeling that knowing myself, I'm still going to be reaching out and talking to all of those individuals I think I’m going to miss inspiring the team. I think I'm going to miss the SSIG. This being my second year involved I think the SSIG has really given me an opportunity to grow and I think it's helped me realize who I am as a person and who I want to be as a professional. And although I'm eternally grateful to the SSIG for what it's given me in my role as a graduate student, I'm gonna miss that. I think I'm gonna Really Miss Interacting with the people that I've met, but I also know that that's not the end of what I plan to do. And although it'll be a little bit of a bittersweet ending, I'm excited for what comes after the SSIG for me. James Nowak:               17:58                Just got to wipe away my tears after that one. I don’t know how I’m going to follow that. What I think really going off what Megan was saying, our organization, one of the things were really true is we try and do is deliver the experiences to students throughout the state. And that I think I would miss a lot is hearing feedback from schools saying, did you know, did you like this? You know, and stuff like that. And really being able to implement things that, you know, and give students the experiences that they might not be necessarily getting in the classroom directly. But I think just Kinda like what Megan was saying, working with the team, you know, when you're in an organization like this and you're able to network with students throughout the state, you really do build close bonds, you know, and there's something about that atmosphere of, you know, coming together, collaborating, sort of to deliver those experiences and really make a difference. You know, what we're doing here is we are inspiring and we are educating the future professionals of our field and to really be at the forefront of that is something that I think I'd miss greatly. Megan Sliski:                19:09                I want to comment James on what you just said. So I happen to think that our dynamic duo of leading a team isn't quite over yet. And so our sounding all somber here and sad about leaving, I have a feeling that James and I are going to continue our little teamwork and leading teams and things are just going to get a little bit better. So look out for the dynamic duo. Jenna Kantor:                                        I love it. Well, thank you so much dynamic duo for coming on. Take care everyone. Thanks for tuning in.     Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!

We went back to Utica College in NY as part of a student conclave event with the NYPTA. 4 guests were set but we had a last min addition who brought the fire as always.

On this episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Jenna Kantor guest hosts and interviews Jim Dunleavy on the New York House of Delegates.  Jim Dunleavy is Chief Delegate of the New York Physical Therapy Association Chapter.  James Dunleavy graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Health Education from Manhattan College in 1976. He received a P.T. Certification in 1977, followed by his MS. P.T. in 1983 from Columbia University. James was a Co-founder and acted as its first President of the Acute Care Section from 1992-1997. He served as an APTA Director from 1998-2004 and received the APTA‘s Lucy Blair Service Award in 2005. Currently, James is the President of the New York Physical Therapy Association, an office he took in 2006. In this episode, we discuss: -What is a motion? -An overview of how the delegate assembly functions -Jim’s advice for new graduates who are looking to get involved in professional organizations -And so much more!   Resources: Jim Dunleavy Twitter New York Physical Therapy Association   For more information on Jim: APTA spokesman James M. Dunleavy is administrative director of Rehabilitation Services at Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He also serves as adjunct faculty in the Transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Rutgers University. As an active member of APTA, he founded the association’s Academy of Acute Care Physical Therapy and served as its president for 5 years. He has held various volunteer positions within the association, including serving as a director on the APTA Board of Directors. Dunleavy also has held many volunteer leadership positions on APTA’s New York Chapter Board of Directors, including treasurer, district chair, district director, and president. In 2005 he received APTA’s Lucy Blair Service Award. He was the first recipient of APTA’s Acute Care Section Leadership Award, now named after him. He received a bachelor’s degree in education from Manhattan College, a master’s degree in physical therapy from Columbia University, and a doctor of physical  therapy degree from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions.   For more information on Jenna: Jenna Kantor (co-founder) is a bubbly and energetic girl who was born and raised in Petaluma, California. Growing up, she trained and performed ballet throughout the United States. After earning a BA in Dance and Drama at the University of California, Irvine, she worked professionally in musical theatre for 15+ years with tours, regional theatres, & overseas (www.jennakantor.com) until she found herself ready to move onto a new chapter in her life – a career in Physical Therapy. Jenna is currently in her 3rd year at Columbia University’s Physical Therapy Program. She is also a co-founder of the podcast, “Physiotherapy Performance Perspectives,” has an evidence-based monthly youtube series titled “Injury Prevention for Dancers,” is a NY SSIG Co-Founder, NYPTA Student Conclave 2017 Development Team, works with the NYPTA Greater New York Legislative Task Force and is the NYPTA Public Policy Committee Student Liaison. Jenna aspires to be a physical therapist for amateur and professional performers to help ensure long, healthy careers. To learn more, please check out her website: www.jennafkantor.wixsite.com/jkpt   Read the full transcript below: Jenna Kantor:                00:00                Hello, this is Jenna Kantor with Jim Dunleavy who is the NYPTA chief delegate. And I am very excited to be interviewing this morning. So first of all, thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed on the wonderful, healthy, wealthy and smart. So delegate, chief delegate. Would you mind explaining what that is for anyone who does not know and what that is related to within the New York Physical Therapy Association? Jim Dunleavy:               00:30                Well, the chief delegate actually leads the delegation from New York to the national house of delegates each year. I'm basically the organizer. I do the assignments of motions. I hold webinars and phone calls with the delegates during the course of the year to get them up to speed with the issues that are facing us that are brought before the house of delegates each June. Jenna Kantor:                00:58                Yeah, it's excellent. And I'm on that email list and so I'm always just going reading, having different physical therapists help transcribe it for me. So thank you, you just are so good at keeping us up to date with that. So for you, I'm just wondering on a weekly basis, how much time do you need to put into your job? Jim Dunleavy:               01:17                I would say it varies. It gets more as we get closer to the house of delegates each June. The APTA has gone through kind of a metamorphosis and has created almost a year round type of governance process. So, the motions are starting to be brought out in concept form, usually early in the fall. In the past it's just been we get it in March, we read it, we go to the house, that's it. But now we have to really look at it almost as a year round job to keep people on top of it. Make sure we see what issues are coming possibly before the house. And giving our input from New York as to how we feel about these motion concepts and then the full blown motion will affect us in New York. Jenna Kantor:                02:15                So when you're saying motion, what do you mean by motion? Is that a new law? What is that? Jim Dunleavy:               02:20                We run a house of delegates. It's similar to a mini Congress or a mini house of Representatives. And so the issues that come before that house have to be in the form of a motion, which is a clearly defined statement, whether it be a policy, whether it be charging the APTA to do something, whether it be a philosophical or sociological position. And the group will review it, they will discuss it, they will argue about it and then they will vote on that motion. Jenna Kantor:                02:54                Oh, so it's like when it goes to the Senate or Congress. So if I was to think of the school house rock video where they're singing, I'm just a bill. Do you like that reference? Yes, but honestly, that's where my brain needs to go cause I'm massive beginner with this. So I right now I'm an alternate, which I'm very just honored to even be an alternate for the possibility of going. So I was wondering what is it like, let's say day one at the delegate assembly? Is it just people just kind of, you know, is it, how are things brought in order? Is there an introduction? Are there, is there a ceremony with candles and, and you know, it was some sort of like traditional dance. What happens on day one at the delegate assembly? Jim Dunleavy:               03:49                The candles and the dancing, that's a good idea. Maybe we'll get them going a little bit more. First two things. One, you mentioned the term delegate assembly. The delegate assembly is actually New York's own little congress, little house of Representatives. What I'm chief delegate of is the delegation of New York that goes to the national house of delegates. So in New York, we're a little different than other states. We have 10 districts. We have representatives from each of those districts come to our delegate assembly, usually in April or May, where we review all the things that are going to come before the house of delegates plus vote on any bylaw changes or other issues that are going on in New York state alone. In terms of how it's structured, you have delegates are voted upon to go to the house of delegates by our delegate assembly. Jim Dunleavy:               04:51                So that's one set. Then in addition, each district has the ability to designate one person. So there's 10 and then whatever is left in the order of the voting in the delegate assembly, those people are on our alternate list. So, believe me, it happens every year. We have people who drop out for various reasons. In fact, I have one right now that I have to replace, so I don't know where you were on the list, but you might be getting a call from me later. I have to keep track of that and I have to constantly update the APTA delegate list and the chapter deligate list. So they get all the information that they need either as now an active delegate and not an alternate. Jenna Kantor:                05:44                If somebody was an alternate, like my situation and then I'm down at the end of the list. But I'm also, honestly, I really am grateful to be on the list especially as a new Grad. So I'll take it, so if I was able and fortunate enough to, you know, be able to fill in for someone, does that make me for the next year as a regular delegate or am I still considered an alternate? Jim Dunleavy:               06:10                The delegation is a one year service time. So we will vote this coming April I think is the delegate assembly. We will vote for the delegates going to the 2020 house of delegates. This group of delegates that are going to Chicago in June of 2019, they were voted upon last delegate assembly. So it's a one year cycle. We've actually talked about changing that to maybe get a little bit more experience in four people. So we're talking about maybe changing the bylaws to two years of service. I'm not sure yet, but it is a one year service time. Jenna Kantor:                06:58                Okay. Very good to know. Alright, so let's go back to day one. So we're at the house of delegates day one. So apparently there was no dancing ritual.  So what is the order usually on day one at the House of delegates? Jim Dunleavy:               07:24                For the New York chapter, what we usually do is our delegation comes in usually the day before the house opens. And I usually try and hold a, what we call a caucus meeting to just orient everybody, go over any changes that I'm aware of and in any of the motions, prepare the delegates for the next morning, which are the interviews for people running for national office because the house of delegates is the voting body that votes for president, vice president and so on. We have interviews of those candidates all morning and we have I think four rooms or five rooms that we have delegates in who asks these candidates questions, we will then come back as a delegation together. We will talk about the candidates, make our selection and then start to work on the motions. Then after that, usually in the late afternoon, early evening, the house of delegates starts and it's a pretty impressive place if you've never been there because you have over 400 plus of your colleagues from around the country sitting in front of a large dais with the speaker and other officers there. And we run a parliamentary rule meeting with the idea of making the best decisions for the profession in the United States. Jenna Kantor:                08:53                This is honestly very exciting to me as much as I'm calm as I'm saying this, like it's just, it's getting my heart beating and I'm like, I want to be there one day.  This is just a random, silly question, but Lord knows anyone who knows me, I love random silly questions. So if I was to be interviewing for any of these amazing higher positions, that can make a great difference. If I did the splits or broke into a song and dance, would that help my position or possibly pull things back or maybe would you cast me in a Broadway show instead? Jim Dunleavy:               09:24                I'd probably go with the Broadway show. Probably doing the song and dancing in an interview here, I don't think the culture would really take to that very well. I think though that the culture in the interviews is changing with the age of the delegates. We talk a lot about millennials. We talked a lot about all of them, gen x’ers and everything else. And how we have to change our communication style in order to reach out to our newest members and future leaders. I've seen a change in culture and that it's a little bit lighter, but I don't think we're doing the song and dance just yet in the interview process. Jenna Kantor:                10:18                So no Hamilton rap? No, no, no. Okay. Okay, good. Just good to clarify it. In the hallway, right to take care of those nerves. So when going in the rooms, this honestly reminds me cause I have the musical theater background of auditions. It really does. So for you guys on your end, as you are interviewing these people, I mean aside from the buckets of coffee that you're probably having to just stay really focused. You really need to see that people are right for these positions. Do you try to make it a friendly environment or like what kind of environment are you trying to create to help that person who is being interviewed? Jim Dunleavy:               10:59                Well, I think we're trying to make it a level playing field because what we have done is we have agreed to do a set questions in every room so that the delegates that are in each room gets to hear each candidate's answer to the same question. Then each room does have an opportunity to ask some of their own questions. So when I ran for APTA board and I had to do these interviews myself, that was not the case. I had no idea what was going to be thrown at me in terms of questions. You could be asked anything. I think now it's at least fairer, it's a level playing field for the candidates. They know they're not going to get any serious kind of Gotcha questions cause we went through a period of time where people thought that was fun. So I think it's a much easier experience for the candidate then perhaps maybe it was when I ran. I think people still get insights into these people. Jenna Kantor:                12:16                Absolutely. And for working with your team when you are discussing, cause you're saying people are in different rooms, you know, you have the different rooms and are you guys all, is it say Melanie goes in, she gets interviewed in one room. Does she get sent to the next room and the next room? So all three groups interview? Jim Dunleavy:               12:37                Yes. The candidate will get a schedule for the morning, what rooms they have to be in.  So usually very close to each other Jenna Kantor:                12:48                And muscle relaxers. Anything for the nerves, right? Jim Dunleavy:               12:51                Absolutely. Yeah, there is. And there is a candidate's lounge where they set up food and coffee and everything else. So you have a place to go and cry when you mess up in the interview. It really is a very well oiled machine how they do it. So what I'm going to have to do as chief delegate, I'm going to have to basically divide up our delegates equally for each room. And then I'm in one room with what we call the Northeast Caucus, which is all the states, pretty much in the northeast. But they'll be New York delegates probably somewhere in the neighborhood of six or seven, maybe eight in each room. So they can hear the differences in the different questions and then I will bring them all back together after the interview session and go through that and make sure that everybody hears what was said in every room by each one of the candidates. Jenna Kantor:                13:48                Oh, that's so smart. Yeah. I really like how you guys have a system because that's not easy to even develop that system that works for everyone. So I think that's really, really cool how you guys have that organized. So you're done with all these interviews, you have to decide that night for that or was that during the whole weekend that that's part of the house of delegates? Jim Dunleavy:               14:09                It used to be much more laborious until we went to electronic voting. So after the day of our interviews that evening, the house will open and one of the first orders of business is that we will all vote on the candidates. And then at the close of that session, which is usually around eight o'clock that night, the results are posted both outside the house of delegates room. And on these huge screens that we have in the house of delegates proper. Jenna Kantor:                14:40                Wow. Wow. Well organized. So you've done the interviews and now we're at lunch. Jim Dunleavy:               14:49                Up to the interviews, I bring my delegates back to a caucus room that I've got assigned and we start to talk about the candidates and start talking about the interviews. Jenna Kantor:                15:02                Okay. And then after that discussion, what's after that? Jim Dunleavy:               15:07                Then later in the afternoon, we're going to have what we call motion discussion round tables where chief delegates and some delegates if they want to come, can come. But we come and discuss strategy issues and or changes in motions, get more information on particular motions that are going to come before the house. And usually we have two or three of those in the course of the days that we're together. So that once we get to the floor as many of us as possible, have the same information about a particular motion. Jenna Kantor:                15:44                Oh that's so great. So you can get on the same page. That's brilliant. I really liked that. That's so smart. And that's the new thing you were saying. Jim Dunleavy:               15:50                Well we used to do it a different way. We used to have these called motion discussion groups where motions were assigned to a room and then you would run around and trying to listen to the information that way. We're going to try these round tables where I'm assuming it's going to be set up, like each table is going to be a motion and you could go to whatever one you want, and just do that for a period of time. I think that's a good change. Jenna Kantor:                16:18                I love that. I like how you guys are always trying to fix a problem, solve and improve. That's really incredible. And then we get to the meeting after everybody's on the same page. Everyone understands what's going on. Everyone then comes together. There's that vote at the beginning, right, like you said. And then is it all run by Robert's rules? Jim Dunleavy:               16:39                Yes. Everything we do is via Robert's rules. We have a speaker of the House who's basically our facilitator, making sure everything moves forward as quickly and efficiently as possible, but also within the realm of Robert's rules of orders. So everybody is dealt with in a fair way. We don't want people, we have very small states. For example, we have states that may only have two delegates there. New York is a larger state. We have 25 delegates. So if you're looking to influence votes in order to get something passed, you're generally going to try and go to the California's, the New York's, the Illinois’, the Florida’s, the Texas’, to try and garner as many votes as you possibly can for whatever issue you're trying to support. So the smaller states need to have protections. And so I think the caucus process of them being assigned to the caucuses from throughout the United States, they get much better information before they meet because then they're just not talking amongst themselves and they also have the ability to create relationships with some of the larger states. So we all know what everybody is doing. Jenna Kantor:                17:57                What do you mean by caucus? Would you mind defining? Jim Dunleavy:               18:00                There are caucuses set up throughout the United States. The one New York is in is called the northeast caucus. It's actually the oldest. We have states from Maine down to DC, I think it is on the east coast. Jenna Kantor:                18:17                Oh. So it's like a region essentially? Jim Dunleavy:               18:19                It’s a regional Caucus. Now that caucus does not have any authority in terms of voting. We don't block vote. We don't try and get everybody together and vote one way at a particular issue. That's not the purpose of the caucus. The purpose of the caucus is to share information, to perhaps bring a motion concept like I did with the New York motion this year to the caucus to get viewpoints and ideas. And perhaps as a caucus, ask for information, ask for changes in the way we do things, and send that to the house officers. So it's an information gathering, sharing and actually very stimulating meeting. We have one in the fall and we have one in the spring, and we have one here. We had one here the other night, so we're looking I think in March or April to have one. It's up in Vermont, I think. And then the one in the fall, I don't remember where that one is, but basically it is part of a year round governance process where we'll be talking about motion concepts at all of these. Jenna Kantor:                19:38                And for those who don't know, we are actually at the combined sections meeting, which I did not say. So when he's referring to here, he's talking about here in DC 2019. Yes, yes. This is excellent. So during Robert's rules, how was it handled for someone who's new and they're not familiar with what even Robert's rules is? Is there somebody who teaches them when to raise their hand or say a motion or a vote of where somebody to just make sure, for lack of a better word, that they're in line? Jim Dunleavy:               20:16                It can be intimidating the first time for a new delegates especially when they first walk into the house and they see the physical enormity over get it. You don't get a sense of that until you're there. It's also very, I find it very exhilarating to have all our colleagues together in one place. What APTA does, it's a PowerPoint slide presentation to orient new delegates to the process. We have an orientation handbook in New York where I do a conference call and we're probably going to move to a webinar format next time, with all the new delegates each year. So I basically go over what their role is, what to expect, some of the mechanics of what they need to do. And even with that, I know some of them are still not totally clear, we did that in November. And so I'm still getting questions. So, the good part is I'm getting the questions. In the past, I remember when I was a new delegate, we had no such orientation. It was, here you go and you're done and you just deal with it. Jenna Kantor:                21:42                Oh, just praying that you just rose your hand the correct way. Jim Dunleavy:               21:47                Exactly. Right. They do have a lot of resources now. In New York, we usually buddy up, the new delegate with an experienced delegate. So if they feel for whatever reason, they don't feel like you can find me or talk to me, they have this other person that they can reach out to. Jenna Kantor:                22:09                Yeah, that's wonderful. I definitely could see myself wanting to lean over and be like, what are they talking about? And you know, would you mind defining this? So I think that is a great thing that's already in play to get that mentoring. I could definitely imagine myself, and this has been advice from others that the first year, not that  I wouldn't vote on things, but to spend more time just being quiet and listening because there's so much to take in. Would you agree? Jim Dunleavy:               22:37                Absolutely. It takes time to get used to the process. And so you have to, early on as a new delegate, you have to spend your time dealing with the mechanics of what's before you. But there are also situations where new delegates may feel very passionate about a particular issue that's coming before the house. And so how we've done it in our chapter, is we've tried to keep it as open as possible. I do not restrict our delegates from getting up and having their say at the mic. And what I have noticed is I think the newer delegates are much more better equipped, I guess the best way to handle that situation. I know in the past and I was one of them, the first time up to the mic in front of 400 of your closest friends can be a little intimidating. I've seen with our newer delegates, a much higher sense of confidence in and a knowledge base and again, the passion that they bring. I think we're going to have a number of delegates here in New York for many, many years to come that will be great representatives of the chapter. Jenna Kantor:                24:06                I love hearing that. It's very exciting. I'm so grateful to have somebody like you in New York who's really leading us with such clarity. And I just want to thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming on to this podcast because this is going to be a resource that I'm going to be sharing out with people who are interested, a lot of students for sure. Cause I'm definitely, even though I'm still a new Grad so I still have that, you know, flowery perspective. So for you to take the time and sit with me on the last day of CSM when we're very exhausted. I am truly grateful. So thank you Jim Dunleavy for coming on. Do you have any final words of advice you would like to give to anyone regarding the house of delegates? Jim Dunleavy:               24:50                Well, I would just say for everyone to get involved. In New York you have multiple places to get involved. You can get involved at your local district level. That's where I started. Somebody invited me to a meeting and here I am years later doing these types of things and also having served in national office and creating a section. It's been a wonderful, wonderful part of my career. You always get paid back 10 fold, what you give. And so I would say get involved. Call the chapter, call your local district representative, find out when the meeting is locally, and start that process there because the thing that drove me was going to a meeting that a friend brought me to actually when I was in PT school. And I left that meeting thinking I do not want these people making all these decisions without me talking about this. And that was kind of my driver. You know, people have different drivers, but I think get involved because that's the only way the profession is going to move forward. Jenna Kantor:                25:58                Thank you. Thank you so much. Those are excellent words of wisdom. Thank you for coming on.     Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!  

It’s Monday, May 28th--It’s Memorial Day!  Please take a moment to remember all those who have died in military service. We’re excited to be back after our two week break here at Talus Media. It definitely hasn’t been dull--Illinois is now just waiting on the governor’s signature for direct access, the Florida Board of Physical Therapy has put forth a bill that would allow dry needling, New York PTAs now have a full vote in the NYPTA assembly, and CMS put forth a rural initiative. For those who might be considering where to get licensed as the summer NPTE approaches, the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact is growing. This week, correspondent John LaRue is back with John’s Research Corner to discuss Virtual Reality Intervention. Talus Media News is a subsidiary of Talus Media: PT Views & PT News. You can find all interviews mentioned in this newscast on our sister channel, Talus Media Talks. Check us out on Twitter & Facebook @TalusMedia, and head to our website at talusmedia.org for more information.

Debra and I discuss the importance of getting involved with the APTA. We also talk about the NYPTA’s recent lobbying efforts on various topics that impact our everyday lives as PT’s and PTA’s.