Come Grow with us…
TR licensing in NYS gets closer to the horizon…
NOW IS THE TIME!!!
Or as Vinny would say:
Excelsior…

…HOT OFF THE PRESS…

Our TR Licensing Bill has now been launched in both Houses! We recently received
sponsorship in the NYS Senate, thanks to Senator Andrew Lanza from Staten Island…

Senate Bill # S-6252…The Bill now sits in the RULES COMMITTEE, chaired
by Senator Malcolm Smith from Queens. We need co-sponsors on this Senate Bill…so if anyone knows a State Senator or would like to know one…now it the time to do it!!!

Call he/she up and ask them to co-sponsor the Bill in the Senate and give them the
number…if you are not comfortable calling you can always e-mail them and ask for their support or co-sponsorship…Keep following up with them until they agree!

We also have the Bill in the Assembly sponsored by Assemblyman Rory Lancman /Queens and co-sponsored byAssemblywoman Janel Hyer-Spencer/ Staten Island…
Assembly Bill # A-8073

Use number when calling or e-mailing your Assemblypersons…Currently Assembly Bill is in Higher Education Committee, chaired by Assemblywoman Deborah Glick/ NYC

OUR GOALS:
• Secure another sponsor in Senate
• Get the Bill on the agendas in both Committees
• Have them reviewed and approved quickly through Committees
• Have Bill sent to floors of each House and approved
• Secure final vote from the Governor next year, before he leaves office…making our
Bill a law in NYS!

TO DO LIST:
• Start contacting all your local Senators and Assemblypersons and educating and
securing their on this Bill ASAP

• Secure letters of support from any outside organizations that value your work…e-mail or send them to us and we will forward to proper resources.

• Seek out positive Public Relations opportunities ex. Workshops on TR for other
professionals ex. Nursing, OT, PT etc.; educational articles in local papers, journals
etc.

• Seek out opportunities to educate other CTRS’s and other professional organizations as to why we are doing this and how important it is…

• Please keep us in touch with your contacts through e-mail at LCDCTRS@aol.com or VincentB@vcny.org

As you can see, we as a group have a lot of work to do…

Now is really the Time!

Our Committee and State Recreation organizations are working hard to get this Bill
passed…this is the future of TR…let’s not make it die on the vine!
Now is the time to move forward…

Thanks for your support!
Linda Dianto MS/ CTRS
Vincent Bonadies MS/CTRS

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TR Licensure Committee Update

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RT Licensure Memo to your Legislator Handout

 

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New York State Therapeutic Recreation Licensure Bill Update, July 2009
Letter Campaign A Success!

By Vincent Bonadies, MS, CTRS
NYS TR Licensure Committee Co-Chair

Hello everyone. I hope you are enjoying the summer. Before you know it, the leaves will be turning. Before that happens I thought I would take a few moments and update you on our efforts to get the NYS Therapeutic Licensure Bill (A8073) passed.

First I want to thank everyone who wrote to their assembly members asking them to support the bill. Special thanks to NYSTRA, several of the local TR organizations and NCTRC for getting the word out about the letter campaign. The letters and emails that were sent to our assembly members were a big success! Many RTs informed me about their efforts. I am delighted to tell you that I have recorded over 120 emails and letters to NYS assembly members and I’m sure many other assembly members were contacted without my knowing. On many occasions, the same assembly member was contacted several times about the bill. I am confident to say that if your assembly member didn’t know what therapeutic recreation was, they do now. We caught their attention.

As some of you already know, many assembly members responded in support of the bill. I was forwarded assembly member Andrew Raia’s reply from Karen Nash. His response read:

“Thank you for writing my office in regard to Assembly Bill A.8073, also known as the New York State Recreational therapy Licensing bill. I appreciate hearing from members of the Ninth assembly District as it is important to get community input on important issues.

Recreation therapy is a crucial component of the health care system. It is an important part of the treatment of individuals with injuries, disabilities, and chronic illnesses. Recreational therapists use a variety of therapeutic techniques to help patients develop life skills and become more involved in their communities.

There is no doubt that recreational therapy plays an important role in the care of any patient, as it is vital to improving a patient’s quality of life. Thus, I believe it is critical for individuals seeking to enter the field of Recreational therapy to have the right credentials prior to licensing and to qualify for the occupation through a proper licensing system. That is why I am happy to inform you that I have signed on a prime co-sponsor of this legislation.

Again, thank you for contacting my office on this important issue. Should you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact my office directly”.

What an incredible response in support of not only the bill but also of TR. I, and many of the TR Licensure Committee members, received similar letters in support of the bill. As a result Assembly members Raia, Destito and Hyer-Spencer have signed onto the bill.

However, despite all our efforts, we still have much more work ahead of us. At the present time our bill remains with the Higher Education Committee of the Assembly for their review. Assembly member Deborah Glick, the Chair of the Higher Education Committee sent me this response:

“Thank you for your letter regarding licensing of A8073 which would license recreational therapists. Licensing legislation that comes before the Higher Education Committee gets a thorough investigation as to clarity of bill drafting, effects the legislation would have on the scope of practice of other related groups of professionals, support for and opposition to the proposed licensing, and the opinion of the agency charged with regulating the new profession, the State Department of Education. Staff has not yet completed its preliminary work on this legislation.

Only when their work is completed will I be able to consider placing the bill on the agenda for a meeting of the Higher Education Committee.

I thank you for your interest in this bill. I am as interested as you are in legislation that would protect consumers and provide for real enforcement of the profession.”

In the near future we hope to meet with Assembly member Deborah Glick and convince her of the importance of getting our bill passed.

We also found out that we need to have the bill introduced by the NYS Senate. When I tell you that this endeavor has been a real learning experience, I truly mean it. It is a kind of learning as you go along process. Now that the chaos is finally over at the Senate or so I would like to think.

We can begin to approach NYS Senators to sponsor the bill. So this is where I need your help. If you know of a senator that is sensitive to TR please let me or one of the committee members know. We will certainly give the senator a call.

So the journey continues. We are still hoping that the bill will be passed in 2010. That is, if we have all of our ducks lined up in a row. In the meantime if you have any questions about the bill please don’t hesitate to contact either Linda or I.

Be well and thank you once again for your continued support.
Excelsior,

Vincent Bonadies, MS, CTRS
NYS TR Licensure Committee Co-Chair
Vincentb@vcny.org

Linda Dianto, MS, CTRS
NYS TR Licensure Committee Co-Chair
LCDCTRS@aol.com

 

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THERAPEUTIC RECREATION LICENSURE UPDATE
By Vincent Bonadies, MS, CTRS
RT Licensure Committee Co Chair

(5-18-09) The RT/TR Licensure Committee is pleased to announce that we now have a proposed Bill in the NYS Assembly introduced by Assemblyman Lancman. The Bill is # A08073. This all happened shortly after the NYSTRA Conference where we received lots of feedback re the proposed bill.

WOW! What a conference! Hats off to NYSTRA Conference committee for a great job they did at this year’s conference. The educational sessions were plentiful and informative. Speaking of informative. I would like to share some of discussions that took place at the conference about licensure.

During the conference a lot of people were talking about the RT licensure initiative. That is exactly what we need to do. That is to start the discussion about licensure. One of the concerns involved the ever lasting debate of RT vs. TR. In the current draft of the bill the language of recreational therapy is used quite often. The Recreational Therapy Licensure Committee fully understands that recreation therapy represents a small portion of the field and the practice of therapeutic recreation includes other areas (and growing areas) beyond medical settings. We have looked at this concern closely and revise the bill to make therapeutic recreation a stronger term in the bill.
It was also wonderful to have met Jerry Jordan from Oklahoma at the conference. For those of you who don’t know, Oklahoma is one of several states that are pursing licensure. They appear to be further along in the process than us but he was more than willing to share Oklahoma’s bill with us. Jerry gave us some valuable advice as we move along in getting the bill passed.

Since the conference the bill has been posted in the New York State Assembly for legislators to look at and sign on. I would like to encourage you to take a look at the bill by going to http://assembly.state.ny.us and enter the bill number A08073. The New York State Licensure Committee notice that there were some errors in the bill that needed to be corrected. Don’t be alarmed. Assemblyman Lancman’s office has assured me that the bill can be corrected. Regardless of that the bulk of the bill is correct. Not everything is perfect in the world of politics.

Most importantly, I would like to ask you to begin to talk to other people about our efforts to become licensed in New York State. Begin to talk to other recreation therapists, your co-workers, your colleagues in other allied health care professions, and your consumers about our pursuit towards licensure. START CONTACTING YOUR LEGISLATOR AND ASK THEM TO SIGN ON AND SUPPORT THE BILL. We need to have a large volume of requests sent to our legislators requesting that they sign on to the bill. NYSTRA, METRO and other professional organizations will be sending out emails to their members with a sample letter to send to our legislators so we can get the ball rolling. It is vital that we get the word out and contact our legislators.

In the weeks to come, we would be eager to here your comments. Let us know which assembly members were contacted and the results. Please don’t hesitate to contact Linda or myself if you need some help to get the conversation started. We will be more than delighted to help.

So as we move towards licensure I will be updating you on our progress either through emails or postings like this one on the NYSTRA and METRO websites. In the meantime, make sure you call, visit or email your assemblyman and request that he sign on and support Bill # A08073, the RT Licensure Bill.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Excelsior!
Vincent Bonadies, MS, CTRS
RT Licensure Committee Co Chair
vincentb@vcny.org
Linda Dianto, MS, CTRS
RT Licensure Committee Co Chair
Ldianto@svcmcny.org