Message from the President

NWATA Members:

It has been an incredibly busy time for the NATA over the past few months.  I have a lot of news to share with you.  First of all, the Board of Directors (BOD) accepted the report from the Nomenclature Workgroup and unanimously voted to retain the title of Athletic Training for the profession.  The group completed the most comprehensive study on this topic in the history of the association and determined that although our title is not perfect, that there is no other title available that would be significantly better.  I will be providing more information in Boise about our strategies moving forward. 

One of the recommendations out of the Nomenclature workgroup was to re-brand our marketing strategy with a new logo that has a medical orientation rather than a fitness connotation.  The BOD has adopted a new logo that was intentionally and professionally developed and will be rolled out for the members in Vegas.  Another recommendation of the workgroup (in collaboration with the Vision Quest Strategic workgroup) was to develop a shorter, clearer, more concise definition for the profession.  This “elevator speech” was designed for us to use as we describe who we are and what we do when describing our profession to the general population.  The new version reads:

ATHLETIC TRAINERS (ATs) ARE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS WHO COLLABORATE WITH PHYSICIANS. THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY ATs COMPRISE PREVENTION, EMERGENCY CARE, CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS, THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION AND REHABILITATION OF INJURIES AND MEDICAL CONDITIONS.

Also related to the NATA, we are excited to inform the membership that our national office will be moving to a new location.  We were able to sell our current facility (for a profit) and acquire a modern, safe, new home for our association to continue to grow. This is of critical importance to our staff as the old structure was in need of serious repair and there were significant safety issues as well.  You will see pictures of the new facility during our business meeting in Boise.  We anticipate making the move in July.

We also just completed our most successful youth sports safety summit and were notified today that a piece of federal legislation to provide for the Secondary School Student Athlete Bill of Rights was introduced.  We are excited that the NATA continues to lead the nation in issues related to youth sports and safety. 

On to business related to the District.  Be sure to attend the D10 Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposium in Boise March 15 – 17, 2013.  This meeting is our first attempt to provide interprofessional education in which health care professionals from multiple disciplines participate in collaborative learning.  We have partnered with St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise to accomplish this goal.  We anticipate an exciting, innovative program to meet the academic needs of our members.  The preregistration deadline is March 1.  The local Boise organizing committee always puts on a great meeting. 

In addition we will be honoring former NATA Executive Director Eve Becker-Doyle at the Keynote address on Leadership and in the Annual Business meeting.  She will be awarded Honorary Membership to the NWATA.  This is an honor in which there are only a select few who have been recipients.  There are a number of other critical items on the agenda and I encourage everyone to attend.  We are also calling for volunteers to fill vacancies in the following areas:

Young Professionals Committee – applications due March 1

D 10 Student Senate Mentor – applications due March 1

Ethnic Diversity Advisory Committee – applications due April 1st

If you are interested in representing the NWATA in one of these roles, please submit a letter of interest and current vitae to me as soon as possible.  We hope to have these positions filled soon, and they will officially begin terms in June.  Thanks again to all of you that have so faithfully served our profession in so many different ways!  I am looking forward to seeing you all in March in Boise.

Sincerely,

Russ Richardson

D10 Director