Re: unification--specifically in support of the FL program

Re: unification--specifically in support of the FL program

Anne

3/17/2004

The new school in Florida is not just ABC. It is NCOPE. It is a way to
attract future practitioners for our field. This Univ has distance learning
programs and will use these models to create the P&O program. For all the
people on the list serve who have said that they were unable to leave their
career to receive a quality education-- this is the way of the future. Our
BS NCOPE programs are struggling to fill their slots with qualified
students. How many people in this field have been raised in a mom & pop PO
business and have the desire to continue in the field but real life makes it
difficult to achieve their goal at the highest level. I am have heard
(along with the entire list serve) countless stories of the sacrifices all
of us ABC practitioners have made to attend a program, complete a residency
and then pass the exam. I think the exam was harder 10 years ago than it is
today...is that my sob story. No way. I am a 36 year old female in this
field I would like to see it continue, my future and hopefully the future of
one of my sons is tied to this profession. I was blessed enough to live in
a state where I could attend a P&O program with in-state tuition, I did not
even have to change towns, just had a long commute. There is no surprise
that young practitioners are located around our P&O programs, the ones that
are not home grown O&P are students who were looking for an exciting career
and happened to live near a program.
We need new programs like the FL program. I will send my financial support.
We also need more programs like the GA Masters level program. The GA
program is creating research oriented O&P practitioners so we can begin to
fill our own journals with articles written by Orthotist and Prosthetist,
rather than PTs. Lets build the practitioner of tomorrow and maybe they
will help teach us all a few things.
Anne Pare', CO, LO
UT Southwestern Grad '93
----- Original Message -----
From: R. Pepka < <Email Address Redacted> >
To: < <Email Address Redacted> >
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 8:22 PM
Subject: [OANDP-L] unification


> Luckily I had not yet made my donation to the new ABC P&O school in
Florida,
> when all this hit the fan. When ABC gave away my credential I had to
rethink
> my support for them, and the pathway they told me was so necessary. All
of a
> sudden it not only isn't necessary, you can save time and money and get
the
> $75 special. The school in California is housed by Ossur, the program at
> Newington is ran by Hanger, and after some research, the current funding
for the
> new P&O program in Florida, (almost 3/4 of it anyway) donated by, guess
who,
> Hanger! Is ABC becoming a corporate entity or just really bad at
promoting and
> supporting our professsion.
>
> If you read the ABC website you may find it interesting, not only does ABC
> only charge $75 for my credential, they will also waive annual fees for
2004,
> and not only do you not have to take a test, they waive that fee too!
Funny
> they didn't offer to waive my fee for 2004 or my facility fee for 2004,
did they
> waive yours? The people who have supported them? Why would that be....
> I believe it is very clear that ABC has failed as a leader in the field,
I
> believe unification is needed for our profession and the only way to
achieve
> that is with another entity. Ron Gingras was right on when he called on
the
> Academy to step up and be that next unifying body. Time to quit talking
and
> start doing. We need to put together a meeting for a viable solution.
>
> Paul Weott abcdefghijklmn qrstuvwxyz
>
>