Re: CPs/OPs As Professionals

Re: CPs/OPs As Professionals

Joe Frey

10/12/2006

Dear Listserv,

I believe applause is in order here, very well said Hudaa. Stop the
bickering move together and find a consolidated voice to conquer the
issues on the horizon. Unification and one direction together is the
way to prevent being run over by an approaching truck!

Joe Frey
Amputee

-----Original Message-----
From: Orthotics and Prosthetics List [mailto:<Email Address Redacted>] On
Behalf Of Hudaa
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 4:24 AM
To: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: [OANDP-L] CPs/OPs As Professionals

Dear List,

I have been an amputee for almost 26 years. I have also been fortunate
enough enough to be a model at Century College Prosthetic School for the
past 25 years.

I have had both horrible and superb CPs and students make my sockets and
harnesses, both for my own use and as a model. As a retired health care
professional (Nuclear Medicine Technologist since 1967), I find your
discussion of what constitutes a professional in your field a story
that
has been ongoing in health care since before OSHA began it's regulations
about 1970. The insurance companies then began to regulate what
would
constitute appropriate patient care, nurses began getting more education
in
order to get more money, and other professionals did the same. The
more
letters after your name has become the standard of how much income you
could
earn. Hospitals are now marketing their services to attract more
patients.
The increasing requirement of more education and now licensure does NOT
make
a professional, in my view.

A true professional is one who does his very best for his/her patient.
Pieces of paper are not the requirement. A love of the service you
provide
is.

I am very aware that in the real world, you are facing more and more
regulations and having to spend more and more time and money fulfilling
those requirements. I also know of the difficult fight now arising to
keep
independent providers from being gobbled up by large corporate
interests.

Please, please, please stop the bickering and put your energy into what
is
necessary to build your profession into the respected field that it
should
be. The infighting and name calling does no one any good except those
who
want to push you to the side for their own benefit, eg, physical
therapists.
This should not be a field in which your income is the primary reason to
be
a CP or OP.

I admit that I am not an accomplished writer, but I do have some
knowledge
of what constitutes a true professional. And as an amputee, I have great
interest in keeping you from disappearing as providers of my need to
live a
comfortable and productive life.

Hudaa Nielsen, Amputee