Just returned from a great vacation of camping amongst cedar trees hiding from the 30+ degree weather on the Island. I hope the rest of you have had a chance to take a break as well!
The Update Symposium 2011 is starting to take shape, so remember to save February 28th and March 1st. We are still ironing out some of the videoconference availability details so will keep you posted as new developments arise. We have confirmed several speakers:
Ellen Pope – Ellen is an OT working at the University of Kansas, and she recently presented at the AOTA annual conference. Ellen is going to share with us her research on “Applying Interdisciplinary Evidence-Based Research to Early Intervention Practices.”
Nancy Thomas-Stonell – Nancy is a SLP from the Bloorview Research Institute. She will be sharing with us her latest research on the FOCUS, a communication outcome measure for preschool children.
Annette Majnemer – Annette is an OT professor at McGill University. Her area of expertise is ‘Leisure and life quality in children with Cerebral Palsy.’
We are also in the process of lining up a speaker to talk about the MINT – Motivational Interviewing Technique, and are in the process of securing a couple more presenters to round out the 2 days.
In addition we are organizing a panel presentation in the area of innovative practice, and a couple of ‘Community of Practice’ opportunities where we break out into profession specific groups and take advantage of some of our local expertise. We will also have poster presentations for all of you to share what you have been up to as well.
Details such as a call for posters and registration information will soon reach your inboxes early this Fall!
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I realize the majority of you are currently or about to take some well earned time off….enjoy! A few things to ponder while sitting on a beach or relaxing in a hammock during the dog days of summer:
– February 28th and March 1st, 2011. These are the dates for the 2011 Paediatric Update Symposium in Vancouver, BC. Save these dates! We will have speakers from across Canada and the U.S, poster presentations, practice panels, profession specific break-out sessions, and much more! Further details to be released this fall.
– Fall Webinar series: We are working on lining up Jill Zwicker for an update on her research into Developmental Coordination Disorder, Patricia Barrett to talk about the Children’s Medical Equipment Loan program, and possibly some online guided tours on the therapybc website and the CDR website (www.childdevelopment.ca). Stay tuned for dates and times!
– Our eLibrary has been up and running for a couple of months now, but we haven’t heard much feedback from you yet. If you get the chance this summer please visit http://www.therapybc.ca/eLibrary. We would love to hear what you think!
– Looking for some summer course opportunities? There are plenty available…Brain Development and Learning conference July 16-20th in Vancouver, Assessment and Treatment of Executive Functioning July 16/17th in Vancouver, and Kim Barthel’s Moving to Higher Ground summer workshop in Cultus Lake in August. Visit the upcoming events box on the therapybc homepage for registration details!
Enjoy the summer!
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It has been a wet May here in BC but at least our gardens (and forests!) have appreciated the moisture. For those of you considering moving to BC to work in paediatrics do not let a little rain discourage you as we will soon all be basking in a beautiful BC summer!
The UBC OT/PT job fair is June 3rd. Therapybc will be there to represent all public sector employers with job postings on the website, and to spread the word regarding the many projects and initiatives of the Office of the PPTRRC. I am anticipating plenty of interest in paediatric work environments from this group of graduates.
Kathy Davidson, a BC physiotherapist working in paediatrics (and PABC award winner!) has had several therapists step forward to be involved in her Points-Based Caseload Management Tool research but still needs more participants. Please consider taking the time to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of manageable workloads. We want to provide therapists, employers, funding sources, and other stakeholders with as many resources as possible in this critical area. Kathy is looking for OTs, PTs, and SLPs working in early intervention, and she can be reached at 250.494.8409 or via email at kathydavidson1@gmail.com.
Please take some time to check out our latest resource, the eLibrary. We are very excited about this project and would love to hear some feedback from all of you. Let us know if you find it useful and what type of resources you feel are missing. My steering committee will be reviewing feedback several times a year and adding to the eLibrary as our resources allow. You can find the eLibrary here: http://www.therapybc.ca/eLibrary.
I also have good news for those of you searching for an Introduction to the Neuro-Developmental Treatment approach course! You can find one this November in Williams Lake! The course will be presented by Kim Barthel. Visit the upcoming events board on the therapybc homepage for full details.
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Recently returned from a successful trip to Ontario where we managed to connect with more than 150 OTs, PTs, and SLPs. Plenty of interest in coming to BC to work! This month we are also supplying items for the delegate kit bags at both the CASLPA annual conference in Whitehorse, and the CAOT national conference in Halifax. If you are in attendance keep your eyes open for a one-page insert and a fancy-schmancy therapybc keychain…
Kathy Davidson is now recruiting for participants for the second phase of her research into a Points-Based Caseload Management Tool. She is looking for OTs, PTs, and SLPs working in early intervention who are interested in contributing to the body of knowledge in the area of manageable workloads. Please participate and help us to grow the references and resources in the area of workload management! Contact Kathy at 250-494-8409 or kathydavidson1@gmail.com for more information.
Plenty in store for May…I’ll be participating in a career fair for aboriginal high school students at UBC-Okanagan, hosting my Steering Committee for the PPTRRC AGM, and we will be offering our second webinar on ‘Effective Literature Search Strategies for Therapists Working in Paediatrics.’ It’s still not too late to register for the Webinar. Simply email me at consultant@therapybc.ca.
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Ah April…chocolate and spring! What more can one ask for? April is also a spring-board into another fiscal year…annual reports, drafting up a new budget and work plan, etc. Busy, busy, busy as I’m sure many of you can relate to!
We are trying something new this month…venturing out to Ontario to try and convince some therapists to head West. I’ll be attending the McMaster job fair and have a meeting with the University of Toronto SLP graduating class. Really looking forward to the trip, and hope to be able to involve the University of Western Ontario and Queen’s next time I’m out that way.
We are just putting the finishing touches on our latest resource, the eLibrary. We are very excited at the number of excellent forms, hand-outs, and other materials we have been able to compile for BC therapists working with children and youth with special needs. Should be officially launched in mid-April…keep your inbox eyes open (for those of you registered with the site) as details regarding how to access the eLibrary will be located in the final Quarterly Report for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Kudos to Christie Diamond (project lead for the eLibrary), and Richard Watt (therapybc web support) for a fantastic job pulling everything together.
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Hope all of you paediatric therapists out there find the chance to unwind and relax a bit during Spring Break. There is a new resource available…The Clinical Educator Support Document. You can find it by heading to the ‘Clinicians’ or the ‘Employers’ drop down menu and clicking on the ‘Take A Student’ link. The UBC clinical coordinators are getting more and more requests for paediatric placements, so the intent of the document is to try and support those of you stepping forward to supervise a therapy student. Hope you find it useful!
We are rapidly approaching the end of our 2009-2010 PPTRRC annual work plan. The Steering Committee is meeting in early May for our annual AGM, and this is when we finalize the work plan for 2010-2011. Feel free to forward me any ideas/suggestions for next year’s work plan.
The other item I could use some feedback for is the 2011 Paediatric Update Symposium planned for next March. There is already a planning committee busily working away on the details. If you have any suggestions for speakers/topics please forward along. The planning committee meets on a monthly basis, and we are certainly open to your ideas/suggestions.
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Things are definitely a little quieter on the work front the past week or so…Olympic fever perhaps? Great to see some clutch performances by our athletes, and sad to see the hopes and dreams of others not be realized. The physiotherapy association of BC has a great blog set-up so PABC members can share their Olympic experience…check it out: http://sportphysio2010.ca
I’m glad to report the second phase of our eLibrary is progressing well. We are already adding content to the test site and look to be on target for our March 31st launch date. Plenty of great forms, hand-outs, and other resources that should make it much easier for agencies and therapists to create their own…simply take the template and modify to suit your own needs!
We are also putting the final touches on a document to support clinical educators. This spring we are hoping to facilitate clinical educator workshops delivered by the UBC clinical coordinators in regions where there is an interest. If your agency is keen to host such an event please let me know!
Lots of jobs on the Island and in the North region right now…Terrace, Prince George, Victoria, Parksville, Port Hardy…check out the job postings section for full details.
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Phase 2 of our elibrary project is in full swing! Christie Diamond is busy collecting and compiling useful resources that we will post on our website to save you time! Need a template for a form…find it here! What standardized assessment tool would work best for a particular client…find it here! Where can you find sample outcome measures to assist your agency in developing a system that best suits your needs…find it here! We are really excited about this project’s potential, and to make sure we will meet your needs we do need your input. If you have some suggestions of resources you would like to see included, or if you and/or your agency has some fine resources available you would be willing to share with the rest of the province then please connect with Christie via elibraryBC@gmail.com.
We have initiated planning for a Paediatric Update Symposium in spring of 2011. A couple of keen physios have stepped forward to join the group, but we are short of OTs and SLPs. Interested? Then please connect with me at consultant@therapybc.ca. We really want to have a good balance of professions to ensure the program is valuable for all professions. We have just started monthly teleconferences, and there will likely be an hour or so of homework a month. We need your participation to make sure the event is as successful as our 2009 Symposium!
We would love to hear about any paediatric therapist involvement in the Olympics. Are any of you volunteers? Would you be willing to share your experience? I’d love to use the blog as a means of sharing what some of BCs finest are doing to participate in the Olympics. So please forward me your stories and experiences so I can share them with the rest of the provinces paediatric therapy workforce. On a personal note, my Dad and his wife are on the timing committee for the cross-country skiing venue and a great friend of mine is one of the wax technicians for our national women’s cross-country ski team. I’m looking forward to hearing from them throughout the Games.
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There are some exciting developments we are working on this fall/winter. Christie Diamond is the contractor working on Phase 2 of our eLibrary project. She will be creating an online resource for our website that is to include templates, forms, and other tools to assist therapists and administrators in the delivery of paediatric therapy services. The intent is to provide a ‘one-stop shopping’ to save folks time from having to create or seek out their own. She is currently in the information gathering stage, and is keen to connect with therapists and agencies who would like to contribute to the document. The more input we get from you the more relevant and valuable this resource will be, so please don’t hesitate to contact Christie via eLibraryBC@gmail.com!
We are also working on a FREE Webinar for BC paediatric therapists for February 2010. Robert Janke, UBC-Okanagan Librarian, will be taking us through a presentation on effective literature searching skills for health care professionals. We are still working out software and access details, so keep your eyes open for a ’save this date’ announcement.
Speaking of February, on the 24th from 1-4 we are facilitating a videoconference for Interior region therapists. The agenda is still developing, but keep your eyes open for an email with location and final agenda details.
We would also like to support paediatric therapists in BC interested in supervising a student. We are creating a brief document that outlines the recruitment benefits of having students at your agency, and would like to include other information as well such as ‘What to do during downtime’ and ‘Increasing direct therapy opportunities for students.’ If you and your agency have some strategies to address these issues that you are willing to share please send them my way so I can include them in the document (consultant@therapybc.ca). We hope to have this document circulated early in the New Year, at which time we will also help facilitate some clinical educator workshops for paediatric therapists with the UBC clinical coordinators for OT, PT, and SLP.
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Lots of travel the past couple of months. Had the pleasure of connecting with dozens of therapy students…future SLP grads and OT grads at the University of Alberta, and the OT, PT, and SLP classes at UBC. Plenty of interest in paediatrics! The clinical coordinators are reporting a large number of requests for clinical practicums in paediatric environments…in some cases they don’t have enough clinical supervisors and placement opportunities to meet the demand! This fall/winter I’ll be collaborating with the clinical coordinators to devise a strategy to better support paediatric therapists who are taking the time to be clinical supervisors. Keep your inbox eyes peeled for a document/resource this winter.
The other exciting news is we have our first eMentoring dyad up and running! A 2nd year OT working in a small community in the South Okanagan is being mentored by an OT with over 30 years experience currently working in the Fraser Valley. Full details regarding the eMentoring program can be found in the Projects&Initiatives menu on the therapybc home page…check it out.
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