2019 Annual Chapter Meeting Minutes

Published: April 12, 2019

Annual Meeting April 7, 2019

Role Call
Board of Directors
| Greg Hurd (President), Nichole Cross (Board Member), Katie Adams (Board Member), Roxanne Cunningham (Financial Administrator), Brenda Thibault (Secretary)

Committee Chairs | Debbie Baker (Practitioner Education & Development Chair), Tonya Brooks (Membership Experience Chair), Kristen Lutz (Communications Chair) | Jennifer Savage (Elections Coordinator),

Greg: Meeting called to order at 12:34 pm.

  • Approve agenda for Annual Meeting. Motion was made by Nichole Cross and seconded by Patty Jaworski.
  • Board member introductions and President’s address reminded all to thank your hands for all they do for us and for others. Additionally, he reminded us to throw away old ideas and beliefs that no longer serve us.
  • Defining what AMTA does for its members.
  • National Convention in October in Indianapolis, Indiana.
  • Mentioned MTF (Massage Therapy Foundation).
  • Thank you to leadership team and departing Board members and a thank you to the hotel staff for helping us.

Financial Administrator’s Report
Roxanne presented 2019-2020 Financial Report using the slides provided to us by the National AMTA

Intro to Program Chairs
  • Kristen Lutz - Communications - discussed websites newsletters and emails for the chapter
  • Debbie Baker - CEs Sept. 14-15 Joe Muscolino in Springfield present COMT (Clinical Orthopedic Manual Therapy) $175 both days; Dec 7-8 In cooperation with National AMTA, Peter Sanderson “Intro to Myofascial Release”.
  • Tonya Brooks - Membership - 3% increase in members. As of our last report from National, we have 3006 Chapter Members in MA. Tonya spoke of learning what is needed and how to retain and gain more members. She is creating a regional focus with regional key contact people. She is continuing to create a positive member experience.She hopes to survey past volunteers to find best practices what works and what doesn’t.
  • Greg Hurd - Law and Legislation - Committee now includes Lisa Gorman and Matt Olds. Issues that are happening in MA that we are looking at the Bodywork bill, Human trafficking bill, and Massage Therapy as a legitimate non-pharmacological treatment for pain. Our lobbyist, Mark Molloy and Greg Hurd (Chapter President) wrote a letter to the MA Division of Insurance and the MA Health Policy Commission after a new bill about Opioids was passed last August. We just started looking at whether we need regulations for onsite massage.
  • Nichole Cross - Talked about the AOD; the structure, the upcoming timeline, and her own experiences. She explained the change over from HOD to AOD

Award Presentations

  • Meritorious - Katie Adams
  • Distinguished Service - Cynthia Sykes
  • Humanitarian - Jennifer Savage
  • President’s Award - Ana Garcia

Dianne Polseno Scholarship Award Winners

  • 1st Place Winner - Caressa Lynne Moy
  • 2nd Place Winner - Jean Risk

Speakers

Saskia Cote is now Chair of the MA Board of Massage Therapy.

Ana Garcia, Executive Director of various state Boards. She works with the Board of Massage Therapy Board which meets the second Monday of every month.

There are currently 9160 individual and 1905 establishment licenses in MA. She went over the ePlace online licensing system and how to renew individual and establishment licenses and how to make payments online. Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Safari web browsers are all compatible with ePlace. Greg asked about a rumor that all establishment licenses are being inspected and Ana does not know of a plan for all establishment licenses to be inspected at this time. There is just the normal procedure for inspecting establishments. The MA Board meeting agenda is listed online at www.mass.gov prior to the meeting.

SCORE representative Mike Sandman explained how SCORE services can help us build our businesses. Free one-to-one counseling, workshops and gave client examples.

Mark Molloy, Lobbyist

He mentioned that on the regulatory side that the DPL and AMTA MA work together well and this is rare on boards.

Regarding Multiple Establishment licenses: Remember to keep a Compliance Plan up to date. Make sure to look on the website on what you are supposed to have in a Compliance Plan. There is an updated Compliance Plan sample. Compliance Plans are required for multi-therapists establishments only.

Legislative side - Healthcare reform, Opioid alternative and bodywork bills. Bodywork is sometimes associated with human trafficking. The Attorney General and the Governor said there are not enough bodyworkers to have their own board so they want to create a board that combines Massage Therapy and bodyworkers. The board would consist of 3 massage therapists, 1 bodyworker, 1 municipal Board of Health and 1 member of law enforcement with training in human trafficking. Educate, Advocate participate! Briefly spoke about CBD and products that contain CBD and/or THC. MA and the Cannabinoid Commission is still researching regulations that would determine what a massage therapy business would need to do regarding marijuana products.

Election Results

  • Financial Administrator - Roxanne Cunningham
  • Board Member - Patty Jaworski
  • Delegates (1-year) - Gordon Pilotte
  • Delegate (2-year) - Sarah Ernst-Edwards

Motion to adjourn Katie Adam. Motion seconded by Patty Jaworski .

Meeting Adjourned at 3:13pm