Happy Summer to all of you!
As always, we focus on you, the member, as we follow through on our plans for the Chapter. It is our goal to help you to become the massage therapist you would like to become.
With that in mind, we have:
- Continuing education
- An Education Survey
- Elections coming up in 2018
- The National Convention
- We are LLEAD Grant winners...again!
- A new Volunteer Coordinator for the Chapter
- Information about establishment licenses and
- Information about the laws on gift certificates (Did you know that a gift certificate must be good for at least 7 years? You’ll also see how a gift certificate will be good forever if you don’t do a certain requirement! Is that a good teaser for you?!)
In June, I attended the President’s and National Board meetings. I can honestly say that I am more impressed with National AMTA than I think I have ever been! The AMTA is in great shape. We have more members (Professional, Graduate, and Schools) than ever. They are doing great financially. Our current National President, Dolly Wallace, is working hard to keep the lines of communication open between the Chapters and National. Even though we do make decisions on a Chapter level, we are all part of National and that is a good thing! I am also honored to be chosen to be on a Workgroup for National. I’ll fill you in on this more when I can!
Your AMTA-MA Chapter was the honored recipient of National AMTA’s LLEAD (Legislative and Legal Education, Advocacy and Defense) Grant for the second year in a row!! Thank you to our lobbyists for helping to put together an exceptional application. Thank you to National and Government Relations for choosing us. The purpose of the LLEAD Grant is to provide assistance and funding to aid the efforts of chapters in their legislative efforts that seek to safeguard the interests of the AMTA membership at large by promoting the most favorable legal climate for the profession of massage therapy. We are so grateful to have lobbyists who are on hand to help with state licensing issues and concerns. A major issue that we are following closely is the regulation of bodyworkers in MA. We are doing our best to make sure that the massage and bodyworker licenses will be separate and that massage therapists’ rights will not be changed through bodywork regulations. Massachusetts wants to do their best to regulate bodyworkers to help to keep the public safe and cut back on illegitimate bodywork businesses. Recently one of our lobbyists, Kim Giese, and I met with AMTA’s National President, Dolly Wallace, and 3 members of the National’s Industry and Government Relations, James Specker, Government & Industry Relations Director, Tricia Bardon, Senior Government Relations Specialist, and Charlotte Grill, Government Relations Manager.
If you have questions or want to get involved with our Law and Legislation Committee, email info@massamta.org.
And…. Here we have the list of what is happening within your Chapter!
Continuing Education:
- September Education - Clinical Orthopedic Manual Therapy (COMT) for the Neck
September 9-10
Sheraton in Framingham - December Education/Strategic Planning
December 2 & 3
Cape Codder, Hyannis, MA
We are not planning on having the IDEA Conference in 2018 but we will, of course, have our Annual Meeting with election results. We will have the date and location soon.
Offices open for election in 2017:
- President
- Board Member
- Secretary
We will be sending emails out when the elections are going to open and how you can become involved.
Education Survey
By the time of this newsletter, you probably received our Education Survey. Since we are member focused, we would love your feedback as to what kind of classes you would like to take and on what subjects.
National Convention
September 14-16, 2017
Pasadena, CA
https://www.amtamassage.org/education/AMTA-2017-National-Convention.html
House of Delegates
There is one Position Statement and one Recommendation. Please see our website for details about these. We have 5 Delegates who will be representing our Chapter.
In 2018, the House of Delegates is going through a big (in my opinion a positive) change to the Assembly of Delegates (AoD). With the AoD, there will be 2 Delegates per state. There will be a change in the structure in order to make even more professional Position Statements.
Volunteer Coordinator
We have a new Volunteer Coordinator, Roxanne Cunningham. We are looking forward to bringing even more structure and opportunities for our volunteers. If you want to be a volunteer for the Chapter, let us know!
Establishment License
Please remember that all licensed massage therapists in MA need to be supported by an Establishment License.
From the mass.gov website:
- (8) Exemptions.
(a)A Massage Therapy Establishment license is not required for the following:
- Any healthcare facility licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health;
- Board approved continuing education programs and student clinics operated by Board licensed Massage Schools;
- Locations at which Chair Massage is exclusively done; and
- Locations at which Massage Therapy is offered for not more than 24 hours in a one week period every six months at a public or charitable event with a primary purpose unrelated to massage.
Thank you so much for being a member of the AMTA MA Chapter! As always, if you have any questions and/or concerns about the AMTA or even other massage issues, feel free to email me at greghurdlmt@gmail.com.
Greg Hurd
AMTA MA Chapter President