AGM September 26 2009

 

We have a great deal to accomplish in the next 45 minutes, so I must make this address short. 

 

I started my Presidency at the end of last year’s AGM knowing that the year ahead would be one of large decisions.   I was not sure whether the RTSO would still exist to hold another Forum.   Running a Society on the backs of a few volunteer Board members who have full time jobs elsewhere and an Administrative Service who had been paid too little and expected to do too much was not sustainable. The Board that I took on as President started our year without a President Elect and short one Board position. Each year that I have been on the Board there is a struggle to encourage volunteers to join the Board.

 

Throughout my career there seemed to be an every increasing number of comments that today’s RTs are apathetic, passive-aggressive, and disinterested in professional development. Today I stand here and tell you that those voices are wrong. Today’s RTs are engaged and concerned about their practice and the healthcare system they work within. Today’s RTs want to ensure that their expertise is understood and utilized to its maximum potential.   It is our job as a Society to make that communication possible.   It is our job as a Profession to work together to build the networks that make collaboration possible. It is our job as individual practitioners to participate in our Society and build a reputation as a resource that our health care communities can rely on.

 

This past year the work of our Society has been done on the backs of the following: 

our previous partners – Fletcher-Wright, our new Business Manager – Stephen Laramee, our Past President – Patrick Nellis, our President Elect – Rob Bryan, our Secretary – Julie Brown, our treasurer – Mike Kiem, our webmaster – Paul Robinson, and our Board members at large – Dave McKay and Doris Franklin……,   We hope that the work ahead of us will be shared with many more of you that are here today through Committees and Working Groups. If we want to continue to have a Provincial voice at the tables that are deciding what and how we provide care, we need to work together.  

 

This past year we ensured that:

RTs have access to Provincial education funds.

RTs have a voice at the collaborative table of allied health Societies of Ontario

RTs are heard at Provincial Pandemic Planning.

RTs are working on innovative initiatives supported by Health Force Ontario

RTs speak up on healthcare issues in mass media.

 

We have continued to build upon our partnerships with our Regulatory College and National Society. We have also investigated new partnerships, such as the Ontario Lung Association.

 

We are not alone. We would not be where we are today without our colleagues at the our Regulatory College and our National Association. Thank you.

 

As one of my last acts as President, I would like to ask you all to complete one task with in the next month.   I would ask you all to speak with at least one other RRT and ensure that they know that the decisions regarding what, where, and how they work in this province is determined by their Provincial government.   If they are interested in ensuring that Respiratory Therapist are heard…. they should be supporting all of us through the Provincial Society… the RTSO.