THS RTSO EXCEEDS KEY BENCHMARKS FOR 2010 THS RTSO EXCEEDS KEY BENCHMARKS FOR 2010

A Message from our President, Rob Bryan, RRT Dear Colleagues and Friends,

I am very pleased to report that the Respiratory Therapy Society of Ontario has experienced tremendous growth and success over the past 6 months. Through the extensive efforts of your RTSO executive board and front office management team, the renewal and strengthening of relationships with key stakeholders and networks that support our practice as well as a promising resurgence in membership have all put the RTSO ahead of its restructuring schedule. Our membership is up 20%, our projected budget deficit for this year has been eliminated and is now balanced. Financially we are positioned for economic growth leading to opportunities to expand our front office resources and professional advocacy programs. Details on our economic recovery and growth can be found in the front office report by Stephen Laramee, the RTSO business manager.

I am also pleased to report that the RTSO is experiencing continued success in supporting two very important practice networks and special interest groups through our OTN series.

Since the beginning of the H1N1 epidemic last fall, the RTSO has been hosting province wide OTN RT leadership meetings. These meetings bring RT leaders from across the province face to face via video and teleconferencing to discuss important practice topics. Guest speakers have also addressed various practice issues of interest. The value and effectiveness of using video and teleconferencing systems to bring clinicians from across the province together have proven to be of great benefit to many.

We have adopted the same strategy to support a new key initiative in a special interest group (SIG) focused on complex respiratory care in the community. This SIG had its first meeting at the beginning of May. The meeting was attended by several lead RRTs from across the province representing the CRTO, the RTSO, hospital-based home ventilator programs and government agencies that support home ventilation including the Assistive Devices Program (ADP) and the Ventilator Equipment Pool (VEP), as well as RRTs that work out CCAC funded community-focused respiratory therapy programs. At this OTN meeting, we discussed the merit and value of a network to support knowledge transfer, practice collaboration and professional advocacy for the practice of respiratory therapy focusing on complex long term respiratory care patients. All the meeting participants agreed that there was tremendous value in this network and identified immediate goals and objectives to focus on. These included expanding the network to encompass home care companies and pediatric home-ventilation programs as key stakeholders in this network. Please see the report submitted by Karen Martindale RRT summarizing the charter of this SIG.

The RTSO is also working to build inroads with the office of the MOHLTC Critical Care Secretariat in an effort to collaborate on MOH critical care initiatives that may influence or impact Respiratory Therapy practices in the ICU and Trauma settings across Ontario. We hope this will support two-way communications through cooperation and collaboration to endorse and enhance the practice of Respiratory Therapy in the ERs and ICUs across the province.

The RTSO is also actively seeking a strategic relationship with the Ontario Home Respiratory Services Association (OHRSA) to see if there is an opportunity to work collaboratively on common practices issues and professional advocacy work for enhanced Respiratory Therapy services in the community.

Incoming RTSO president Dave McKay and I had the pleasure of representing the RTSO and the professional body of RRTs in Ontario at the CSRT conference in Newfoundland in May. This was a new inter-provincial association meeting hosted by the CSRT. Representatives from British Columbia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island as well as members of the CSRT executive were present. We discussed the merit of inter-provincial cooperation and collaboration at a national level through the CSRT using a SWAT analysis. It was agreed by all in attendance that there were many opportunities to work together to support practice initiatives and collaborate professional advocacy work at a national level through this group. The plan is to engage in regular meetings and develop a charter for this national alliance of provincial associations.

At this time, I would like to congratulate the CSRT on putting on a great trade show in St John’s, Newfoundland in May. I would also like to extend my sincere congratulations to Christiane Menard, CSRT executive director, and her team for running such a successful event. Further, I would like to commend the Newfoundland host committee for their excellent planning and unsurpassed hospitality.

I would also like to recognize and thank Dan McPhee for his dedication to the profession through his volunteerism as the President (now past president) of the CSRT. Your passion and righteous actions in the pursuit of professional advocacy at a national level was very much appreciated by the RTSO and we look forward to working with you and Jeff Kobe through the inter-provincial association special interest group.

New enhancements to the RTSO website www.rtso.ca planned for this year include the roll out of a program that will enable members to do on line purchasing of RTSO products and in the near future, on-line registration for membership and conferences. The next phase of the website development will focus on enhancements to respiratory vendor tools allowing for easy access to information about respiratory products, procurement and vendor contact information.

The education committee is putting the finishing touches on the fall forum “Inspire 2010” in Mississauga. Please see the summary on the fall forum submitted by Mike Keim, our education committee chair. This year we have collaborated with the CRTO in expanding the forum program to include a full day pre-conference workshop hosted by the CRTO. This workshop is focusing on the results of the HealthForceOntario (HFO) project, Optimizing Respiratory Therapy Services: A Continuum of Care from Hospital to Home. We have also changed venues, moving the forum to the Delta Hotel in Mississauga to accommodate our growing needs and expanding attendance. In addition to outstanding educational programming, we have enhanced the forum with a Friday evening social including a jazz band, awards ceremony, dinner and bar and a silent auction. We have also introduced vendor sponsored satellite symposiums to give you every opportunity to see what’s new in respiratory therapy products and therapeutics to enhance your knowledge of how they may impact your clinical practice.

I would like to end my report by highlighting our key services and strategic plan for 2010.

The RTSO is very pleased to be able to offer our affordable liability insurance at its current competitive rate with the increase for the aggregate coverage from $ 2 million to $4 million. The RTSO continues to bring in new partners to add to the value to RTSO association membership with the addition of BIG MOUTH productions in which promotional apparel will be available through the RTSO website. The RTSO is actively investigating opportunities to collaborate with other associations to support and add value to the professional interest of RRTs in Ontario as well, so keep your ear to the ground for news and updates on the website at www.rtso.ca regarding these initiatives.

Focuses for the RTSO for 2010 are:

• To enhance inter-facility transfer of knowledge and collaboration
• To promote the profession of respiratory therapy and new practice initiatives
• To support excellence in respiratory care through web based learning initiatives
• To support province wide networking and communications through advanced telecommunication technologies and to investigate new web technologies that can be integrated into the RTSO website.

Thank you again for supporting your practice through RTSO membership.

Sincerely, Rob Bryan RRT