OOTA Election

President Elect
July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007

It is time for OT and OTA members to cast their ballots for President-Elect. The President-Elect will serve from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, and take office as President on July 1, 2007 for a two year term. Only one candidate has been nominated; however, the ballot provides an opportunity for a write-in vote. You may vote in the following ways:

Print out a ballot from the website (www.oota.org/website/Printballot.htm) to mail or fax.

Call the OOTA office (888-231-7319) or email webmaster@oota.org and ask for a ballot to be faxed to you.

Use the online ballot (www.oota.org/website/Ballot.htm)

The deadline for the return of ballots is June 23.      Thank you for your participation.

Position Statement of Marc Schaffer, OTR/L

I have been very honored to serve you as the President of the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association for the past year. As I begin the final year of this term, I realize how much more we still need to accomplish together. As I have worked with the OOTA Board this past year, I realize that in order to achieve the goals we have established that it will take more than a 2 year time frame to complete the challenges which we have set for our association and members. Therefore I am asking for your support and vote to re-elect me to a second term which would begin on July 1, 2007.

When I originally ran for President, my platform was to:

1. Communicate with the membership the issues that the OOTA board dealt with that effected your practice in our state.
I am very proud that we have communicated so much information to our members this year through OT Newsbreak, our web site, and particularly keeping members informed of the latest and hottest issues and concerns through our blast e-mails to our membership. A great example of this was our significant contribution of our postcard campaign in assisting in defeating the Board Consolidation bill.

2. Commit to serve you, the members. Over the past year, I reinstated the Town Meetings throughout the districts, as well as Mid-year and at our upcoming Annual State Conference. My goal was to improve communications and to listen to what our members wanted and needed.
Since January of this year, I have been to over half of the districts for Town meetings and by the end of September of this year, I will have completed my visits to all districts.

3. Work with state Occupational Therapy and Occupational Therapy Assistant schools to be more actively involved with OOTA.
Over the past year, I have worked with board members in increasing our visibility in our OT and OTA schools in Ohio. We have a few board members who actually are Directors or Professors of OT/OTA programs on our board. I have also asked board members and district chairs ,to ask schools in their districts, if they can present on the importance of belonging to their professional state organization ... OOTA. We have had presentations so far in various districts throughout the state to date.

4. Commit to continue to maintain a financially strong organization.
I am very pleased to announce that we are known as one of four states described as the "BIG FOUR". After my return from the AOTA annual conference in Charlotte, where I attended the Affiliated States Association of Presidents (ASAP) meetings. We are one of four states with a strong financial viability as well as seen by other states as a strong state association in terms of dealing with legislative and practice issues. The other three states are California, Texas, and New York. Currently, our membership is at the highest level in the history of OOTA.

As you can see, I have kept my commitment to you.

Over this past year, we made a major change in our lobbyist and hired Capitol Consulting, Inc. Since they came on board in January they have assisted us in making headway in dealing with issues that are effecting our profession. I will be meeting in June with Traci Williams, the new director of ODJFS. This meeting will be focusing on issues that are effecting our pediatric therapists, issues in regards to OT having Medicaid Access, as well as to discuss issues affecting our profession. Currently, I am leading the Board through our development of our strategic plan for the next 3-5 years. Our three main goals are:

• To build and maintain systems and programs that ensure a member-centered focus and a financially sound organization.
• To represent and advocate for the organization's members, the profession and the needs of those the profession serves.
• To foster the discovery, integration,application and dissemination of Occupational Therapy knowledge to advance practice, education and research.

My goal will be to present the final OOTA Strategic Plan, Goals and Objectives at our annual conference in September.

These are just a few of the many reasons why I am asking for your vote for re-election to continue to serve you as your President of the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. I would appreciate the honor of your vote and the honor to serve a second term as your President.

Thank you for your support,

Marc Schaffer, OTR/L