Letter of Intent

I wrote this up today for an application for a stipend to help fund my trip to DC in May. Here is most of it. It gives you a window to the serious Laura. :)

I am very excited to attend the Advocacy Academy in Washington, DC this year. Throughout my two years at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, my interest in legislative affairs related to physical therapy has grown. While maintaining solid standing in both my academic and clinical education, I have become involved in other activities to strengthen the professional aspect of my education. As community representative for the Institute’s PT Club, I have been involved in events to promote community awareness of physical therapy and fundraise for the Pittsburg-Marquette Challenge. Our most recent event raised over $3000 for the Foundation for Physical Therapy, drawing in students from two other PT programs and members of the general public. We provided PT students with information on membership in the APTA and how they can be more active, as well as giving information about the profession of physical therapy to those community members who were part of the event.

In my role as student liaison, I have worked to make my classmates aware of current bills before congress and encourage them to take action regarding that legislation. I believe that students need to take a more active role in advocating for their profession, and in turn, for their future patients. If we as future clinicians can assume ownership of professional responsibility, the progression of physical therapy as a profession will be in very capable hands for decades to come. Through this realization, I have found a passion to become more involved in the APTA, and a desire to extend that enthusiasm to others. I think that student involvement often breeds further student involvement, and to help with this, I want to build a foundation that would most enable me to work toward this goal.

I am hoping to be slated for Student Assembly in October. If I am able to run for office, it will be of utmost importance that I am able to understand where the profession of physical therapy stands regarding federal and state issues as well as within its own professional association. I have recently started attending the MA delegation meetings and plan to attend the national House of Delegates prior to the Advocacy Academy. It will be an excellent opportunity for me to learn how to be an advocate, so that I can efficiently represent the students to the APTA, and as I progress as a professional, represent the APTA to federal and local lawmakers.

As a student member in the APTA for almost two years, I have come to see the importance of membership on one’s professional association. Beyond the benefits of publications and career advancement opportunities, it provides a way for a person’s voice to be heard nationally. It is an exciting time to be in physical therapy with regards to advances in research, practice, and education. The association has played a very large role in these areas, but it is important that the profession is able to utilize these advancements to capacity. It is the act of members serving members that makes this happen.

In the last year, I have seen this service of members to members and non-members alike at National Student Conclave in Dallas, and CSM in Boston. At Conclave I was able to attend many sections on clinical practice, advocacy, student assembly, and professionalism. With CSM in Boston, I was able to fill each day with a variety of events including the forum on the regulatory designator and the PT-PAC luncheon. The meetings served, in large part, as sparks to ignite what was already a growing interest in matters of the association into a passion to take an active role in the APTA. I see attendance at the Advocacy Academy as preparation for my own participation in advancement of the physical therapy profession.