UOTA Reflection Paper

Professional Issues OTA 1210 -Missy Reynolds 03/10/2014

The executive board meeting of the UOTA was held at the U of U. The meeting was on March 10,2014 at 5:30 PM. I drove up to the meeting with Chris and Cathy because we live near each other. There were UOTA members and students in attendance of the meeting. Some items that were discussed were: Find sponsorships for the UTOA website. Invite businesses to participate in the website. The link is on the webpage, prices are there as well. -A motion was made to start a method to gain more sponsorship. Casey, the legislative affairs, was working on a house bill of practice act. Florentina, chair of PR committee, talked about a Proclamation to the mayor and governor about OT month. An open house is planned on April 9,2014 at Salt Lake Community College from 6-8 PM. The theme of the open house is What the HECK is OT -HECK is an acronym for Health, education, community, and kinesiology. It was brought up that SLCC could possibly provide the refreshments. Mary Pugh added that the OTA students would be willing to make refreshments. They talked about the need for suggestions to promote OT in OT month. Ideas were: -Ordering shirts. Caf press- no cost way of selling t-shirts. -Temporary tattoos could be sold. Brooky, UOTA membership chair, talked about: -She is working on putting out a video that will be available in April.

-Yearly membership renewal, at a lower cost COTA position in UOTA is open for candidates. Heidi- policies chair -They talked about some discrepancies in some of the policies. When reviewing a policy it needs to be seen by three people for a consensus. May 15th is the next membership meeting.

After the meeting I made an effort to network. I met with the U of Us SOTA club president. We talked about setting up an activity for our clubs to do together. I thanked Heidi and Sarah for letting me come and observe. I know it is important to network. The people that were there that night are the people I will be working with in the future. My preconceived perception of the UOTA meeting was that it would be similar to our SOTA club meetings. I expected to hear about events and activities the UOTA was involved in. After the meeting I was surprised how official everything sounded. Especially when they spoke about making a proclamation to give to the mayor and governor. The president of the UOTA was very professional and serious and got down to business without any fluff. My feeling about the meeting was that there is a lot more to occupational therapy in Utah then I knew. A lot of information that was discussed I didnt understand and didnt know it was important. I think the overall theme of the UOTA is awareness of this profession.

Five things I learned about the UOTA is: 1) That the UOTA is an organization that is dedicated to the awareness and advancement of the OT profession in Utah. 2) The UOTA represents occupational therapy profession in Utah politics. 3) Members of the UOTA are OTs and COTAs in Utah. It is a non-profit organization. 4) They plan events to build awareness of OT. Like their upcoming open house. 5) They write policies that have to do with the OT profession in Utah. In conclusion I think it would be interesting to in learn more about and possibly be involved in the UOTA in the future as a COTA.