Year of fruitfulness

Transcription

1 Annual Report 1 Message from the Chairperson Year of fruitfulness If the previous years of the association were considered as seeding and planting, then this year could well be considered a year of harvest. By saying this, in no way do we mean that we are satisfied with our progression as a professional body, we still have a long way to go in establishing the societal status of speech therapists, promoting continuing education in order to foster a sustainable development of our field, and more importantly, making statutory registration a reality and not a dream. But this is a time for we to recap what our association has accomplished, not only with the dedication from the executive committee, but the solid scaffolding of our predecessors. In March, we had our first conjoint scientific meeting with Nestle Nutrition Institute. We hosted a seminar on dysphagia, housing over 120 speech therapists, who had a chance to learn from one of the experts from the field, Dr. Julie Cichero and to have some hands-on experience with new products in managing dysphagia. Later in the year, we had an unexpected donation from the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation. We were among the 64 local organizations chosen to receive this unconditional donation of $200,000. Our executive committee will ensure that the amount will be put to good use, not only benefiting our field, but also to those in need of speech therapy and educating the public about speech therapy. Regarding one of our most prioritized agenda, statutory registration, we made some progress this year by submitting our proposal for registration directly to Dr. York Chow in June 2012, and also to Dr. Ko Wing Man in August The feedbacks have been very positive and we are optimistic that we have made a strong case for ourselves, paving a way for the government to kick-star the whole process. We will continue to work closely with our members, our stakeholders, the government and the public, such that some day, we will have the title of Registered Speech Therapist. I hereby wish the upcoming executive committee every success. With hardwork, dedication and unconditional endeavor, nothing is impossible. HKAST Annual Report

2 2 Board of Committee 2.1 Elected Executive Committee Chairperson Vice Chairperson External Secretary Internal Secretary Treasurer Committee Members Mr. Raymond Fong Mr. Danny Au Mr. Joshua Lai Mr. Ho Yu Man Ms. Natalie Au Dr. Lau Ka Ming Dr. Carol To Mr. Thomas Law Ms. Cymie Ng 2.2 Membership Approval Subcommittee Prof. Yuet-sheung Kathy Lee Dr. Man-tak Leung Dr. Carol To (ex-officio) 2.3 Registration Affairs Subcommittee Ms. Janet Ng (Convenor) Mrs. Lorinda Kwan Mr. Eddy Wong Mr. Danny Au (ex-officio) 2.4 Continuing Education Subcommittee Ms. Cymie Ng Mr. Joshua Lai Ms. Jess Chan 2.5 Honorary Advisors Prof. Yuet-sheung Kathy Lee Dr. Man-tak Leung Ms. Elizabeth Chung Ms. Joanne Ha Ms. Janet Ng 2.6 Honorary Auditor Mr. Bernard Wu, CPA 2.7 Honorary Legal Advisor Ms. Michelle Liu HKAST Annual Report

3 2.8 Honorary Research Consultant Dr. Anthony Kong 3 Meetings 3.1 Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting 2012 is to be held on September 28, Extraordinary General Meeting No Extraordinary General Meeting was held during Committee Meetings The Board of Committee met once a month to report work progress, discuss issues, make decisions, and approve membership applications. A total of 12 Committee Meetings had been held during the term of office. 4 Finance 4.1 Coordinated and controlled the finance of the Association, and reported to the Board of Committee periodically at the Committee Meetings Membership Fees Adhering to the regulations on finance laid down by the Constitution, that annual membership subscription is due on July 31 of each year (Clause 6.4), the Association had started membership fee collection exercise in August The current annual membership fees are categorized as follows: - Full Membership: HK$300 Overseas Membership: HK$100 Associate Membership: HK$100 Student Membership: HK$50 Initial Joining/ Re-joining Fee: HK$200 5 Areas of work 5.1 Secretariat and Administration Prepared and Filed notice, agenda, and minutes of meetings. Maintained the enquiry service for HKAST hotline Maintained membership database. Maintained the HKAST stock. Prepared various HKAST mailings and s. Maintained relationship with Honorary Advisors and Honorary Auditor. Maintained website contents. Updated the Private Practitioners search engine on the HKAST webpage. Promoted the profession-related events on the HKAST webpage. HKAST Annual Report

4 Posted job vacancies for speech therapists within the territory. 5.2 Membership During the year , the HKAST has achieved membership growth of 9.2%, from total number of 325 in to 355 in As of 31 Aug 2012, our membership statistics were as follows: - Membership Category Number of Members Full Members 306 Overseas Members 9 Associate Members 0 Student Members 40 Total Number 355 The work settings distribution of full members was as follows: - Work Setting Number of Members Private Practice % NGO % Special School % Hospital Authority % Research or Further Study 7 2.3% Child Assessment Service 5 1.6% Education Bureau 6 2.0% Others/ did not provide % information Total Number % 5.3 Membership Approval Subcommittee (MAC) The MAC processed four membership applications from speech therapists who received training from overseas institutions after verifying necessary academic/ qualification documents. 5.4 Registration Affairs Subcommittee The primary work of the RAC this year was submitting our proposal of statutory registration, which includes our members survey results, overseas experience, the trend of speech therapy development in HK, to the secretary of the Food and Health Bureau. HKAST Annual Report

5 Two separate meetings were also held with Dr. York Chow and Dr. Ko Wing Man in June and August. The RAC members will continue to work closely with the executive committee on statutory registration. 5.5 Continuing Education Nestlé Nutrition Institute and HKAST Dinner Symposium Dr. Julie Cichero, from Australia, shared with us on the topic of Updates on the treatment of Dysphagia in Clinical Practice. After the lecture, participants had a chance to get their hands on the new dysphagia product from Nestle. The feedback from the participants was very positive VIVA Survival Kit Seminar 2012 Organized VIVA Survival Kit for final-year undergraduates from the Division of Speech & Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, on 4 May All year 4 students from the Division attended the seminar. The feedback was very positive. Presenters: Poon Siu Fung, Eric Tong DPNS Course in September, October 2012 We are delighted to have Ms. Karlene Stefanakos and Ms. Pamela Crouch again to host two three-day workshop: The Organic Swallow: Evaluation and Treatment with DPNS, E-stim and Labial Goniometry Measurement Certification. To date, over 80 members have enrolled in the two workshops combined. HKAST Annual Report

6 5.6 Public Relations Membership in other professional bodies Associate member at the Federation of Medical Societies of HK Agency member of HK Council of Social Service Collaboration with other professional bodies/societies Basketball match with Hong Kong Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery & HK Society of Audiology on 27 Nov 2011 From left: Dennis Cheng, Raymond Fong, Ho Yu Man, Danny Au, Kelvin Tsai Attending the HK Stroke Fund Launching Ceremony and Press Conference on 30 Oct 2011 (Representative: Raymond Fong, Cymie Ng) HKAST Annual Report

7 Hiking with Hong Kong Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery & HK Society of Audiology to Geopark 15 Jan Participating in HKSA 20 th Anniversary Video Project and attending their anniversary dinner on 13 April 2012 (Representative: Danny Au, Raymond Fong) Participating in events for 50th Anniversary of both the Hong Kong Paediatric Society and Child Health in Hong Kong (Representative: Raymond Fong) Attending the National Conference-Speech Pathology Australia in June 2012 on behalf of HKAST (Representative: Dr. Carol To) HKAST Annual Report

8 5.6.3 Participation in meetings advocating speech therapists benefits Attending Clinical Advisory Group on Hong Kong Reference Framework for Preventive Care for Children in Primary Care Settings (Representative: Cymie Ng) Attending meetings organized by our legislator 行政長官候選人施政論壇 (Representative: Raymond Fong, Danny Au) Left: Dr. the hon Lee Kok Long, Legislator Right: Mr. Leung Chun Ying, Chief Executive Candidate 跟進專職醫療專業的法定註冊事宜 on 23 March 2012 (Representative: Mrs. Lorinda Kwan) and 11 June 2012 (Representative: Danny Au, Eddy Wong) HKAST Annual Report

9 研究成立專職醫療專科學院的會議 on 26 June 2012 (Representative: Raymond Fong, Danny Au) Attending a meeting with Chief Executive Candidate Mr. Leung CY on 23 March 2012, organized by 衛生界專業團體聯席會議 (Representative: Danny Au) Attending the FMSHK Annual Dinner, held on 31st December 2011 and FMSHK Presidents (Representative: Lau Ka Ming) Right: Dr. Lau Ka Ming Attending NNI Regional Workshop on Multidisciplinary Approach to Dysphagia Patient Care, March 25, 2012, Shanghai, China (Representative: Raymond Fong, Cymie Ng) Attending the HKU Faculty of Education Reunion Dinner on 9 June 2012 (Representative: Raymond Fong) HKAST Annual Report

10 5.6.7 Donation by Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation (Representative: Raymond Fong, Thomas Law) We were extremely delighted that our association accepted a very generous donation of HKD $200,000 from the Ng Teng Fong Foundation in recognition of our profession and our association s role in the community. According to the foundation, we were one of 64 local organizations recommended by Dr. Rosanna Yick-ming Wong, DBE, JP, Executive Director of HK Federation of Youth Groups, to receive the unconditioned donation. 5.7 Publications Regular publications Published Constitution and Code of Practice on our website Prepared and disseminated the monthly electronic news updates, HKAST Express. Maintained updated information on our website 5.8 Community and Public Education Participating in the Validation exercise for SAHK Institute of Rehabilitation, Course for Speech Therapy Assistants (Representative: Raymond Fong) Guest Speaker for Hong Kong Tin Shui Wai Women Association Neighborhood Support Child Care Service HKAST Annual Report

11 The seminar was held in November 2011, on the topic of child language development, by member: Yeung Ho Yan Guest speaker at the HK Teacher Center The talk was held on 3 December 2011, on the topic of Voice protection in teachers; by member: Lo Ching Yin Attending Hong Kong Christian Service 說故事. 識語法 專業研討會 on 26 November 2011 (Representative: Raymond Fong, Danny Au, Ho Yu Man) Teachers Voice Protection Campaign was presented in the Health Protection Symposium by the Food and Health Bureau on 18 November 2011 HKAST Annual Report

12 5.8.6 Development and Disorders of Speech and Language in Children for the general public with FMSHK From July to August 2012, we held a 6- session certificate course with FMSHK on pediatric speech and language development and disorders. The presenters include: Dr. Carol To, Ms. Rachel Wong, Ms. Penita Cheung, Ms. Pamela Cheung, Ms. Jess Chan and Dr. Dustin Lau. There were a total of 107 participants in the course, most of them being nurses, social workers and other allied health professionals. The feedback was very positive, participants found the course content very practical and stimulating Dyslexia Awareness Week Awareness Week in Specific Learning Disabilities is a public education event co-organized by the HK Association of Specific Learning Disability, TWGHs, HKIEd, The Hong Kong Psychological Society and HKAST. We were involved in this program for the first year. International conference, teachers and parents training workshops, students sharing session, and educational carnivals were held with a success. The program reached over thousands of people and most of them reported with improved understanding on specific learning disabilities. HKAST Annual Report

13 5.8.8 Judge and Guest speaker at the Family Health Expo 2012 by Metro Radio Hong Kong Middle: Raymond Fong We were invited by Metro Radio HK to take part in the Family Health Expo. Our chairman, Mr. Raymond Fong, was invited to be the judge for a tongue twister competition and he shared his knowledge on speech and language development on stage Validation exercise of Master of Speech Therapy, Polytechnic University (Representative: Raymond Fong) 5.9 Members Benefit Private practitioners database and HA list of private practitioners were updated HKAST members were able to enroll in the Global Conference on Disorders in Auditory Processing, Literacy, Language and Related Sciences 2012 organized by The Department of Special Education and Counseling of The Hong Kong Institute of Education, held on 4-7 Jan 2012, for a discounted price Gathering opinion from the Candidates of the Election Committee Health Services Sub-sector Elections. The compiled information was sent to members before the election such that members could have a better understanding of the candidates view on our field Working with Operation Smile to recruit Voluntary Speech Therapists for service in China Continuing Education Program In order to encourage continuing education for speech therapists, HKAST officially launched the Pilot Continual Education Program this year. HKAST HKAST Annual Report

14 will offer CEU points to the members who attend professional seminars/courses. The courses and the number of CEPST points will be posted in a webpage. At the end of our term, we will issue certificates on how many CEUs each member has earned. We hope that through this pilot program, we are creating a more systematic platform for professional development and at the same time, cultivating the importance of continuing education within our field. 6 Recognition The HKAST Award of Excellent Clinical Performance 2011 was awarded to Ms. Anita Li. The awardee was a final-year undergraduate from the Division of Speech & Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong who received the highest scores from the clinical supervisors and peers. The Award included a Certificate of Excellent Clinical Performance and one-year HKAST full membership subscription. For and on behalf of Board of Committee , Raymond Fong Chairperson HKAST HKAST Annual Report