2019 Board of Directors Elections Candidate Statement SANDY RENNIE

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1 2019 Board of Directors Elections Candidate Statement SANDY RENNIE Candidate Statement 1. Short Biographical Information I graduated with a Diploma in physiotherapy in 1972 and did a one-year degree completion (BPT) in 1976 at the University of Alberta. I completed my MSc in 1985 (Physical Education) and PhD in 2002 (Educational Administration and Leadership) at the U of A. I began teaching physiotherapy in Australia in 1977; I have taught in entry-level physiotherapy programs at the University of Alberta, the University of Toronto, Dalhousie University, and currently I am a parttime instructor at the University of Ottawa. I have taught many electrophysical agents (EPAs) continuing professional development courses for CPA, for hospitals, private practices, CPA Branches, and university continuing professional development. I worked as a sports physiotherapist for 25 years, volunteering at many different local, national and international events, including Olympic, Pan American and Commonwealth Games. I have been involved as a volunteer with the Canadian Physiotherapy Association for most of my career; I joined CPA in 1978 and began volunteering as a committee member, then Division Chair (Sports), and then joined the Board of Directors as a member-at-large in and was elected again in Presently I am near the end of a 3-year term on the CPA Board, and am seeking a second 3-year term. During my current term I was the Board representative on the Strategic Planning Steering Group which helped develop our new Strategic Plan. The Board is in the process of implementing many of the Strategic Initiatives developed during the planning process, including planning for the 100th anniversary of our Association in In addition, for the past 18 months, I have been the Board liaison to the Branch Presidents Forum. This has allowed me to gain valuable insight into how the various Provincial and Territory Branches work and deal with health care issues in their jurisdictions. I was humbly honoured with CPA Life Membership in 2010, and the Enid Graham Memorial Lecture Award in If elected to the CPA Board of Directors, my objectives are as follows: 1. To share our vision and mission with as many students, clients, physiotherapists and other health care professionals as possible. Our Vision: Physiotherapy is your essential partner for optimizing health. Page 1 of 5

2 Our Mission: As the vital partner for the profession, the Canadian Physiotherapy Association leads, advocates, and inspires excellence and innovation to promote health. 2. To continue to implement many of the initiatives developed from the Strategic Plan Priorities: Value, Access, Excellence, Capacity. Our Value Priority is: Together we will promote the value of physiotherapy to the public and stakeholders to influence the health system Our Access Priority is: Together we will help Canadians obtain greater access to physiotherapy Our Excellence Priority is: Together we will champion excellence, innovation and professionalism in physiotherapy Our Capacity Priority is: Together we will enhance our collective organizational value and capacity Currently the CPA Board has begun implementing the initiatives developed in the Strategic Plan, and many have been completed. We need to continue to review and prioritize which of these initiatives are to be implemented over the coming months and into the future. 3. Having served CPA for the past 3 years as a Board member, I would very much like to continue to serve members by enhancing the relationship among our many stakeholders, including Branches, Divisions, physiotherapist assistants, students, educators, clients, and the general public. We have made advances in our relationships with various stakeholders, and I feel we need to continue to become more open, transparent and accessible as a Board and the Association as we move forward. As the CPA Board Liaison to the Branch President s Forum I have had the privilege of attending meetings and engaging with this group over the past 18 months and I have learned a great deal. 4. I believe our number one priority is to improve and enhance access to physiotherapy services in Canada. There are many aspects to access: the ability to pay, private insurers, insurance limitations, physical access in rural and remote locations, and lack of medical referral, to name a few. I believe it is important for CPA to become a louder and more prominent voice by meeting with provincial and federal government health ministerial staff and advocating for improved access, and by educating medical students about the importance of physiotherapy for many medical conditions and pre-and post-surgery.". Page 2 of 5

3 Issues of the Day Essay Question 1: What top three strategic issues do you see as being important to CPA over the next three years and what do you think would be the best approach moving forward? The top three strategic issues I see as important to CPA over the next three years are access to physiotherapy services, the value of physiotherapy, and physiotherapy as an alternate to opioids. Access to physiotherapy is a very complex problem with many facets. Access includes factors such as the ability to pay, private insurers, insurance limitations, physical access in rural and remote locations, and lack of medical referral, to name a few. I believe it is important for CPA to become a louder and more prominent voice advocating for improved access. CPA has a role as a national association to advocate at both the federal and provincial government levels by requesting meetings with appropriate bureaucrats and potentially ministerial members involved in health portfolios. While health care is delivered provincially, it is important that our federal politicians are aware of the access to physiotherapy crisis in Canada. CPA Branches have days when they meet with provincial politicians and bureaucrats, and I believe CPA National should also request the same audience provincially and federally. 1. Access to physiotherapy services can be improved by educating medical students about the importance and scope of physiotherapy practice. While direct access to physiotherapy services is available in every Canadian province, many potential physiotherapy patients are not provided the opportunity because the physician/surgeon in charge does not refer patients to physiotherapy. This is due primarily to a lack of education on the important role physiotherapy plays in many medical conditions and in pre-and post-surgical care. 2. The value of physiotherapy. One of the ways CPA can assist members and components (Branches, Divisions, Assemblies) is to provide information about the value of physiotherapy. CPA has assisted Branches in the past by providing documentation and evidence of the impact physiotherapy has on patient outcomes. Currently CPA has on its website downloadable documents on the value of physiotherapy in 13 areas: Cardiovascular Rehabilitation, Chronic Disease, Chronic Lung Disease, Emergency Department, Falls, Home-based physiotherapy, Intensive Care Unit, Joint Arthroplasty, Low Back Pain, Musculoskeletal, Paediatrics, Primary Health Care, and Stroke. These documents, prepared by two health economists, provide evidence-informed and relevant evaluation of the importance of physiotherapy. We need to increase the exposure of these documents so CPA and its members can provide the economic and health benefits of physiotherapy to stakeholders. Page 3 of 5

4 3. Physiotherapy as an alternate to opioids relates to the issues above. The opioid crisis in Canada has had devastating effects over many years, as we learned from the excellent presentation at CPA Congress in Montreal in November. What should - and could - help with this situation is having patients with acute or chronic pain be seen by a physiotherapist to deal with their pain. We are known as drugless professionals and through exercise, mobility, modalities, dry needling/acupuncture, and education, many patients who might otherwise be prescribed opioids by physicians could be referred to physiotherapy. CPA must advocate strongly to the medical community the importance of giving patients an alternative to opioids to help with their pain and disability." Issues of the Day Essay Question 2: How would your experience and leadership skills help resolve these strategic issues and help you to make a valuable contribution to the Board? I have been a physiotherapist for over 45 years and a member of CPA for over 40 years. I have had the good fortune to be actively involved with my Association in many different capacities, ranging from a committee member, a committee Chair, a Division executive, a Division Chair, a CPA Board member, to CPA President. While President for only one year, it was an incredible learning experience and afforded me the opportunity to see how our Association staff and volunteers really work for their members. I ran for election to the current CPA Board in 2016 as I knew I still had the energy and the desire to try to make a difference and to enhance the relationships with our many stakeholders. My first 3-year term has certainly allowed that to occur, and I have learned a great deal about how a good, policy-based Board of Directors should work. In my first year I was the Board liaison to the Physiotherapist Assistant Assembly and learned what the needs and goals of that group of hard-working people is as a partner in our Association. For the past 18 months I have been the Board liaison to the Branch Presidents Forum (BPF), which is the group of Provincial and Territory Branch Presidents and staff. This group has a mandate to collectively work together to improve and enhance the delivery of physiotherapy services in each of their jurisdictions and to do so in the spirit of cooperation and goodwill. The primary role of the CPA Board liaison to the BPF is to provide a channel of communication and support between the Branches and the CPA Board. I feel my many years of experience as a volunteer with CPA will facilitate my ability to help resolve the strategic issues, I identified in my election platform. With my corporate history and knowledge of how CPA works at various levels including national, Branches, Divisions, and Assemblies (Physiotherapist Assistant and Student), I am confident that by working with fellow Board members and CPA members and volunteers, we will move forward to resolve the issues before us. Specifically, I refer to access to physiotherapy, the value of physiotherapy, and physiotherapy as an alternative to opioids. Page 4 of 5

5 These key strategic issues are ones where my capacity as an educator and long-time CPA member and volunteer will be instrumental in providing valuable messaging and deliverables to stakeholders and government. I believe that because I am well-known in the physiotherapy community, I am seen as trustworthy and reliable, and the right person to be actively involved with dealing with these issues. I am a strong leader, an excellent team player, and a supportive mentor. I would use these skills and attributes to work on my three strategic issues, plus work diligently with our current CPA Board and our components to fulfill the mandate of implementing the strategic initiatives of our new Strategic Plan. Page 5 of 5