Annual Report 2011-2012

2012 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
9:00AM
Travelodge Hotel, 4177 Albert Street South, Regina - Cumberland Hall (2nd floor)


MISSION STATEMENT:
We exist to encourage and enhance the art, science and practice of massage therapy by maintaining a high standard of massage therapy; by establishing and maintaining the Massage Therapist Association of Saskatchewan, Inc. as a leading health professional association; by promoting health profession through education, accountability, communication and advocacy, and financial stability.

Plan to make your voice count by attending the 46th AGM at 9:00am on Sunday, February 26th at the Regina Travelodge.  This is your opportunity to assist the Board of Directors in setting direction for the coming year. 


 

2012 AGM Agenda

Massage Therapist Association of Saskatchewan, Inc
Annual General Meeting
February 26th, 2012 - 9:00 a.m.
Cumberland Hall - Travelodge Hotel
Regina, Saskatchewan

Agenda

Call to order (9:00 a.m.) – President Julianne Heagy

1.0 Housekeeping
2.0 Review/amend/adopt Agenda
3.0 Outline of Governance Procedures – Brent Thoma
4.0 Review/amend/adopt Minutes of AGM March 6th, 2011
5.0 Business arising from Minutes
    Report from the Members Finance Committee – as written
    Re: Motion 2011 #4 and #5
6.0 Director’s Reports:
    6.1 President
    6.2 Treasurer
    6.3 Education/Exam
    6.4 Insurance
    6.5 Complaints/Investigation
    6.6 Membership
    6.7 Public Relations
    6.8 Competency
    6.9 Legislation
    7.0 Executive Director

New Business:
8.0  Amendments to the Bylaws
9.0 Report of the Nominating Committee
10.0 Elections
11.0 Date of next meeting: Saskatoon - ________________, 2013
12.0 Adjournment

2011 AGM Minutes

Please right click here to view the minutes of the 2011 AGM in Saskatoon.

2011 AGM Attendance List

Please right click here to view the attendance list for the 2011 AGM in Saskatoon as a .pdf file.

Luanne Achtymichuk                             Rebecca Baerg                                                                
Warren Barry                                           Christina Battyanie
Lisa Bellamy                                           Carl Berry
Alvin Bodnarchuk                                   Marcy Boxall
Kenneth Braun                                       Travis Carlson
Caitlin Casement                                  Tegan Chappell
Monty Churchman                                 Cecile Coppens
Donna Crockett                                      Elizabeth Dahl
Dail deBussac                                       Laura Diachuk
Leanne Dickie Chester                        Chrystal DuBois
Mieka Dueckman                                  Mary Engel
Tammy Erickson                                   Jody Evans
Cassandra Exner-Williams                 Alvin Fetter
Angela Finkbeiner                                  Linda Fisher
Lina Foster                                              Michelle Franklin-Fiddler
Kim Frassetto                                         Carey Gerlinsky
Gus Giannoutsos                                  Donelda Gowan-Moody
Jennifer Greenhorn                               Calvin Haeusler
Julianne Heagy                                       Kaley Henderson
Leah Herzog                                            Sunava Hintz
Norey Hyra                                               Monica Isaak
Ruth Jellicoe                                           Troy Kerluke
Marles Kerns                                          Shalla Kistner
Darcel Kjelshus                                     Lara Kowalsky
Sheri Kroeker                                         Camille Lapierre
Andrea Laskowski                                 Dionne Laybourne
Rebecca Lazenby                                  Bob Lidington
Wilfred Linfield                                       Rauna Lowdon
Jodie Lundberg                                      D’Arcy MacDonald-Hall
Lenise Mang                                           Darlene McCoshen
Kyla McDonald                                        Mandy McLachlan
Corynn Mercier                                        Kimberly Michaliew
Lois Miller                                                Hali Monseler
Joanna Muma                                         Wynne Nicholson
Marcy Nordstrom                                    Andrea Ortt
Judy Osmachenko                                 Dan Ouellette
Dan Paquette                                          Wilma Poole
Courtney Probst                                     Susan Pulvermacher
Jolene Rigg                                             Pamela Schepp
William Schiffner                                    Emil Schmuck
Angelique Schroeder                            Barbara Schultze
Karen Seitz                                              Anthony Senz
Janine Slogotski                                    Jessica Smith
Charissa Snyder                                    Kelly Stadnyk
Luba Stephens                                       Pamela Stone
Sherry Strachan                                      Audrey Struck
Faye Tomyn                                             Diane Townsend
Marie Trafford                                          Greg Trombley
Evelyne Tucker-Lloyd                             Jennifer Tumback-Lueke
Camilla Turner-Steen                            Remi Valois
Valerie Verot-Leister                              Len Waker
Wayne Wenaus                                       Don Wickstrom
Trish Wiebe                                             Gail Wolff
Stacy Woolley                                          Peter Zemluk

PROXY VOTES
Ken Ansell                                               Tanya Auger
Dianne Fraser                                         Navarra Good
Jessica Green                                         Katherine Kushniruk
Charity Lewis                                           Darlene Robertson
Laurie Thompson                                   Melissa Tomka

Membership Finance Committee Report

Membership Finance Committee:  Warren Barry, Darcel Kjelshus and Kyla McDonald

At last year’s AGM a motion was brought forth to increase membership fees by $25/year. A committee was formed to discuss what that increase in revenue should be used for.
The Committee was made up of 3 members: Warren Barry, Darcel Kjelshus and Kyla McDonald.   The other three declined to participate.

The Committee met 3 times throughout the year and the following recommendations were made:

• An increase of 25.00 per member would increase revenue to MTAS of approximately $22,000/year.
• The increase of funding would be designated to specific budget items.
• General Revenue: $10,000 to offset the cost of doing business.
• Marketing: $4,000 increase to the current budget
• Legislation: $4,000 increase to the budget line item
• Massage Therapy Research: $4,000 budget line item

For your reference here are the motions made from the 2011 Annual General Meeting:

Motion #4:
That the increase be $25.00/year for practicing members and $12.50/year for non-practicing members.  This will result in the total cost of $355.00/year and $177.50/year respectively.
2011 AGM-9    C. Exner-Williams/A. Struck

Motion #5:
To commit the amended motion and the main motion to a committee to determine what the annual membership fees should be, and to report back with recommendations to the membership at the AGM 2012. 
Committee to be comprised of 5 members and the Board Treasurer.
Members to make up committee: Carey Gerlinsky, Darcel Kjelshus, Angelique Schroeder, Warren Barry, plus Don Wickstrom (current Education Director) and Kyla McDonald (current Treasurer)
 

Board of Directors' Reports

PRESIDENT'S REPORT: JULIANNE HEAGY
 In April, 2011, Jolene Rigg stepped down as President and I assumed the position. It has been a very busy year.

The board has met 5 times since our last AGM: 1 face-to-face board meeting, 3 video conference meetings and 1 face-to-face meeting in which we went through the KOLBE evaluations to try to place each board member in a position that would best utilize their personal strengths.

Our board grew from a board of 9 to a board of 14. This allowed us to realign some of the board positions and lessen some workloads. We also stepped into the age of technology this year, each board member now has a laptop to utilize for our video conferences and documents are all produced on the same program lessening the frustration of not being able to open each other’s reports, etc. The videoconferencing has saved the Association travel, accommodations and meal expenses for meetings. This was a true savings considering the increased number of  board members and the fact that our directors are located as far south as the US border and as far north as the Yukon. Lori and I also videoconference weekly--we use the time to follow the progress of projects, address questions and concerns that have come through the office and to discuss new and interesting items affecting either our association or the massage industry.

Our Executive Director, Lori Green, and I represented both MTAS and the CMTA (Canadian Massage Therapy Alliance) at the CLHIA (Canadian Life and Health Insurance Assoc.) Conference in Huntsville, Ontario, in May, 2011. We feel it is very important to have a presence and to develop and maintain relationships with the insurance companies. Many of our massage clients receive coverage under their group benefits. We need to work with the insurers to ensure these benefits remain.

Lori and I also participated in 3 CMTA meetings--1 face-to-face meeting in PEI in May and 2 Teleconferences (June & October). CMTA’s priorities continue to be development of strong relationships within the insurance industry; promotion of high standards of practice in Canada; and to assist and encourage non-regulated member provinces with their efforts toward legislation.

In July, we had a very productive meeting with government representatives regarding legislation. Lori gave an excellent presentation. Legislation Chair, Jessica Green and Committee Member, Garret Woynarski added valuable input as well. We left the meeting encouraged and a short time after received a request from the government for further information. We met again in November and worked through the questions given us and Jessica and Garret prepared a “Risk of Harm“ document explaining how the public could be at risk if receiving treatments from untrained “therapists“. The new info has been submitted and we await the next step.

Lori and I attended the Canadian Healthcare and Anti-Fraud Conference in Gatineau, Quebec in September. Of particular interest this year was the presentation on Massage Fraud. Unfortunately, it was presented in French but the gist of it was explaining to the insurers that not everyone who calls themselves RMT’s may be qualified nor competent. It was surprising to me to hear of the ways fraud has been perpetrated within the massage industry. With this in mind, efforts are being made to standardize billing, to create a Provider Directory of “competent massage providers” and to keep communication lines open with insurers so we can continue to guard against future fraud.

Throughout the year you may have heard the MTAS radio ads. This is thanks to the efforts of Darlene McCoshen before her duties of PR Chairperson were passed on to new director, Darcel Kjelshus. Darlene continues to work as our Membership Chair and continues to work with the development of business licensing for massage therapists in Prince Albert and with the development of Local Operating Chapters.

Don Wickstrom, Education Chairperson, and Cassandra Exner-Williams, Chief Examiner have had a busy year revamping the MTAS practical exam. We also thank Cassandra Exner-Williams for all the work she has done this year in reviewing the exam bank.

Aileen Tran Mapletoft is our new Competency Director and has spent much time reviewing and approving continuing education opportunities for con ed credits. She has also reviewed and made recommendations for changes in our con ed requirements.

Gus Giannoutsos, Complaints and Investigation Chairperson, fortunately had very few cases to review.

Although you won’t see a report from Marles Kerns, our secretary, nor Jolene Rigg, our past-president; we appreciate all that they have contributed to the board this past year.

During the year we said good-bye to Len Waker who has served on the MTAS board for 7 years and to Tanya Auger, one of our new directors. We want to thank them both for their efforts on the board and wish them well in their future endeavours.

Thank you to Lori and Jayne who work tremendously hard in the office on behalf of the board and the membership. They are incredibly productive multi-taskers and we are so very fortunate to have them.

Thank you to the board for all they do to make our association reputable and forward moving.

Thank you to the membership for your trust and for the opportunity to work on your behalf.

I look forward to seeing you in Regina at the AGM.

COMPETENCY REPORT: AILEEN TRAN MAPLETOFT
Happy New Year (or Gong Hee Fat Choy or Chúc Mùng Năm Mói or Bonne Anneé) everyone!

It was a pretty busy year for Con Ed projects and I am happy to say that I made it through my first year as a board member without a hitch. Before I continue, I would very much like to thank the following people who have helped ease me into this new role as Competency/ Continuing Education Director:

• Jayne & Lori – for keeping me on task and doing pretty much all the hard work.
• The RMT’s at Erindale Chiropractic Health Centre (Laura, Trish, Luanne, Bekah, Rachel) – for providing frank and honest opinions at committee meetings, even if it runs late into the night
• RMT’s at large (Cal, Casey, Andrey) – for offering your time towards future Con Ed committee projects.
• Past students of mine – each and every one of your comments, thoughtful cards, and well wishes have given me the confidence to take on this role; I am really grateful to have taught you all and even more grateful to have you as one of my colleagues.

CONTINUING EDUCATION ONLINE PROFILE CHANGES
As many of you have noticed, on December 15th, 2011, the Member Profile page on the MTAS website was changed. This change is one of many efforts to simplify online browsing and improve RMT search results for the public and fellow health practitioners. However, as a result of partial reorganization of the web page, some of our continuing education information needs to be updated. All members should sign in (if you have not already) and re-update your areas of specialized education as soon as possible.

NEW COURSES
Thank you to all members who submitted requests for credit approval of new courses. There were so many courses that I have not even heard of but sounded so fun and fascinating and I appreciate each and every one of your efforts to bring forth more courses to your fellow members.

For members who are tech savvy and prefer online/home study type courses, you are in luck! More online courses were approved for credits. Simply sign-in online on our MTAS website, click on the Continuing Education link, go to the Category drop-down menu and scroll until you find the Home-study/Online, and then click on the ‘FIND>>’ button. Voila!

Now that we are into a new year, I would like to remind all members to continue promoting massage education and experience by learning and taking new courses to complete all your required credits for this window as it will be ending this year (October 2012).  If you are strapped for credits, there are many avenues you can take (besides the traditional way) to achieve credits quickly and easily before the window is done:

• Online courses (TouchU.ca, etc.).
• Provide articles for our MTAS newsletter (i.e. literature review, fun quiz questions, current events in the massage world, etc.).
• Volunteer your services when MTAS sends out notices.
• Following our literature review guidelines, write and submit a report/review on any massage therapy related materials like journals, research articles, textbooks, e-books, DVD materials, seminars, etc. – even get extra credits if you want to submit it for our newsletter!

I hope these suggestions are a good starting point to help everyone finish up their credit requirements. Other than that, take care and enjoy the awesome weather. If anyone bumps into or takes any courses that you feel could be used towards your massage therapy practice, submit the relevant paperwork to me or Jayne as soon as possible so we can grant credits immediately.

Thank you again, and since it is the Year of the Dragon, I hope everyone gets lucky – oh, wait, that doesn’t sound right. I hope everyone has a lucky year. There, that sounds better!

EDUCATION REPORT: DON WICKSTROM
2011 was a very productive year for the Education and Exam committee.  We have completed the new Practical Exam format, which is now in use.  The new format is in two parts.  Part one mimics a realistic treatment setting: case history, interview, assessment, 30 minute hands on treatment, related to case history, followed by home care.  Part two is a question and answer portion, muscles: origin, insertion, actions, finishing with land marking, draping, and special/orthopedic testing.

This was a very large and time consuming project that was made possible with the volunteer time of our members and participants from the massage schools. My appreciation goes to the Chief Examiner Cassandra Exner-Williams, Monty Churchman, (for the hours spent initiating and designing the format), all the current examiners that attended the brain storming workshops, the massage schools for dedicating a Sunday to review our process and feeling open and comfortable enough to share their thoughts and opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of our exam.  Cassandra committed a majority of her year to this project, recreating the exam, writing an examiner handbook, and updated the candidate handbook.  Thank you to Jayne Little who finalized the layout and formatting of all these documents.

Special thanks to new members that joined MTAS in July 2011, Stefanie Bassingthwaite and Mark Donlevy.  Stefanie and Mark volunteered to stand in front of 12 examiners and pilot the new exam format.  This allowed the examiners a chance to see the process from start to finish; this also allowed the two candidates to give us an opinion and comparison from the new to the old format they had written just a couple months previous.

Lori Green and I attended (6-8) presentations at the three massage schools sharing with the students who and what MTAS stands for. 

Education is proud of our continued relationship with Dr. Adel Mohamed and the University of Saskatchewan Health Sciences College.  Our plan is to continue to host two Cadaver labs each year for MTAS members.

My wish to all our members is to enjoy and continue the passion of our chosen profession.  It is the passion and willingness to continued learning, seeking new networks of colleagues and friends that will keep us successful.  

MEMBERSHIP REPORT: DARLENE McCOSHEN
Hello to all members!!
It has been a great 2011 year. In the 2011 year we had lots of members come and go. To those of you who have kept up with membership fee's on time and your credits I commend you!. To those of you who seem to still have issues with fee's and time to find for con-ed credits, please look at yourself. We are a professional association. The public looks up to you for your professional skills. We need to take this in to consideration at all times! Legislation is so close, please help keep this protocol going. If you have issues, we as a board at MTAS are always willing to help, but need to hear from you.

It is also important that we try and keep LOC's going in your community. This is a great way for communication from you to us, so we can make things better. Please feel free to contact myself at anytime for more information if you are at all interested.

I also would like to thank Rawlco Radio here in Prince Albert, for working so hard on our MTAS  radio ad for 2011 and 2012. If you missed it, it will be back soon. Excellent PR!!!!

Last but not least, I again commend the board of directors for their hard work of dedicating their time to help our association be the best it can for YOU and our profession. Thanks again, look forward to another great year!!!

INSURANCE REPORT: JULIANNE HEAGY
As mentioned in my President’s Report, Lori and I attend the CLHIA Conference in May and in September we attended the Canadian Healthcare and Anti-Fraud Conference.

As Insurance Committee member on the CMTA Board, I have been working on an information document for insurers. I hope to have this completed before the spring Conferences begin so we can use it as a handout.

We have had a few SGI and WCB questions throughout the year. I have recently started posting the questions and response on our facebook page.

Lori and I will be meeting with SGI and WCB early in 2012 to negotiate our agreements with both insurers.

I encourage all members to contact the MTAS office if you have any questions or concerns with regard to SGI, WCB or other insurance companies. We will do our best to search out answers for you.

In case you missed it on facebook….
Had a question from a member about "NO SHOW" SGI and WCB clients. Can we bill them the clinic/RMT's "NO SHOW" fee?
I sent the question off to SGI and WCB and this was their reply:

"SGI does not fund for "no shows". It is based on our legislation which reads that SGI will provide reimbursement for medical and paramedical care. In the case of a "no show", the customer has not received care. This applies to all care providers.
We have a non-compliance policy with our customers; we certainly appreciate being advised about the "no shows". The PIRs discuss the absenteeism with the customer as it may affect their benefits.
As far as charging the customer directly for the "no show", that is considered extra billing, which is contrary to our agreement with MTAS." (WCB replied that their response is the same as SGI's.)
Lori Green commented - Please be sure to notify SGI and WCB when this occurs." 

NATIONAL INSURANCE REPORT: LORI GREEN
The CMTA and Provincial Associations continue to work diligently with the Canadian Life and Healthcare Anti fraud Association (CHCAA) and the Canadian Health and Life Insurance Association (CHLIA), in representing competent and legitimate massage therapists across Canada.  Initially meetings began in 2009 where the profession was finding very negative responses from benefit providers of the massage therapy profession.   Through the hard work of British Columbia, MTAS and the CMTA we are beginning to raise the bar and certainly educate the insurance industry on Massage Therapy as a profession and bona fide health care profession.

This year we were received more as consultants than defendants at both conferences held in Gatineau (CHCAA) and Deerhurst (CHLIA).   We are always amazed that most of the providers can list the various amount of massage therapy associations in Canada, but are unaware of the National Standard of 2200 hours.  Together we are sharing resources, dialogue and certainly concern over the growing costs of monitoring the benefit programs in the area of massage.  Ultimately, we know that only when all the Provinces are regulated that the system/profession can truly be viewed as a legitimate profession.

These conferences provide us with the opportunity to speak with our large benefit providers such as Great West Life, Manulife, Blue Cross’s and work together to solve problems that could reduce the amount of benefit dollars provided to Massage Therapists.
We continue to work with Joel Alleyne (CHCAA) on the development of the Provider Directory Index.  PDI has designed, developed and is operating a National Provider Directory (NPD), a comprehensive directory containing information about individuals and organizations that provide services to plan members insured by various private and public insurers. PDI the NPD will be used by various claims processing and insurance organizations to verify the identity and qualifications of these individuals and organizations for the purpose of processing and administering claims.  Currently NPD is working with Mindzplay on MTAS insurance provider information.

We also are working at the CMTA level on a standardized receipt that will be available to all CMTA members and therapists for insurance purposes.  This design is currently being piloted through British Columbia and BC worksafe.

The issue that both Insurance Associations are looking at is that of a digital signature or PIN number for our Therapist.  There is a growing trend, that registered numbers from all groups including physicians and surgeons are being used for the purpose of fraud.  With this in mind, there is a strong lobby at that level to assist professionals in the protection of their registration.

COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATION REPORT: GUS GIANNOUTSOS
Greetings members!
My name is Gus Giannoutsos and I am the Director of the Complaints / Investigations committee. I have been practicing in Regina for 11 years; originally on my own and now in a multidisciplinary clinic.

This is my first year on the MTAS Board after being a member since 2000. Other than a few minor complaints, thankfully I have not been busy in my new role. Keeping this in mind I would like to remind our Members to periodically review our Association's bylaws, code of ethics and practice standards. As a membership we have an obligation not only to ourselves and our Association but to our clients/patients as well to maintain these standards. This in turn will set us apart from the others and hopefully we will be able to reach our goal of legislation in the near future.

I look forward to seeing you all at the AGM!

LEGISLATION REPORT: JESSICA GREEN
2011 in Review
•Throughout the year, MTAS members and participating clinics surveyed public opinion regarding massage therapy legislation in Saskatchewan and MTAS members were asked to submit a vote for or against legislation.  These results have been documented and both the majority of the public and practitioner have been found to be in favour of legislation.
•In July of 2011, the MTAS Legislation Committee, President and Director met with Government of Saskatchewan to review MTAS submission for self-regulation of massage therapy.  Government of Saskatchewan reviewed the proposal and provided recommendations to the MTAS submission for legislation.
•In November 2011, joint meeting of MTAS Legislation Committee, President and Director addressed Government of Saskatchewan recommendations and formed response to key areas that included defining risk of harm, differentiating RMT scope of practice with other bodyworker’s, proof of member support for regulation, and developing ‘grandfathering’ strategies.
•In support of MTAS response to ‘risk of harm’ to public, examples were submitted by the Board Members and compiled and edited by Garret Woynarski.

2011 demonstrated gracious team work and support.  The MTAS staff, President, Board Members and Legislation Committee effectively communicated their needs, expectations and intuitive understanding of each others strengths and abilities that can be demonstrated by the accomplishments and sense of contribution each person I interacted felt this year.  Wow!

PUBLIC RELATIONS REPORT: DARCEL KJELSHUS
Hello Everyone!

My name is Darcel Kjelshus and I am the Public Relations Director for MTAS.  I have been a Massage Therapist and member of MTAS for the past 4 ½ years.  It has been an interesting year for me as this is my first year on the Board.  It is very educational to say the least, and I am looking forward to another year to further expand my knowledge of this side of the field of Massage Therapy. 

One of the items that I have been focusing on this year has been working on researching and beginning to develop new promotional material to be handed out at tradeshows and to the general public.  I am also working on further developing the MTAS Facebook page, which I would encourage all members to join as it is a fantastic networking tool to share ideas with fellow members all across the province.

I also want to take this opportunity to also encourage all members to continue, or begin to, volunteer within the community.  This is a great way to promote MTAS and Massage Therapy in general.  I am always looking for feedback on what you as the members would like to see happen within the association.  I want to send out a big thank you to all the members of the Board for all of the ideas and support throughout the year, it is definitely appreciated.
 

NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE: CHRISTINA BATTYANIE
The 2011 Board of Directors saw two resignationS and welcomed five new Board members.
Tanya Wagner and Len Waker resigned during this fiscal year. We thank them both for their service to the Association.
We welcomed Gus Giannoutsos (Complaints and Investigation), Marles Kerns (Secretary), Darcel Kjelshus (Public Relations), Aileen Tran Mapletoft (Competency) and Garret Woynarski (co-chair Legislation).

According to Bylaw 3.1 - Number and Term of Directors, Director/Officers: The Board shall consist of not less than nine (9) Directors, five (5) of whom shall also be the Officers of the Corporation and more than fourteen (14) Directors.

Board members returning to complete their terms as elected: Gus Giannoutsos,  Marles Kerns, Darcel Kjelshus, Aileen Tran Mapletoft, Darlene McCoshen, and Don Wickstrom.
Board members seeking re-election:  Julianne Heagy, Jessica Green,

Bylaw 3.2 Eligibility for Election
Any practicing Member or Non-resident Practicing Member with voting rights, in good standing, with the exception of an owner or operator of a massage therapy training school, that is qualified to act as a Director pursuant to the Act shall be eligible for election to the Board. A retiring Board Member shall be eligible for re-election.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT: LORI GREEN
It gives me great pleasure to once again address the members of MTAS on the 2010 – 2011 events of the Association.
Every year, Jayne Little (Executive Assistant) and myself continue to find more opportunities to explore and research in the diverse opportunities for MTAS, keeping us very busy at the office.  The three key objectives of the Board’s strategic direction is Legislation, PR/Marketing and Membership communications/services.

LEGISLATION:
In a word the main priority of this office continues to be Legislation/Regulation.   The committee co chaired by Jessica Green and Garret Woynarski has had a very successful year.  In a meeting that was attended by Jessica, Garret, Julianne Heagy and me we were greeted with positive feedback and an optimism that we have not received in previous meetings with the Saskatchewan Government.   We are now working on our next steps to prepare for our future meeting after this AGM.   Together the Government and MTAS are working in collaboration in order to prepare the required information for a briefing document to the Minister of Health.  A part of this collaboration was polling the membership for your opinion on the regulation of massage therapists in Saskatchewan. We received 494 responses, in which 89 % were in favour of this direction. 
In favour: 439
Opposed: 43
Unsure: 12
We also have submitted over 3000 public names that have signed a petition for legislation of Massage Therapy in Saskatchewan.

MARKETING:
We have continued to work on marketing MTAS to the masses, both public and interested stakeholders.  We focused on radio media this year.   Rawlco Music ran ads on their music stations from September through December.  It is hard to fully articulate the impact of the advertisements, but at the office we do notice many more phone calls from the public ensuring they are seeing an MTAS therapist.  We are working on our first appearance at the SUMA tradeshow at the end of January.  The PR committee is working on a slight revamping of the MTAS brochure and a new display unit that will allow us to display the many advantages of massage therapy as a viable treatment, as well as advocating on behalf of the MTAS therapist.

MEMBER SERVICES:
We consistently try and raise the bar on opportunities for our members.  This year we have added additional fields on our website.  These additions will help clarify massage therapists with advanced education in modalities as well as a private search tool for benefit providers to access our member list to verify a members good standing.
In evaluation of the newsletters this year it was determined that less than ten percent of the membership reads the entire newsletter.  To this end the Board determined that all newsletters will now ONLY be sent out electronically to our members and posted on the MTAS website.   This will cut down on unnecessary costs; we also will be providing 2 newsletters annually.
In order to help facilitate dialogue for our members we have started a Face book group.  We have several research articles posted on a regular basis from throughout Canada.  The face book address is: Saskmtas@groups.facebook.com
Finance also investigated the possibility of accepting payments for membership or workshops via an online banking system, PayPal’s, ABM – online etc.   It was determined by the financial committee and the Board that currently this would not be a financially viable service for members.
MTAS provided over 100 online courses for our membership and eight continuing education courses:  Nerve Mobilization (Upper), Pregnancy Massage, Infant Massage (2), Nerve Mobilization (Lower), Trigger Point and the Cadaver Labs (2).

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT:
MTAS has met with both the City of Saskatoon and City of Prince Albert municipal governments.  We were very encouraged when the City of Saskatoon initially changed their business license procedure to listing RMT on MTAS applicants in early spring of 2011.   This decision was overturned by the City in December after the legal department determined that the City is not concerned with credentialing merely zoning for business.  Thus, the City will give business licenses for massage therapists to anyone who is in the proper zone.  (Did you know that you can state any credentials e.g. MD when applying for a business license)?  The city of Prince Albert has been working with Darlene McCoshen in consultation with this office on their current bylaws of licensing.
We also have been asked to take part in consultation with the City of Saskatoon Police Services who is working on a new bylaw affecting minors working in “bawdy houses”.  To date we have not met.

GOVERNANCE:
We had the opportunity to work this year with Warren Barry and go through the KOLBE Index indicators to kick off the Board of Directors this year.  KOLBE is a team management system designed to identify individual’s instinctive strengths and talent.  Through this assessment the Board is formulated to work within our individual strengths and therefore provide an effective and strong management group.  Although this provided more than a few surprises within the Board the system has worked extremely well, and the Board has worked extremely well this year.
This year we began with an increase of 5 Board members for a total of 14 Board members.  In moving forward and keeping up with technology we moved towards regular video conferencing and less face to face meetings.  This has lowered our travel costs per members as well, as providing more opportunity for Board activity with few absentees.
I would like to thank the Board for all of their hard work and commitment to raising the standard of massage therapy and maintaining the integrity of MTAS and their commitment to the profession. I would like to particularly thank Julianne Heagy who has committed hundreds of hours to the Association and served not only as your President, but the Insurance Chair and National Insurance committee member. I would also like to say thank you to Len Waker who has stepped away from the Board of Directors after five years, and good bye to Tanya Auger who also left the Board this year.

I don’t need to tell most of you, how wonderful Jayne is at the office.  Jayne continues to initiate and facilitate the examinations, continuing education workshops, and is a membership liaison extrodiannaire.  Jayne and I work together with great synergy and her assistance to me day to day is invaluable.  Thanks Jayne.

In closing thank you to the membership for your support, feedback and assistance throughout the year.   I always welcome the conversations - all of them, concerns, praises and clarifications.  This year, with the membership poll I truly appreciated the opportunity to speak with individuals on the pros and con’s of regulation.  I believe that we both can learn from each other.
I look forward to another rewarding year with this Association.

2011 Volunteers

The Board of Directors would like to thank our 2011 volunteers:
Stefanie Bassingthwaite, Ken Braun, Monty Churchman, Mark Donlevy, Jody Lundberg, Wynne Nicholson, Pamela Schepp.

Financial Statements

Please click here to view the 2011 Financial Statements, prepared by Stewart, Gee and Associates, Certified Management Accountants.

Bylaw Amendments

Amendment #1
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE 9.8 (7)
To strike neither a member not member’s business can hire any person to administer any form of massage therapy unless the individual is a current Member holding a valid license to practice certificate, issues by the Massage Therapy Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.

And replace:
Where ever possible a member or member’s business will hire a Massage Therapists Association of Saskatchewan Incorporated (MTAS) member with a current practicing registration to administer any form of massage therapy. 

Moved by: C. Battyanie
Seconded by: Marles Kerns
 

Motions

At the time of writing we have received no motions from the membership.

Motions may be directed to the MTAS office by fax, e-mail or mail, and must be received prior to 4:00pm opn February 23rd.  The motions form is included in this package for your convenience.

AGM Forms

Here are the forms you may need for the AGM:

1. Motions form - click here.
2. Nominations form - click here.  
3. Board recruitment notice - click here.
4. Proxy notice form - click here.