Archived Messages from the President

Tate Erickson Messages as President

Greetings Fellow Athletic Trainers:

I hope this letter finds you all staying warm as spring is fast approaching. Let me start with thanking the entire memberships for a great 2008. We saw the largest turnout we have ever seen at our May, 08' NHATA state meeting. The 2008 Student symposium was again a success. And we have also seen changes in the Executive Board Members and Committee Chairs. A large thank you goes out to Danielle Miller (Brandeis University) as she served as our Ballot and Nominations chair for quite some time. I would also like to thank Andrea Lemire St. Onge (Pinkerton Academy) for her service on the Licensure Committee where she served as chair for the past few years.

As we move into the 2009 year, I have many exciting topics to discuss so let's get started. First off, the executive board and membership have elected Liesl Lindley as our NHATA President Elect. Her term will begin in January, 2010. As for openings, the executive board is currently accepting nominations for the position of secretary on our NHATA board. Please email your nominations to our current secretary, Jen Austin.

The NHATA has a busy year planned and hope as many of you can get involved as possible. It was good to see many of you at our January 10th EATA New Hampshire business meeting in Boston. Next on our agenda is the 6th annual "Hit the Hill" in the Washington D.C. Not only will we be well represented by our certified membership (Myself, Liesl Lindley and Dr. Wanda Swiger - Keene State College) at this year event but we are also sending two New Hampshire student members to the first ever "iLead." Matthew Roberts of Keene State College and Ali Serrani of Plymouth State University will be attending this all weekend event on February 21st & 22nd. The students will also be present as we speak with our U.S. Senators and House of Representative Members on Monday, February 23rd as we "Hit the Hill" to discuss "The Medicare Access to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services Improvement Act (H.R. 1846)." Also, it's pertinent to stay tuned on our upcoming state meeting. The New Hampshire Athletic Trainers' Association will be hosting their annual meeting, Sunday May 17th at Bow High School. The meeting will serve as a continuing education opportunity for those in attendance and will run in tandem with the NHATA business meeting. Details to be announced in the near future. At this meeting we will be giving out the NHATA's 2008 Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer award to a recipient to be determined. PLEASE use the application on NHATA website under "awards and service opportunities."

For our student members, The 4th Annual Athletic Training Student Symposium will be held at the University of New Hampshire on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 from 10:00 am - 4:30 pm. The four Athletic Training Educational Programs (KSC, CSC, PSU and UNH) will each have students present. The Key Note Speaker this year will be Jay Sedory from the United States Marine Core, Washington D.C. During the proceeding's we will announce "The Dan Sedory New Hampshire District 1 Scholarship" ($1000) and two NHATA Student Scholarships ($500 each) The 2009 Daniel R. Sedory New Hampshire District 1 Scholarship and New Hampshire Athletic Trainers' Association Athletic Training Student Scholarships are available to apply for now on the NHATA website (new format) under "student's sections." The deadline for submission is February 27th 2009.

As it is very difficult to provide all updates state wide, I hope the above notes have brought you some insight to our membership.

Sincerely,
Tate Erickson

May 24, 2008

Greetings:

I hope this letter finds you all enjoying this beautiful spring. I would like to take a few minutes of your time to bring NH membership up to speed on a few topics. Let me start with updates on our NHATA executive council. For those unaware, we have had a change in our executive council that began at EATA in January. Peter Thurber, Colby Sawyer College, has moved into the role of past president and I, Tate Erickson, Keene Sports Medicine Center, have taken over the role of president. Neil Duval, St. Anselm's College, also a past president has taken over treasurer duties. And lastly, Jen Austin, Colby Sawyer College, is our secretary.

This past year has been very enthusiastic on a state and national level for NH ATC's. We had four members of NHATA attend the "4th Annual Hit the Hill Day" in Washington D.C. We had a chance to meet with a health counsel member of House Representative Paul Hodes. We also met with legislative team members of Senator's Judd Gregg and John Sununu. Much of the time spent with these three parties was used to educate how important athletic trainers have been on the NCAA level and secondary school level in the state of NH. The meetings in D.C. were extremely optimistic and we all walked away feeling very comfortable that our legislators now have a clear understanding that athletic trainers are solid healthcare providers and how strong our four ATEP programs in NH are. Progress continues to be made nationally as 10 House representatives have now "co-sponsored" this bill (HR 1846).

On April 6th, 2008, the NH Student Symposium took place. I had a chance to attend this meeting, where over 100 students gathered from the four NH ATEP Schools (University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State College, Colby Sawyer College and Keene State College) at Keene State College. The event was packed with student lectures, three scholarship winners (Rebekah Porter - UNH, Shannah Dalton - CSC and Taryn Nicoletta - CSC), a quiz bowl and the keynote address by Dr. Marcia Anderson (Program Director Bridgewater State). The historical EATA took place in January, 2008 where Rebekah Porter, UNH senior, took home another scholarship - EATA District I Karl Krein Scholarship.

This past year has also seen a few changes at two of our four ATEP schools. Dr. Sherry Bovinet has retired at KSC after serving over 30 years as program director. Dr. Wanda Swiger is now the program director at KSC. Colby Sawyer College saw a transition 07'-08' school year. At Colby Sawyer College John Culp completed his two year appointment as program director and Dr. Jennifer Austin has taken the reigns as program director.

As it is very difficult to provide all updates state wide, I hope the above notes have brought you some insight about our membership. It is also important to note that our state website has seen significant changes and with the help of T. J. Smith at Colby Sawyer College, you can find the most recent updates right at www.nhata.org.

I hope you enjoy a beautiful NH summer and hope to see some of you in St. Louis at the NATA.

Sincerely,
Tate Erickson