Why Travel the State?

I had a dream before I was elected President of LPTA, but with the knowledge that I was running unopposed (and, basically, was sure to become the next President of LPTA).  In this dream, I saw myself all over our great state of Louisiana, meeting with therapists, assistants, and students where they live and work.  I saw myself in cajun country, with the spanish moss hanging from the trees.  I saw myself at the new PTA school in Alexandria area, talking to the new PTA students there.  I saw myself in Shreveport, where I am from and live and work, talking to therapists I've known since school.  And I was happy, in my dream.  And it felt right.

And, so, because of the inspiration of a dream and the fortunate ability to be able to afford the time and money to travel the state, I made the decision to do just that, and to go visit all of you therapists where you live, work, study.  Luckily, I do not live in California or Texas, for those states have large surface areas and would be difficult to travel alone.  Luckily, the timing of all of this is just right: with the passing of both of my parents, and my last child out of the house, I have little responsibility except for my job in home health and for the cats, and they can hang with my being gone a bit.

So, I made a plan to work closely with the District Chairs and when they had a meeting in 2011/2012, I decided I would make every effort to not only show up at the district meeting, but to take some time in each district to go to hospitals, rehab units, outpatient clinics, nursing homes, PT and PTA schools, to visit with therapists where they work and study.

 I imagine it will be quite a ride, and I am going to listen and learn.  My goal is to not just put names with faces, which is quite important, but to gain some history of physical therapy in this state, some knowledge of issues and concerns affecting therapists across the state, and to promote membership.  And I decided the best way to share a little of the knowledge gained on these journeys was to create this blog.  I've never "blogged" before, but this might be a great time to start.  I like to write, to create.  This also seems right!

Stay tuned for further updates as I make my first trip to Thibodaux and Houma!