On Wednesday, February 11, 2015, the 3rd year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students (Class of 2015), along with their professors, Cindy H. Gill, PT, DScPT, M.Ed,, and Michelle Gorman, PT, DPT, held meetings with delegates, senators, and staff members to discuss current issues that interest physical therapists in the State of Maryland. The students specifically met with delegates Carl Anderton, Jr. (District 38B), Charles Otto (District 38A), Johnny Mautz (District 37B) and Senator James Mathias, Jr. (District 38B).
Day on the Hill Insight from Corey Hall (Class of 2015):
Today was a very productive day on the hill and was a great experience for us all. The briefing in the morning with PTs, PTAs, and students was enlightening as they discussed their thoughts on the dry needling issue and the bill regarding special registration plates for individuals with disabilities. Even though we have already discussed these topics in the classroom, it was good to hear new thoughts on the subjects and listen to people that have strong beliefs regarding these issues.
Our meeting with Delegate Carl Anderton, Jr. and Delegate Charles Otto went very well. They were very supportive and willing to hear our thoughts about each topic we brought up. Our class, in conjunction with Cindy, did a great job advocating for physical therapy in this meeting. One big take-home that I got out of this meeting was that we are free to contact delegates whenever we feel the need to. I am glad that they will have an open mind and an open door to the field of physical therapy.
It was good to see the general assembly session between meetings in order to better understand that process. Unfortunately, I found it hard to get much more out of it because it was not related to matters that we were familiar with.
Our last meeting of the day, which was with Senator James Mathias, Jr., went very well. He immediately related to physical therapy due to personal experiences and supports all healthcare professions mainly because of his son’s accomplishments. It is a great thing to have a Senator that is so supportive of healthcare professions. Our class again did a great job explaining the current issues, and the senator listened to everything we said and cleared things up when he was unclear.
I am pleased with how our class represented UMES and the physical therapy profession.
