American Massage Therapy Association, Oregon Chapter

 Today is

AMTA Oregon Chapter Bulletin Board

Oregon’s own Glenath Moyle of Portland has been elected to the national American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Presidency beginning in March 2011.

Moyle, who has been active in and around the massage community in Oregon for more than 20 years, has been AMTA-Oregon Chapter Secretary, 3rd Vice President, President, Newsletter Editor from 1997-2004, and to those of us active at the board level, “Mama Glen”, a supportive and knowledgeable presence and voice willing to share and help when asked.

Also in Oregon, she has served in a variety of capacities for the Oregon Board of Massage Therapists (OBMT), including Board Member (1990-97) Chair (1992-94), and several committees throughout the years. While currently running a massage practice in the Portland area, Moyle continues to remain active with

OBMT, including ongoing duties as an examiner at the board. At the National level, Moyle became a Member at Large on the National AMTA Board of Directors in 2004, serving until 2009 when she became National Vice President. She has been National Membership Chair (1999-2003), National Convention Co-Chair (2004), and she has been AMTA Representative to the Massage Therapy Foundation Board of Trustees since 2004.

Beginning this March, Moyle assumes the AMTA National President-Elect position, which she will hold until next March, when she assumes the Presidency. “I embrace the chance to serve as a leader in this great, diverse profession,” she says, “and honor the opportunities presented to our community to promote love, kindness and healing to humanity,” when asked about the focus of her presidency." AMTA promotes the core ideology of professionalism as we continue to evolve within the healthcare field”.

A native of New Zealand, Glenath and her husband Gordon moved to the Portland area in 1977, where they have raised four children. Two of their children were born in America. Glenath had been a Registered Nurse and Gordon an Engineer in New Zealand. Between New Zealand and the United States, the Moyle’s had lived for a time in Australia, where Gordon worked for NASA and as a Professor at RMC Duntroon (Australia’s West Point) and Glenath a geriatric nurse. In the United States, Glenath became a homemaker and a Girl Scout Leader, Trainer and Day Camp director.

Glenath entered the massage world by attending Notre Coeur College in Portland, graduating in 1988. She was licensed, and joined AMTA in 1989. She maintains a NCBTMB certification which she first earned in 1994. She was Oregon Chapter Meritorious Award winner in 1999, National Meritorious Award winner in 2004.

“For twenty years I have volunteered my time to advancing the profession, and supporting the massage therapy professional,” she notes. “I offer continuity of leadership, knowledge, dedication, enthusiasm, listening skills, and time,” she concludes. Moyle will be AMTA President when Portland hosts the 2011 AMTA National Convention that October.

Government Relations News
by Leah Bowder, LMT #12252
AMTA-OR Government Relations Committee Chair

There are several bills in front of the state legislature this session that have potential impact for massage therapists:

SB 146: This is a housekeeping bill presented by OBMT and is similar to the bill they introduced in 2007. It involves some minor changes and updates language in statute.

HB 2057: This is a bill submitted by Representative Mitch Greenlick in the Oregon House of Representatives. Passage of this legislation would take the state health related agencies including the Oregon Board of Massage Therapists and move them from their current semi-independent agency status back under full government pervue. Their current semi-independent status enables the Board to respond quickly to any number of issues. A change in status would add more bureaucracy and almost certainly would lead to what could be significant increase in licensing fees.

HB 2058: makes standard requirements and procedures for all board appointments.

HB 2059 & HB 2118: requires mandatory reporting of violations of health professionals.

HB 2347: prevents health licensing boards from assessing costs or attorney fees for disciplinary hearings.

HB 2345: Requires health profession licensing boards to develop process for dealing with impaired professionals.

As a massage therapist, I encourage you all to remember that our profession is regulated by the state legislature. Visit http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/home.html to contact your state representative and senator. It is important to stay informed and let your local representatives know how you feel about these changes. If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact me at 503-348-1574. I enjoy serving as your Government Relations Committee Chair and would be happy to talk to you.

My CVOP Experience
By Carol Ann Carnese, LMT#12504
AMTA-OR 3rd Vice President


I would like to take a moment to thank the board and membership for allowing me to attend the 2008 Chapter Volunteer Orientation Program (CVOP) in Evanston, Illinois this year. CVOP is such a valuable tool in many ways, and I could write on and on about it, but I will spare you and just give you my impressions in the short digest form.

In a nutshell, CVOP is about the members. Plain and simple. We are all so busy with our own lives with all the traumas, dramas, crises and demands from job, family, etc. that it is easy to forget why we are here.

How can I help YOU the Member? I volunteered to be on the board because I believe in the AMTA and what it stands for. The AMTA is doing great things for the Licensed Massage Therapists and even better things are ahead. I want to be a part of that. I want to hear from YOU out there to tell me what your concerns are. What do you think of your membership? What would you like to see done differently? I want to hear from YOU out there in McDermit as well as you in Wallowa, Beulah, Brookings and every place in between.

The theme for CVOP was “Remember the Member”. Every one of you out there is the reason I sit on this board today. I am a member just like you, and I’m no different than you are. I have bills to pay, kids to get through school, dinner to get on the table. Volunteering for the AMTA-OR chapter is my way of paying back to the membership. Every one of you out there can do the same thing with very little effort on your part. If you see a survey, fill it out. If there is a concern regarding anything at all to do with the AMTA, let one of your board members know. You don’t have to live in the metropolitan area of Portland to be on a committee or help out. We do a lot of things by email, by teleconference etc. Each of us on this board is here to serve YOU our members!

CVOP to me was a GREAT reminder to “Remember the Member” and why I am here. Our chapter has made attempts in the past to bring that CVOP feeling to our own state and reach out to our members with our own mini-CVOP with moderate success. I would like to see it become a HUGE success with people coming from all over the state to attend. Let us show you in person how you can help your own chapter. It is not nearly as hard or time consuming as it sounds.

I look forward to hearing from everyone all over the state, good, bad or indifferent because YOU are the reason we are all here.
 

Today I Became a Mechanotherapist ….Maybe! 

Mechanotherapy (měk'ə-nō-thěr'ə-pē) is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as ‘Medical treatment by mechanical means, such as massage’.   A week ago I had never heard of a mechanotherapist, let alone spell it.  Now maybe, I “R” one.  All I could think of was that in my childhood I had a Meccano™ i.e. an Erector™ set.

                          Artwork ©Sheryl Butler 2008

After twenty years as a massage therapist I was asked last week by an old friend, teacher and Chiropractor if I would bill insurance for massage.  In determining how to bill insurance I waded through a quagmire of minutiae.

First I needed the Treatment Prescription from the Health Care Provider, then the Insurance details from the client followed by a phone call to the insurance agent who sent me to ‘Claims’.  They reside in DuPont  (If you have watched the movie The American President you will know about the perils of DuPont Circle).  It seems that I now need this form, that form and every other form.  To proceed I called for help from fellow LMT’s.  The first one says “take my class”; “no time” say I “the client is on the way”.  The second one offers me copies of forms they use in their office, yet a third, a two year LMT  (you’ve got to love these  young, down to earth, internet savvy  gals),  says “Glen do you have an National  Provider Identifier (NPI)?  Just go to NPI on the internet and sign up“.   So off to consult the oracles of the internet go me, to google for NPI. 

After many detours find  the https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do   website.  Log in, enter all pertinent information, personal and business, and proceed to the Taxonomy code section.  Hmm, no massage therapy on the first menu.  I clicked “Other Service Provider” and found “Acupuncturist “, “Homeopath “, “Naprapath “, “Naturopath “and “Reflexologist”.  I’m in good company here so I must be on the right track, but still nothing looking like “Massage Therapist” just a classification for “Mechanotherapist”.   I googled the dictionary website and bingo and that’s what I “R”! …. maybe.  No more research needed, as I now have an NPI classification and I received an email with my NPI number.

However, I’m left wondering which CPT codes are valid.  So I call yet another friend and colleague who reminded me that in the February 2007 Oregon Board of Massage Therapy newsletter, BOARDerline, there was an article about NPI’s.  That article directed me to the Taxonomy “Respiratory” heading.  Who would have thought?

Back to the internet, more browsing, and sure enough, under the Respiratory section is the Massage Therapist classification.  I added Massage Therapist as the primary taxonomy to my profile and received a new email with the same number.

I’m still curious.  Where did these taxonomies come from?  So I did more research and found that the Enumerating authority appears to be the Washington Publishing Company, I believe a private entity, http://www.wpc-edi.com/codes/taxonomy

They show the following details and source as -
 
Active  Code 172M00000X  Type Level II Classification

Mechanotherapist
A practitioner of mechanotherapy examines patients by verbal inquiry, examination of the musculoskeletal system by hand, and visual inspection and observation. In the treatment of patients, mechanotherapists employ the techniques of advised or supervised exercise; electrical neuromuscular stimulation; massage or manipulation; or air, water, heat, cold, sound, or infrared ray therapy.

Source: Summarized from Ohio Revised Code 4731.15 [1/1/2007: new]

Now the question comes full circle – WHAT “R” I?
A dazed and confused therapist, 

Glen Moyle
kiwimom@kiwitouch.com                          

MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
by Johannes Venghaus, LMT#11918
How many times in your career as a massage therapist have you said to yourself, “I wish I had somebody who could show me how to, or help me with…” Whatever the issue is in our sometimes challenging profession, we think it would be great if there was a way to interchange information. To make this happen we need your help: We are looking for people that would love to contribute to the Mentorship Committee to put this together. If you think this is a great idea and you can’t wait to share your thoughts and ideas about how to make this work call me at (503) 789-9547 or send an e-mail to me at
jvenghaus@gmail.com.

As many of you know, our Iraq war veterans are returning home to the United States with a variety of physical and mental problems. Haleta Holmes of the AMTA Ohio chapter has started a program including a list of volunteer massage therapists listed on the website http://www.operationhomefront..net/. These massage therapists have agreed to offer to Iraq war veterans a first free massage followed by deeply discounted massages after, for a limited time.
Currently, I am the only volunteer listed for the state of Oregon. For those of you interested in adding your name to the list, please contact me, 503-348-1574, or email at leahbowder@yahoo.com, and I will get your name to Haleta.

By Leah Bowder, LMT #12252
AMTA-OR 1st Vice President

 

 

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