Try to find this email from the OAND: look in your trash if you have to.
Why this matters to you...
We will lose all power to have any actions taken on our issues. You might remember a hint of what was discussed when we had to go to the policy day in Columbus. If they vote to pass this bill, we lose most of our influence to protect what little ground we have gained on issues of our worth, reimbursement, protecting our scope of practice, etc. As it is right now, we have hung on by a thread to maintain the current status of dietitians in these areas. What will happen if this passes? The nurses will still have their board (their priorities don't include us) and we will be tucked away into a small corner of the all encompassing medical board; our voice will not be heard, the priority of our issues will fall way down to the bottom.
Since I first started working on this blog post, a second email from Pat McKnight was sent upgrading the progress. If you value your value and want to protect the momentum we've gained over the last years, then take a moment to call the legislators listed. The dialogue is all scripted out for you; it's not as simple as the one click action alerts in the past, but it's still pretty easy.
As CNMs, we will be responsible for all these issues. We need a strong advisory board to create the change we want in the future.
|
| November 25, 2016 |
|
OAND Members,
Many of you have heard the BAD NEWS -- two bills introduced last week -- SB 366, HB 617 would restructure the independent board status in Ohio and ABOLISH the Board of Dietetics. It would put dietitians under the Medical Board, where -- even if they add an Advisory Committee, we will lose all power to have any actions taken on our issues. We met with the coalition of Board advocates and all are concerned that the legislature plans to rush these bills through before mid-December. We have little time to stop this, but we MUST do that.
We have linked several items below. A fact sheet to help you understand the three (3) issues and the one (1) that has the most effect on Dietetics, a list of legislators on the House Committee to which the bill has been referred and will meet next week and a script to use for your calls. The Senate Committee has not been identified yet, so there will be another list of legislators soon. The bill MUST BE STOPPED IN BOTH THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE.
Three additional calls you need to make -- the Governor's office because we know the Governor is directly involved in pushing this issue- 614-466-3555 and then your own State Representative and State Senator and ask them to help you fight this. If you don't know who are your legislators, go to www.legislature.state.oh.us and enter your zip code plus 4 to get those names. These calls need to be made NOW and the next list before December 6th.
No one wants to deal with this, especially with the holidays, but our FUTURE IN OHIO depends on each of us.
Pat McKnight, MS,RDN, LD
State Policy -- Ohio Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Assistant Professor, Nutrition
Mt. Carmel College of Nursing
mcknightp@aol.com
FD
|
|
Comments
Post a Comment