2011 APTEI Acupuncture & Dry Needling (ADN) Program

National Physiotherapy Month 2011 —
Physiotherapists and physiotherapist assistants promoted their
profession during May’s National Physiotherapy Month in record
numbers this year. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this
year’s involvement, OPA sent out over 3650 brochures (English &
French), 275 posters, 1800 pens, 85 water bottles, 100 yoga mats
and bags, 215 buttons, 25 reusable bags, 30 OPA t-shirts, and
many, many information sheets! We also lent out our new “Stronger
in So Many Ways” campaign tabletop and OPA banner to six sites.
Members displayed and distributed these marketing materials to
promote physiotherapy at career fairs, open houses, kindergarten
presentations, various charity/fundraising events, promotional
nights/lunches, hospitals and long-term care homes, using the
larger materials as prizes for games and incentive challenges.
Following are some NPM highlights as reported by our members:
Bluewater Health Physiotherapy, Sarnia, ON
Bluewater Health Physiotherapy hosted their very first
Physiotherapy Week this May, and made it a great success! One
way the Bluewater team got peoples’ attention was with their clever
“Minute to Win It” game, in which players were challenged to
physio-based games, such as keeping a feather up in the air to test
lung capacity, or running on the spot with a pedometer to measure
speed and endurance.
Bluewater Health Physiotherapy ready to celebrate NPM in their team t-shirts
that read: “Your Mobility is in Good Hands.”
Front Row L->R: Cathy Jordan, Karen Cecchini, Christina Bielawski, Cindy
Wilson, Jennifer Verslype, Krista Steeves, Lisa Handy, Chitra Phadnis, Kim
Soeder; Back Row L->R: Jenny Lobb, Subash Prasad, Karrie Randall, Terri
Springett, Dana Winegard, Stacey Duffy, Laura Gray, Glen Adam; Absent from
Photo: Heather Arnold, Pam Sottosanti
12
Saint Elizabeth Rehab, Hamilton, ON
This May, Saint Elizabeth Rehab promoted the physiotherapy
profession with a skill-testing quiz on physio-based knowledge,
using OPA marketing materials as incentives to get people involved!
Saint Elizabeth Rehab’s display
board, including an OPA water bottle
and one of OPA’s “Stronger in So
Many Ways” posters.
OPA yoga mat and winner!
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre,
Toronto, ON
National Physiotherapy Month did not go unnoticed at
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where 110 Physiotherapists
and PTAs are employed between the two sites (Bayview campus
and the Holland Orthopaedic Arthritic Centre). NPM festivities
included a variety of activities with a particular focus on health
promotion, with daily walks in Sunnybrook Park for staff and prizes
for those who chose the stairs over the elevator. Bayview campus
hosted a physiotherapy information booth where raffle tickets were
sold for a variety of prizes including OPA merchandise (yoga mats,
water bottles) with proceeds being donated to the Red Cross Japan
Earthquake/Asia Tsunami Relief Fund. The Holland site hosted
past CPA President, Mike Landry, who presented on the rehabilitation
needs of those who survived the Haiti earthquake. The internal
hospital website had a dedicated National Physiotherapy Month
page which allowed staff to learn more about the profession. As
well, many program directors directly acknowledged NPM and the
critical role that physiotherapists play along the continuum of care
at Sunnybrook through hospital wide emails.