Since the beginning of 2017 Council has met five times in Edmonton to discuss College activities and vote on policy matters that affect the public and regulated members. Meeting highlights included:
- Council continues to ensure the important legislative mandate is being fulfilled. This year a total of 2084 regulated member renewed their registration for the 2017-2018 year. All regulated member submitted their Continuing Competence Program.
- Council continues to work on, and refine its Governance Model and monitor the implementation of the Strategic Plan and College spending.
- Council continues to educate itself on the Carver model, how to more effectively use that model and practices these skills at each meeting to institutionalize the model.
- Council held elections and wishes to extend a warm welcome to Jennifer Lee, Andrea Petryk and Sheron Parmar. Council also wishes to extend its gratitude to those regulated members that let their name stand for this very important role: Ana Holowaychuk, Dan Yeung, Heidi Knupp, Louis Joseph, Marek Kaim, Moonira Rampuri, Taiwo Solademi and Tiffanie Mo-Law
Council would like to also thank those who voted in both the Council election and tie breaker elections. A total of 503 registrants voted in the 2017 council election, the highest number of ballots cast since 2013. The tie breaker vote saw 538 votes cast.
- Council has also approved a relocation of the office to Sprucewoods Business Park, 312-8925 51 Avenue NW in Edmonton. The new location will allow for total accessibility to the office, allow greater use of technology for meetings, and provide ergonomic workstations for all staff. The new office will meet the needs of Council, staff, registrants and the public for many years to come.
- The College is excited to have Mary Culshaw facilitate an Ad Hoc Practice Advisory Committee to create a vision for the College’s role in supporting professional practice in the province. The Committee is tasked with establishing a process for addressing practice issues that will support Occupational Therapists in Alberta providing ethical competent occupational therapy services.
- Council has completed its work on the Annual Report and this report will be presented to Hon. Sarah Hoffman, Minister of Health. Once the report has been tabled in the legislature, it will be posted on www.acot.ca for access by registrants and the public. An eNews will be issued once the annual report is available.
- The Council has finalized a Council Handbook for current and future Council members. The purpose of the handbook is to establish a consistent training program for Council members that provides valuable information on Council’s important work and sets the expectations of council members.
Council also wishes to acknowledge the hard work of Martin Anderson and for his contribution to Council.
The Diagnostic Committee’s work on diagnosis has concluded and Council is grateful to the following members for their hard work:
- Kerstin Hurd – Chair
- Martin Anderson
- Debra Froese
- Suzette Bremault-Phillips
- Dorothy Guch
- Keith Pauley
- Jeffery Meyer
- Danielle Johnston
- Cara Weir
- Laura Locher
Council also recognizes all registrants who work hard every day to ensure they are meeting the Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics.
The following Council meeting minutes are now available:
The Annual Report is Now Available
The 2016-2017 Annual Report of the Alberta College of Occupational Therapists has been submitted to the Minister of Health and Wellness for tabling in the Legislature.
You can now view the annual report on the website.