{"id":2051,"date":"2019-09-25T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T23:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/?p=2051"},"modified":"2019-09-23T11:14:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T01:14:13","slug":"chairperson-spring-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2019\/09\/25\/chairperson-spring-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Chairperson Spring Message"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By\nMichelle McKerron<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What does the term ‘spring clean’ mean to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I\nhave been inundated on social media and through emails from various companies\nfor the last month telling me how their product will help me spring into\ncleanliness. When you live with the amount of people I do \u2013 not to mention the\nbirds, bats and possums outside our place \u2013 you\u2019ll understand how appealing getting\neverything \u2018cleaned up\u2019 sounds. If someone knows of a quick and easy way to get\nrid of the ongoing spiders-and-their-webs issue that I have, please let me know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve\ndone some bits and pieces around the place and it\u2019s looking a bit fresher, and,\nMarie Kondo style, I have managed to get rid of some of the bigger messes\nhanging around, trying their best to be ignored. It\u2019s been quite exhilarating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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One\njob I have put off for \u2013 actually I don\u2019t actually want to admit any timeframe\n\u2013 is checking out my first aid kit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When\nwas the last time you did a stocktake of your first aid supplies? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nare all aware of the need to renew our qualifications but what happens if we\nare faced with a real emergency? The knowledge is invaluable but a really handy\ncompanion is a well-stocked first aid kit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To\nstart with, I built a veritable mountain out of the first aid kits that I have\ncollected over the years. I recently booked my re-certification course for next\nmonth and realised that I will have now completed 8 first aid courses over my\njourney in massage therapy. Because I haven\u2019t checked what\u2019s in my old kit before\neach of these necessary learning days, I have needlessly purchased new, handy\nsized ones at each course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m\nnot the only one using the contents of our first aid kit. There are many\nfingers in that pie! This means, of course, that there are plenty of empty wrappers\nand no band-aids left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I\nalso have many, many bandages. I could set up a small market stall just selling\nbandages: crepe, triangular, compression, tube, and twice as many (I have no\nidea how) of those little spiky elasticised clasps. Nothing like sticking a\nspiky thing into an injured area\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My\nsterile wipes were shrivelled, out-of-date pieces of sandpaper, the discovery\nof which resulted in me sitting with a cup of tea to ponder my personal ideas\naround using alcohol on open wounds. Obviously, I then tallied up my saline and\nrealised that I had exactly none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\nwere no island dressings either. I feel like that\u2019s a real 90s salad reference\nas opposed to a credible first responder tool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\nwere enough gloves to run a CSI unit, and I now have cotton tip applicators\ncoming out of my ears. Not to mention a crazy number of safety pins that far\noutweighs any possible scenario in which they might be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve\nchucked out some burn gel that was out of date and I\u2019m also still not sure of\nmy opinion on that stuff. I\u2019ve kept the face shields and pray I never have to\nuse one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve\nalso kept the antiseptic cream and the small packets of tissues and the I-pad (my\njoke for the kids) \u2013 I mean eye pads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most\nexcitingly, I now have 5 pairs of really sharp scissors that I will genuinely\nput to good use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\nnearly got to the point where someone might have found me in the corner sobbing\nunder a space blanket (sorry, an emergency thermal blanket). Thanks to the\nsmall booklet included in most of these kits, I was able to navigate my way\nthrough not only a necessary culling, but also the crucial re-stocking. Funnily\nenough, of all the items in my first aid kit, I was not expecting to have to\nreorder splinter probes (those things used to remove a splinter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though it was a bit of a pain, I am glad that the process of the \u2018spring clean\u2019 unfolded as it did, especially considering my desperate need to stock up at training days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For\neach of us as AMT members, the spring clean may look very different. When was\nthe last time you looked in your filing cabinet or checked the pumps of your\noil bottles (gee, can they get grotty!) or observed how many spiders and their\nwebs are under your massage table?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AMT is spring cleaning too …<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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AMT\nfirst introduced continuing education as an ongoing requirement in 1994. That\nmakes our continuing education scheme 25 years old this year \u2013 older than some\nAMT members! For most of its existence, the CEU scheme has essentially been\nbased around the requirement to complete at least 100 \u201cpoints\u201d every year.\nWell, all that is set to change in 2020 as AMT hurtles into the 21st<\/sup>\ncentury and rolls out a brand new system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over\nthe past year, AMT\u2019s Education Committee has been working on a new professional\ndevelopment scheme. It acknowledges the massive industry changes that have\noccurred since the CEU scheme was established all those years ago, building\nmore flexibility and self-determination into how every individual member of AMT\nmanages their ongoing professional development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t panic! You will be gently transitioned into the new system throughout 2020 when your renewal is due, so your current CEU points will remain valid until your new membership year commences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please\nstay tuned for further announcements via email and social media. We will soon\nbe releasing a guide that explains how the new system will work, including FAQs\nand other supporting resources. In the meantime, we have written a position\nstatement that gives a broad outline of the scheme. I encourage you to read it.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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