Section Report

International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals
Case Management Section Report May 2008

As we gear up for the Summer your CM section BOD is up and running.  Last month, we approved our Policies and Procedures and will be posting those to the CM web page at www.rehabpro.org for your comments and suggestions.  The CM section also filled all of our Board of Directors seats with two new members this past month.  I want you to join me in sending out a warm welcome to Catherine Rogers from UNUM.  She is a Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant and a very experienced vocational case manager, and a welcome addition to our board.  In addition, we want to send out a warm welcome to Raisa Mironowski, RN and Senior Clinical Consultant from UNUM.  Raisa was the recipient of the Outstanding Insurance Rehabilitation Nurse of the Year for 2007 at the annual conference in Los Angeles. Welcome Raisa!!  We now have a great representation on our BOD from all parts of the United States.

Speaking of the Los Angeles conference, what an incredible time!  The hotel and the accommodations were first rate.  With presidential candidates and celebrities afoot, all members enjoyed professional timely presentations and some fascinating personalities. The new proposed CRCC Code of Professional Ethics was presented and the changes are substantial.  I would encourage you all to visit the CRCC web page (http://www.crccertification.com/) and familiarize yourself with the new proposed code. CRCC provides and interactive web page for CRC’s to make comments on each section and suggestions.  It’s a way for you to get involved in the document that will guide your ethical practices for years to come.  The LA conference also offered a great pre-con session on Ethics and Technology by Mary Barros Bailey and Cindy Chapman from CRCC.  There are a lot of possible changes on the horizon and I encourage you all to visit the CRC web page and familiarize yourself with these.  Another great presentation was done by Carole Stolte-Upman on stress management for case managers.  She reminded us that in order to provide good services to our clients, we need to take care of ourselves first.  I could go on and on about presentations, but one of the most inspiring moments of the conference was the presentation of Outstanding Rehabilitation Participant to Lon Tekrony.  Lon gave a very heartfelt thank you to a standing ovation from the crowd.  It was a very special moment. Overall, I believe a fantastic & rewarding professional experience was had by all. 

Onto the summer and new adventures for the CM section; we are attending the Case Management Society of America’s Annual Conference and Expo in Orlando.  The CM section and the Membership Committee have joined forces and will be exhibiting at this conference.  This conference will take place in Orlando from June 17th-21st.  If any of you are planning on attending, please stop by the IARP booth and say hello.  We’ll have some great give-aways and will be recruiting new members.  As of this week, the Florida IARP chapter has stepped up with lots of volunteers to help staff our booth.  A big thank you to Joey Kilpatrick and the Florida members for their assistance in making this effort a sure success. 

Finally, we are in the planning stages for a possible CM/DM conference for next year, a new student paper competition for our section, and possible vendoring at other conferences.  Organizational outreach and growing our member base is a primary goal of the CM Board of Directors and we welcome your support of our efforts.  Don’t forget we now have a CM list serve up and running and we’ll be combing our list serve with the DM section.  Hopefully as our members continue to participate in the list-serve, this will become a highly valued member benefit.  It’s a great way to connect. To sign up, go to the members only section and look for the list-serve sign ups.  Have a great end of Spring and a wonderful Summer. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to volunteer for an IARP committee, email me at CMSectionRepIARP@aol.com. Till next time…….

Respectfully submitted by
Jon P. Veltri, M.Ed., CRC, CCM, CDMS, CPDM
CM Section Rep to the IARP Board of Directors
May 2008