Annual Report 2005 Alberta Opticians Association
Transcription
Annual Report 2005 Alberta Opticians Association
Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 2005 Annual Report 2005 Alberta Opticians Association A L B E R T A O P T I C I A N S ASSOCIATION June 30, 2006 The Honourable Iris Evans Minister of Health and Wellness Alberta Government 107 Legislature Building 10800-97 Avenue Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2B6 Dear Hon. Minister: In keeping with the requirements of the Opticians Act, Section 12.1, subsection 1, which states: “The council shall submit to the Minister an annual report on the business and affairs of the Association as the Minister requires in a form satisfactory to the Minister.” As we are not yet proclaimed under the Health Professions Act, we will be changing our format to our annual report to comply with the Health Professions Act that will be reflected in our 2006 Annual Report. The Association is delighted to present the report for your review and to present to your colleagues in the Legislative Assembly. Sincerely, Deborah Newby President Alberta Opticians Association 4726 – 99 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6E 5H5 Ph: (780) 429-2694 Fax: (780) 426-5576 Toll Free Fax: 1-800-584-6896 E-mail: [email protected] Annual Report 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Council 2005-2006 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Debra Burgess Vice President, Edson Deborah Newby President, St. Albert Bill Mathewson Public Member, Edmonton Maureen Hussey Executive Director MEMBERS OF COUNCIL Lies Parkes Consumer Affairs, Edmonton Valli Elmgren Third Party Contracts & CSE, Edmonton Glenda Tsimaras Practice Review, Edmonton Ian MacIvor Education Contact Lens, Edmonton Holly Keyko Registrar, Medicine Hat David McGowan Continuing Competency, Red Deer Jarratt Cutlan Education Eyeglass, Calgary Deborah Newby Finance and Audit ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Maureen Hussey Executive Director Kristie Gross Executive Assistant Lynda Coghill Registration Administrator Nancy Cairns Accounting Administrator President's Report Dear Fellow Colleagues, Approximately 10 months ago I entered into the position of President with an abundance of enthusiasm and energy. Aided by suggestions, opinions and direction from many of you, I am pleased to say that we have focused on what we do best, the development of a pattern in the Council in which your performance and outcomes are based upon professional standards of integrity. Although over used, the quote “look at the big picture and see into the future”, is appropriate at this time. When we started planning, we brain stormed over and over with regards to our profession. From this came my “ah ha” moment which was, that in order to move ahead more smoothly, the profession and each of us must stand up for what we believe. I think we have made headway toward this goal through the achievements that have been put in place over the past year. We have a deep understanding of our principles as the path for us to follow has been defined. Granted, we haven’t had all of the answers at our fingertips but we’ve never lost faith as to why we are members of Council, professionals one and all. Through research and the constructive exchange of ideas, the purpose of the Council and each of our places within it are now clearer. Respectfully submitted, Deborah Newby Vice President Well another year sweeps by and we are still awaiting the finalization so we may go under the HPA. We have met with the Deputy Minister of Health and Wellness and we believe that we are prepared. It is just a matter of time. Council has been busy setting and adjusting policies, a big job and a job well done. As the story of Alberta hits the Association office, we too, have undergone staff changes, and council participation adjustments. We need some of our members to attend our meetings and possibly volunteer on projects that maybe of interest to them. Thank you to those who already volunteer, we greatly appreciate it. I still don’t see YOU running for Council, please do. It is a real eye-opener to see what actually goes on at the AOA every single day. A great thank you to Council and staff for all they contributed to the 2005-2006 year. Respectfully submitted, Debra Burgess Annual Report 2 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Practice Review Report Practice Review this year has focused on Standards of Practice. Meetings for both the North and the South were held, the south was held on August 26, 2005 and for the north on March 12, 2006 and they are currently coming along. More work is necessary and you will have many more chances to comment as they progress. Respectfully submitted, Glenda Tsimaras Discipline The following are complaints received: December 2, 2005: Complaint from Optician regarding Professional Misconduct. Under review. December 16, 2005: Complaint from Optician regarding Professional Misconduct. Under review. January 5, 2006: Complaint from Optician regarding Professional Misconduct. Under review. January 5, 2006: Complaint from Optician regarding Professional Misconduct. Under review. January 5, 2006: Complain from Optician regarding Professional Misconduct. Under review. January 19, 2006: Complaint from Optician regarding Professional Misconduct. Under review. Respectfully submitted, Deborah Newby Knowledge? Yes, and I have called on many of you to assist me when I have needed some solid advice. Frustrating? You bet. Many times we are frustrated with the time it takes to implement the changes we are trying to make. Rewarding? Oh yes! This has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. The people that have made the commitment as Council members deserve a tremendous amount of credit. They give all of the things above without question. The energy level of this Council is unmatched. There have been many projects accomplished, and so many more started. I encourage all of you to step up to the plate. I would like to take this time to thank many members of the AOA for their assistance and time on some of the projects that I have been working on throughout this year. I have made some late night phone calls when I am immersed in a project and have a question; and you have answered without hesitation. For that, I am grateful. There are some members that have lent a critical eye when I needed it, and some that have tied rocks to my shoes to keep me grounded when I am about to hit the ceiling. Thank you. The office staff; past and present are incredibly tolerant when I call ranting and raving about a deadline that I don’t think I can achieve. They are all great people with a tremendous amount of patience! I am looking forward to another successful year with the Council, and I look forward to serving you as Registrar. Respectfully submitted, Holly Keyko Registrar's Report It doesn’t seem as though a full year has passed since the last Annual General Meeting. It seemed to creep up on me rather quickly, again. This year has been a year chalk full of change. There are many areas that the Council has been working on including: rules, regulations, standards of practice, strategic planning, and board training. It seems as though Council meetings are not long enough to cover everything on the agenda. The council members are constantly learning, constantly striving to improve and grow our Association to a level that will see us recognized as the professionals that we are. We are trying to recruit committee members, many of you have so much to offer. We know you do! Time? Yes, there is a time commitment. Effort? Yes, one must put forth effort. Annual Report 3 Consumer Affairs Report Date received: August 7, 2005: Product complaint from a consumer, solved Date received: August 7, 2005: (yes, 2 in one day!) Product complaint from a consumer. Also solved. Date received: October 6, 2005: Product complaint from a customer. Dispensary offered to replace but consumer had already bought somewhere else. She wanted a refund but that was not an option. Sent consumer a letter with the outcome and haven't heard again. Paper work given to Leesa Huseiff 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Date received: August 26, 2005: Product complaint from consumer. Sent to registrar. linking up with our program but to date no other group has seen fit to start a program such as this for Opticians. In some ways we are becoming a victim of our own success because we need to expand this program to make it more viable in a competitive market. Date received: August 9, 2005: Product complaint from consumer. Refund given. Respectfully submitted, Lies Parkes The other issue we are facing is the transition of the Alberta Opticians Association into a regulatory body under the Health Professions Act (i.e. the College of Opticians of Alberta). As a regulatory body only we cannot continue to run a program like CSE. We would need to start another organization to operate such a program. With that knowledge in mind, your Council has begun discussions with the Opticians Association of Canada (OAC) to have them take over the operation of the CSE. This would simplify the already very involved transition from combined association and regulatory body (AOA) to the College of Opticians of Alberta. With that realization in place the AOA Council has been working with the OAC Council to move the CSE and its sister program, the Dress Eyewear program to OAC administration. Third Party Contracts We are still waiting for CSA Standards to finish their testing requirements for the OHS. No negotiations this year. Rescpectfully Submitted by, Vallie Elmgren Canadian Safety Eyewear This move will serve a couple of purposes. Firstly, it will allow access to this program for industry and Opticians across Canada. Secondly, it will allow the AOA to divest itself of the CSE program which it would not be allowed to operate under the new College. Looks like a win-win for all. This program has been providing service to industry in Alberta since 1992. It was initially started to help provide better safety eyewear service at reasonable cost while ensuring that Opticians continue to be a part of dispensing safety eyewear. In 1992, the Optometric Occupational Vision Care program and private company service for safety eyewear were the only options available. Many Opticians had no access to dispensing safety eyewear or were offered very low dispensing eyewear fees. It was also hoped that the Canadian Safety Eyewear (CSE) program would supply additional operational funding to the AOA. Respectfully submitted, Valli Elmgren and Drew Jeffries Education - Eyeyglass The focus of my energies with regards to the specificity of this portfolio revolved around the AGM and the professional development seminars the Association is to provide. Discussions were had with the Director-Eyeglasses, and it was agreed (via the crossover of my professional duties) that NAIT would sponsor the speaker for the day. This speaker is to be Warren McDonald, PhD of North Carolina. Dr. McDonald is an internationally renowned speaker, Optician, and leader in the education of Opticians. We expect Dr. McDonald will challenge the membership, as well as entertain and educate. Well, fourteen years later we are finally seeing some of that initial promise. During the last two years we have seen the sales and profits for CSE programs almost double. This is in part due to the involvement of members through the finder’s fee and royalty program. Alberta Opticians are helping us to sell our program. Industrial companies are also seeing the need to provide quality safety eyewear service and they are turning to our program for that service because it is cost effective and efficient. As you know, I was not elected to council. My appointment was an interim one, and I am pleased to learn others have shown interest in joining this excellent council. It has been my privilege to serve the membership. I thank you for considering all and any comments or proposals I have brought to your attention, and I look forward to continuing our communications and advancing our profession when I One of the recurrent requests for CSE services is to provide this service to a wider geographic area than just Alberta. The CSE program is the only one of its kind, strictly for Opticians, in Canada. We have talked with other provincial Optician associations about Annual Report 4 2005 Alberta Opticians Association as a guest for the next and future council meetings in my traditional role representing NAIT. me and was trying to get credit for everything and anything that they thought that they should get credit on. Respectfully Submitted, Ian MacIvor, RO, RCLP EDUCATION - I will give you all some non-specific examples of what I have encountered from members and various suppliers. A supplier asked for credit on an upcoming seminar, with only this information, topic, presenter and length of time. How do you accredit this? Is it worth one credit total or one credit per hour, or nothing at all? Quite frequently I will receive from the membership a completion certificate from a course or seminar that they have attended. There is no information on the topics that were presented, the length of time involved or who the presenter was. So what do we give for credits? Eyeglass I wasn’t sure what to expect coming onto Council last year, but looking back I see much growth and success over the past year. With December 31st closing the books on another education cycle, we had some excellent presentations and seminars to finish off the year. Council got a dose of “practice what you preach” over the past 12 months, with a pair of weekend long planning sessions that have given us the tools and confidence to implement our strengthened vision and goals. A little education for everyone is very much a “good thing”. In the quest to better serve our members and to make Continuing Education credits more accessible, be on the look out for two new endeavours from this portfolio. One is an ongoing series of informal roundtable discussions to spread knowledge and experience between all Alberta Opticians, chain, independent or otherwise. We hope to regain some of the camaraderie and cohesiveness that will carry this profession into the future. We are also looking to utilize our most important information tool, the Eighth Line, in a way to provide continuing education modules and credits to again better serve our members and to give more value for your dollars. I would like to thank all of my fellow directors for all the hard work over the past year and to all of the members who volunteered their time as well. All the hard work in the past and the work we have ahead of us will benefit all in this profession for many years to come. Respectfully submitted, Jarratt Cutlan The last issue that I have is with suppliers that send out information asking for credits to be assigned days before the seminar is to take place. If they can organize a seminar, book a facility and send out invitations. Surely you would think that they can get the information to the association 2-3 weeks in advance so that proper credits can be assigned. Please spare a thought for whoever is responsible for this portfolio, a lot of time and effort goes into assigning proper credits for these seminars. So if you attend a seminar and it does not have credits assigned the Director of Continuing Competency has probably not received the information in a timely manner. Enough with the griping, I am just trying to let you, the membership, know what we are looking for in order to get seminars accredited in a timely and effective manner. I have enjoyed working for you the membership in this capacity, and some of the speakers and seminars that I get to look at are outstanding, like this weekends seminars. I wish that I could go to all the seminars that I accredit. Respectfully submitted, David McGowan Finance and Audit Finance and Audit met with Greg Jervis of Jervis Afanasiff and Redinger for the annual approval of the Financial Statements for 2005. Respectfully Submitted, Deborah Newby Continuing Competency Well it has been a very interesting year for me on council and in this portfolio. As you are all aware we have just completed our three year continuing education cycle, and what an incredibly busy end to the continuing education cycle. It was as it seemed to me that the membership in general had it out for Annual Report Executive Director Report Welcome to a new year for the Alberta Opticians Association. This year promises to be monumental in our history. We will be going under the Health Professions Act which will involve a name change as well as a structure change. Yes I know I have said this before but I am assured that this will be so. 5 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Another discussion was of Association vs College. That is: Do we split and make a whole new Association that is voluntary membership? Do we do nothing? Do we form a chapter of the Opticians Association of Canada with an Alberta member responsible for the servicing of Alberta Opticians? Do we carry on performing most of the duties of the Association that do not clash with our mandate? Each of these possibilities carries advantages and disadvantages. Some areas of concern were with access, conflict, logistics and finance. It was decided that we would carry on performing most of the duties of the Association that do not clash with our mandate. Unfortunately we can no longer pay one fee to have all of our members be part of the Opticians Association of Canada. This impacts you in that to be a member of this voluntary group you must register separately. The government requirement is that we set up a separate group of members who are not part of the Council to negotiate fees for contracts. This Third Party Contract Committee would negotiate on behalf of all Opticians in the province for contracts with the Federal and Provincial Government. They would then report the results of their negotiation to the Council to have it distributed to the membership. We need volunteers for this committee. The first three months of 2005 were very busy for the office staff. Michael Patterson went on sick leave on February 28, 2005 and subsequently gave his notice April 1, 2005. His last day was before the AGM but he worked out the period of his notice. We replaced him for the balance of the year with an assistant and did not replace the other person needed in the office except with temporary staff. While this got us through the year it also created some difficulties as the number of complaints from members grew and the staff became overworked. The result was Leesa Husieff leaving us after five years. She left January 17, 2006 after the actual registration but before all the paperwork was completed and the financial audit was done. We hired two new staff members and they were thrown in to sink or swim. Welcome to Nancy Cairns the new Accounting Administrator and Lynda Coghill the new Registration Administrator. If you are looking at the financial statements you will see an increase in salaries and employee benefits from 2004 and you may wonder why the increase when I am telling you we were working with not enough staff. What the financials do not show is the same column in 2002 was $172,961 and in 2003 was $174,105. So you can see that we have been running on less staff and even though the numbers are up they are still below where they were. We were not running with too much staff at that point so expect this number to increase again next year. Another area of perpetual controversy lies in dues. The renewal notices will be sent very soon for those members who pay their fees for the year beginning with payments started in June. We did not have an increase last year and going under the Health Professions Act will increase expenses. The fees set will take effect for the 2007 year. A percentage increase was decided upon for most areas. This does not even cover the cost of living increase for the past two years. The area that should be noted here is the change to the reinstatement fees to twice the amount of the eyeglass fee and Non-Practicing Fee is increased substantially. This fee has not been increased in many years. It will now be $250.00. We spent a good bit of time dealing with the lawyer and the parliamentarian to be sure that the events leading up to and the AGM were conducted appropriately. We have also had a substantial increase in disciplinary activity this year. This increase is reflected in the Professional Fees column of the financial statement. Expect this number to increase as well in the current year. The Council has worked very hard this year and your President deserves an extra thank you for the time and tough decisions that Deborah Newby faced over the last year. As reported in the last newsletter name tags have been a controversial issue for many years. Everyone could see the value of them from a regulating point of view but many members including those on Council have objected to the wearing of them. New technology allows that the new practice certificates include a name, license number, professional designation and a colour passport style photo. These must be prominently displayed at all times. We had some large decisions that needed to be made this year leading to some policy changes. A discussion of minutes and how they should be recorded was first on the agenda. There was some discussion of recording and transcription of Council meetings. We typically record general discussion around agenda items as well as attendance, motions and votes. Side bar comments have never been put in the minutes. It was decided that this should not change. Minutes are available to the membership after they are amended and accepted by council. Draft minutes are not released to the members. There has been some discussion of posting council meeting minutes on the website. This may wait until we have a member’s only section on the website. Annual Report An employee evaluation tool has been developed for staff evaluations/appraisals and an employee manual is now complete. Formal evaluations will be done for the Executive Director and we are working on councilors evaluations. A policy manual has been developed for office procedures and many other areas for policy are being formalized. 6 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Your Council attended Board Development workshops in October of 2005. We also participated in a Strategic Planning Session in February 2006. The costs involved were partially covered by the government for the training. Both of these weekend seminars were very instructive and allowed the Council to get a handle on some of the upcoming changes. Recruitment has become one of the top priorities. The Health Professions Act has requirements for more committees and we must be able to fill all of the volunteer positions. Budgeting will be done earlier and strategic planning will be annual. (a) based on an optical prescription, design, supply, prepare, adjust and dispense optical appliances, including corrective lenses; (b) promote eye health and the correct use of optical appliances through education of consumers and regulated members; (c) conduct or collaborate in optical related research, and Several of the Council attended the NAIT Advisory Committee meeting on May 2, 2005. As usual it was a good meeting and brought everyone up to speed on changes. The office and over the summer the lab facilities were moved to the St. Albert campus. A new program assistant started at that time. Welcome Angele! This culminated with the introduction of Bill 14 “The Health Professions Amendment Act” which to date has gone through second reading in the legislature. The proposed changes to the Practice statement for Opticians are below seen in one word added to (a), (b1) and (e) (d) provide restricted activities authorized by the regulations. 3. In their practice, opticians do one or more of the following: (a) based on an optical prescription, design supply, prepare, adjust and dispense optical appliances and prostheses, including corrective lenses, A member has volunteered to assist in the overhaul our website. Any member may also submit other things or make suggestions for what they would like to see in the newsletter or on the website. We also developed a new advertising package for the newsletter that was sent out to potential advertisers. This has been a great success and helps in recovering the costs incurred from the newsletter. It has also allowed our newsletter to evolve into what it has become. Our annual report was completed and sent to the Minister of Health and Wellness in early July. (b) promote eye health and the correct use of optical appliances through education of consumers and regulated members. (b.1) perform refractions and identify the need for corrective lenses, Our regulations came out as a consultation document in June and the resulting comments required some changes to be made, so much for the plan to come under the Health Professions Act January 2006. (c) conduct or collaborate in optical related research, We have discussed regulating sight testers under the HPA. This should be our function and we have expressed a desire to work together with Ophthalmology to come up with rules to be put in our standards of practice to allow for registration and regulation of those performing refraction. This regulation would include practice audits. When this was taken back to the drafters of Regulation at Alberta Health it was discovered that our practice statement which is part of the Act, needed to be revised before we would be allowed to regulate. This led to realizing the importance of practice statements. At the time Alberta Health worked on practice statements we were told that our half page had to be reduced to three or four statements so this is what we have now: (e) when providing professional services to clients under this section assess eye health and make referrals where appropriate. (d) provide restricted activities authorized by the regulation; and The proposed changes are in italics. The Optometrists are fighting very hard against this practice statement revision. We have met with them and compromised. We are standing firm now because if we do not get the revision we can not practice as opticians. This is not an increase in scope of practice issue. It is a matter of hanging on to what we have been able to do. Their objections lie in the area of refraction of course which is not a restricted activity and is being performed by opticians so we need the wording to regulate. Also to my complete surprise they have objected to referral and assessment. This is the area of compromise. We allowed for the change of when providing professional services to clients under this section. They are still not happy with it and we have proposed another change that would Practice 3. In their practice, opticians do one or more of the following: Annual Report 7 7 2005 Alberta Opticians Association (b) registration as a Registered Optician and Registered Contact Lens Practitioner $580.00 $620.00. (3) The fee for application of reinstatement is $280.00 twice the amount of the renewal of registration fee for a Registered Optician. maybe be better for them so we will see. The thing which seems to be forgotten here is that it is our practice statement and should not be so influenced by an outside body. Their power lies in their member involvement with MLAs. I want to close this report by thanking some people. First thanks to our Public Members. These are members of the public appointed by Government to attend our meetings and report irregularities. We have been very fortunate in our Public Members because they participate as one of the Council adding their expertise to our efforts. Thanks to Bill Mathewson who attends the finance and audit committee meetings as well as council meetings and always shows measured good sense. Thanks to Steve Smith who served for several years but due to things beyond his control had to resign this year. Steve is a pharmacist and we miss the view of another health profession. Thanks also to Beverly Smith who sits on our discipline committee. Many of us never see her but she is working in the background. We need two new Public Members when we go under the HPA. They will be appointed by government. Thanks to the Council. I have expected much from them and have received it. Thanks to the volunteers on various committees and to the membership for your support. (7) The fee for non practicing member is $125.00 $250.00. Bylaw Approval: Maureen Hussey reviewed the proposed bylaw changes. Motion 6.0: Fran Thuroo moved to accept the bylaws as presented. Seconded by: Loren Bilinski. Defeated. Some members agreed with the reinstatement fee but did not agree with the high increase to non-practicing. It was felt that when you are on maternity leave, your wages go down therefore you shouldn’t have to pay such a high fee. Clarification was given on all of the bylaws and exactly what the membership was voting on. It was suggested that the membership vote on item 25 1 (a), 25 1 (b), 25 2(a), 25 2 (b) first and them move on to item 3 and 7 of the proposed changes. Respectfully submitted T. Maureen Hussey Motion 7.0: Drew Jeffries moved to accept items 25 1 (a), 25 1 (b), 25 2(a), 25 2 (b) as presented. Seconded by: Pat Reed. Carried. Bylaw Amendments Motion 8.0: Margaret Cayenne moved that item 3 be accepted as presented at $280.00 and that item 7 be raised to the same registration rate as a Registered Optician at $495.00. Seconded by: Krista Raypold. Defeated. Proposed Fees: Be it resolved that membership fees be amended as follows to cover inflationary increases. The fees would change as indicated below. Motion 9.0: Crystal Pelletier moved that item 7 be raised by the same percentage equivalent to the increased rate of a Registered Optician. Seconded by: Pat Reed. Carried. 25. (1) Applicants for registration must pay the Association initial registration fees in the following amounts: (a) for registration as a Registered Optician $580.00 $610.00; or (b) an additional $115.00 $125.00 for registration as a Registered Contact Lens Practitioner. Motion 10.0: Sylvia Mik moved that item 3 the reinstatement fee, be equivalent to one year fees for a practicing Registered Optician presently in the amount of $495.00. Seconded by: Drew Jeffries. Carried. Auditor's Report (2) Each member must pay to the Association an annual renewal of registration fee on or before December 1, in the following amounts: Motion 4.0: Drew Jeffries moved o accept the auditor’s report for 2005. Seconded by: Donna Layden. Carried. The Alberta Opticians Association's 2005 Auditied Financial Statements are attached. (a) registration as a Registered Optician $465.00 $495.00; or Annual Report 8 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 9 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 10 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 11 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 12 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 13 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 14 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 15 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 16 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Annual Report 2005 Alberta Opticians Association Alberta Opticians Association 4726-99 Street Edmonton, AB T6E 5H5 Phone: (780) 429-2694 Fax: (780) 426-5576 Website: www.albertaopticians.org Email: [email protected] Annual Report 2005
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