To all ,
I find myself awoken from a dead sleep at 2:30 a.m. by a passing storm. As I
was lying there half awake I began to rehash all the messages on this board
from the past week. ( and I have read them all) and decided I must get up and
write this down or I may never sleep peacefully again. I though about all the
angry, denial, accusations, pain, prejudice, arrogance, compromise, pride,
intelligence, reflection, and hope that has been expressed so eloquently by all
the contributors. It is a small sample of the different personalities and
perceptions we have in this profession. We are not the first group of lost souls
searching for our destiny and our identity, concerned about how the rest of the
world, in our case the Medical community will perceive us.
In 1787 a group of diverse individuals were sent to Philadelphia each chosen
by their native State (basically 13 separate countries) to represent them and
to somehow bring together 13 feuding states under one set of laws and rules.
Some of which were on the brink of war with each other. Each representative
was charged by their home constituents to protect their interest. Makes
merging ABC and BOC look like a simple task in comparison doesn’t it?
Now lets look and how they did it right and we up to now have done it wrong.
First of all the delegates were chosen by their state to achieve this
particular goal. I believe a delegation composed of ABC and BOC practitioners should
have been assembled to at least discuss and offer their ideas to the Boards
before any finally decisions were made. Whatever the outcome it would have been
better accepted if this had been the case.
The framers of our Constitution were very lucky to have among them an expert
in political science, and governmental theory James Madison. Most of the
revolutionary and brilliant ideas that form the core of our Constitution came from
this one man who spent his life studying government theory. I dare to say
while there are many intelligent men on both boards none can claim to be experts
in what they took upon themselves to achieve with as far as we know no outside
professional mediation or advice. I will never understand why they choose to
attack each other before this avenue was considered. It would have been money
well spent!
Our forefathers spent several months in the heat of summer, being eaten by
flies, in a closed building, tempers flaring, ideas coming together just to
fall apart, but they never gave up, and thank God they did not return home after
a couple of days and declare war on their rival State which could have easily
happened. One reason it didn’t was because they all knew the rest of the
world both friend and foe were waiting to see the outcome of their efforts. If
they had emerged 13 separate weak countries France, Spain and England would have
moved in and taken control either financially or by force. Who is waiting to
take over Orthotics and Prosthetics ? We have certainly been left with a weak
line of defense and certainly do not look professional.
I take issue in the claim that what ABC and BOC have done by attacking each
others member base is similar to grandfathering in the states that have
Licensing. I think a better comparison is when one O&P company tries to run rivals
out of business by signing low ball contracts for the short term, but that’s
another subject! Grandfathering is a small part of a total bill that sets new
standards for the future, it is a point of compromise, not a weapon.
Now do I have all the answers? NO! But I am willing to discuss, listen and
learn from everyone and hopefully we can pull ourselves out of this mess. Who
will be our James Madison?
Well, it’s 4:00 am now and I am starting to ramble. My storm has passed and
I leave you with a favorite quote “In God eye’s we are all equally wise and
equally foolish” A. Einstein
Sincerely,
James Havran LO / CO
President Texas Association
of Orthotist and Prothetist
