2009 Chapter Meritorious Award Recipients

Chapter

Recipient

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Michelle’s willingness to take on numerous duties, and to perform those duties diligently and in an exemplary fashion while always being gracious and maintaining her sense of humor make her the Arizona Chapter’s Meritorious Award recipient. Michelle has a strong commitment to high standards in the massage therapy profession, and to the AMTA. Her reliability is one of the foundational supports for the Arizona Chapter.

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Beverly May

Beverly has been a mentor and provided counsel to many. She is knowledgeable, fair, and diligent and serves with perseverance and grace. She has been instrumental in the success of the California Chapter in its efforts to attain legislation, and exemplifies the true meaning of the word volunteer. Thanks to her, we defied the odds and the suspicions of many that we would be the last Chapter to achieve some form of regulation/legislation/certification!

Beverly was instrumental in setting up the California Coalition on Somatic Practices, a broad coalition of massage therapists, bodyworkers, associations and organizations within California which developed a comprehensive fact sheet and questionnaire which was sent out to a huge number of people across the state and became the basis for the California Chapter’s “model ordinance” which was used to work with cities on local regulation and on later approaches toward state regulation. As thousands of people responded to the questionnaire, there was a realization that forms of touch (physical and energetic) therapy were facing similar issues. This realization led to a network of relationships and continued conversation and cooperation between groups involved in these different modalities. It was at the same time that the Chapter developed a large non-member mailing list where we encouraged participation and attendance from non-members at our California Massage & Bodywork Conventions. It was a very profitable time for the Chapter, and much of the credit goes to Beverly for having gathered so many people, both members and non-members from such divergent areas of “touch therapies” under the umbrella of the CA Coalition which was greatly (and openly) funded by the Chapter.

Beverly currently sits on the new established board of directors of the California Massage Therapy Council and is diligently making sure that this organization is up and running to guarantee that all massage therapists have equal access to the new State recognized massage certification. This extremely time consuming position is a volunteer position for which Beverly receives no compensation.

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Cass Crewdson steps up and says “Count Me In” on numerous fronts for the CT Chapter. She is a competent, hard working volunteer for our Chapter. Cass has been a key member of the New England Regional Conference Planning Committee since 1991. Unique to New England, this committee works year round to put on a joint state conference. Cass has been one of the primary movers for this conference for many, many years. We in CT know that with Cass on this committee our members’ interests: educational, financial and social: are always well represented and secure. Cass’s leadership, knowledge and dedication were instrumental in making this past conference, for which CT was the host chapter, a huge success! Often working outside the lime light she is one of the reasons we get things done!

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Wendy’s charismatic, outgoing, open and friendly demeanor have served her well as Chapter President, presiding over meetings and events with grace and ease. What is particularly outstanding, however, is that under her leadership the Delaware Chapter was able to present its first ever Massage and Bodywork Conference in 2008, providing a truly outstanding educational experience to our members, with nationally renowned instructors in the specialties of hot stone massage, CranioSacral Therapy, Baby’s First Massage, Ethics, and Active Isolated Stretching the Spa Method. The conference receive rave reviews, not only by the attendees, but by the instructors, who unanimously agreed to return again in 2009 to offer more courses. We are a small chapter with limited resources, and when Wendy approached the board with the idea of offering an educational conference, we were skeptical. But because of Wendy’s enthusiasm for the endeavor, her diligence, hard work and eagerness to overcome obstacles, the event came off without a hitch. For this reason the board has voted to award Wendy Forrest the Delaware Chapter Meritorious Award for 2009.

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It is her outstanding personality that makes her qualified for this position. She has the ability to remain positive when the world is crashing down around her. She represents the type of person that AMTA wants in a leadership position. Let’s all recognize it and give her the award she deserves.

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Jane continued to step up to leadership roles within the Chapter and served as 1st Vice President for two terms from 2001 until 2004. During these terms she also provided noteworthy leadership across the Chapter in Government Relations, Education and meeting planning activities. Jane’s tireless efforts were recognized as she is the distinguished recipient of two Chapter Meritorious awards, two Chapter Presidents awards, and two Outstanding Board Member awards during those years.

In the more recent years she served through 2007 as the Policy chair and worked on the government relations committee. Her contributions to the Chapter board with her excellent comprehension of all AMTA’s policy and by-laws enabled this Chapter to stay well educated and in full compliance with everything we did. Having Jane as a fully involved volunteer supporting the Chapter was like having five additional people to help the board - she is that good! The Georgia state legislation passed the Massage Therapy Practice Act in 2005 due in part to the tremendous effort put forth by Jane. Her continued work with the government relations committee enabled our Chapter to stay in sync with this effort as it brought much wanted regulation to the massage profession in Georgia. Georgia Massage Therapists now have creditable state regulations for the practice of massage and that has brought our profession to a higher level of respectability with the public.

Jane was chosen in 2006 as one of the volunteer Massage Therapists to be seated on the first Georgia Board of Massage Therapy. There were numerous therapists across the state applying for these four positions on the board and the selection process was intense. The final decision on who to appoint was done by the Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. Her dedication to the massage profession was now moving to a much higher level of commitment with the newly formed state board and the tasks of writing rules, processes, and guidelines for the entire state was their first order of business. Jane was elected as the first chair of the Georgia Board of Massage Therapy in 2006 and has continued to be elected as the chair for the years 2007 & 2008. As Chair, she proudly is the holder of the first Georgia state license issued and that is number MT000001. This is a distinction that most therapists would love to hold!

The recent years of 2007 and 2008 have seen Jane still finding time to participate in the Chapter with her enthusiasm and progressive ideas to provide more for our members through Delegate education concepts, marketing our Chapter pride through the T-shirts, sweatshirts, and tote bags that display our Chapter magnolia logo she manages as fundraisers at each meeting. Jane always looks at the inner workings of our Chapter and seeks implementation of new ideas to improve committees, newsletter content, web site information, and Chapter operations. All the while caring for our Chapter, Jane has provided an extreme amount of energy and dedication as a volunteer member of the state Board of Massage Therapy. The intense level of effort during the initial licensing period which saw 2000 plus Board reviewed and processed applications by the deadline and another 2000 plus applications backlogged at the deadline. This challenge took the entire Board to an unbelievable level of dedication for the therapists of our state in order to accomplish the milestone of getting every eligible individual initially licensed. The countless extra hours of work and research to help each individual as much as possible is the trade mark of Jane Johnson. As a Massage Therapist she has made one of the most incredible personal investments in the massage therapy profession for not only the AMTA and the Georgia Chapter, but especially for every Massage Therapist in the state of Georgia. The wisdom and foresight she possesses is visible in her work at the state and Chapter level, as all one has to do is carry on a conversation with her on subjects concerning our profession and her love and passion for it will captivate you!

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Reliable, willing to always do what needs to get done, great at delegating and following up. Always, thinking about the members and what is good for them. Conscious of our budgeting responsibilities and able to help us all work together as a team. She is a real team player and she is great at helping to motivate others with her excitement and with her love of the profession and of this organization. We share a passion for education and I love that she is always willing to share what she has learned, with others.

“During my short association with AMTA-HI, Olivia has always been there as a leader. Thru her guidance I feel the Hawaii chapter is thriving and has been

stabilized thru her work and volunteerism. She has always made her self available for me to refer to, and has continued to mentor myself and guide me thru to ensure our chapter continues. With her hard work and knowledge she continues to do good for our chapter as well as following National Guidelines.”
~ RAYMUND HERRADURA

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She is dedicated, organized, and caring. She cares about the chapter and the members, and is willing to serve to the best of her abilities.

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Chris has a natural ability to make people aspire to be the absolute best that they can be as leaders, educators, therapists but to also apply those aspirations to be actively involved and give back to the profession. As a direct consequence of Chris’s impact in Illinois, our membership has grown, our leadership skills have grown and we have been extraordinarily blessed to have him as a member.

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She is fun, and very organized and is dedicated. Is willing to work long hours that exceeds everyone’ expectations. She has been monumental in the passing of the certification bill for the state of Indiana. She is active in the hospice program at the local hospital.

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Dan Schmidt

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Katie’s work ethic is inspiring. When Katie sets out to do something, she sets her goal and moves toward it. What others see as barriers, Katie see as “manageable challenges.” For her, the process of achievement is just this: identify the goal, plan a timeline and “get it done!” She is the consummate massage therapy professional - skilled therapist, educator, researcher and volunteer. On a personal level, she is lovely inside and out with a delightful giggle that lightens everyone’s mood and makes work fun.

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She is a very honest and trustworthy person. If Kathleen said she can or will do that task at hand she will. Very dependable...

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Walter’s nomination for the Chapter’s Meritorious Award is based on his willingness to use his technological knowledge to further the Chapter’s goals. He organized and monitored eBlasts to our membership starting two years ago for the HOD recommendations and position statements. At that time he added a survey to the eBlasts to gather information for us to take to the HOD. The National office was so impressed with this idea they copied it this last year and started to get the word out to the membership even earlier to support our efforts to gather data for the House of Delegates. The Chapter has encountered difficulties maintaining our web site, in fact this past year the site was shut down due to lack of attention. Having a web site is critical and the Chapter needed to act fast. Walter stepped forward to take the reins and found out what had happened. Amongst the myriad of telephone calls, he started to rewrite a web site in order to bring us into compliance. Thankfully those phone calls paid off and we have found that the site only needed to be updated. Walter is still taking the lead to complete the editing, then to train the Board and the Committee Chairs in the process of maintaining their own pages.

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Arlington, Va.-At a hearing today in Montgomery County Circuit Court, Judge David Boynton declared that Maryland equine-massage entrepreneur Mercedes Clemens is now free to return to the occupation she loves. Judge Boynton recognized that the Maryland Board of Chiropractic Examiners has no authority to regulate animal massage and that it was “illegal” for the Board to force Mercedes to stop her practice.

“All Mercedes has ever asked for is the assurance that she can work in the job she loves without being illegally put out of business at the whim of regulatory bureaucrats,” said Mercedes’ attorney Paul Sherman of the Institute for Justice (IJ), the nation’s leading legal advocate for economic liberty. “This ruling grants her exactly what she wanted and is a wonderful victory for all Maryland entrepreneurs who want to provide these services.”

Mercedes Clemens has a thriving massage practice in Rockville that, until recently, offered both human and animal massage. In addition to being a licensed massage therapist for people, Mercedes has more than 30 years of practical experience as a horse owner and rider, has been privately certified in equine massage and has even taught animal massage to others.

Despite these qualifications, the Maryland State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners teamed up with the Maryland Board of Chiropractic Examiners and ordered her to stop practicing animal massage and to take down the parts of her website offering the service.

In June 2008, Mercedes teamed up with the Institute for Justice and filed a lawsuit to defend her right to earn an honest living free from unreasonable government regulations. A month later, the Maryland State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners backpedaled on its position that only licensed veterinarians may perform animal massage. Nonetheless, the Chiropractic Board refused to acknowledge Mercedes’ right to economic liberty.

“I love that I can finally get back to business,” said Mercedes. “All I’ve ever wanted is the right to work. I never asked for a bailout or even monetary damages, just the freedom to earn an honest living in the occupation I love. Today that freedom was restored to me.”

Clemens, who was threatened with criminal prosecution and thousands of dollars in fines for massaging horses in Maryland, has received international media attention. A Washington Post feature that includes video footage of Mercedes is available online: http://tinyurl.com/44wu3w.

“Regulatory boards across the country are out of control, abusing their power to shut down honest entrepreneurs,” said IJ Senior Attorney Scott Bullock. “The Institute for Justice is committed to correcting this injustice by ensuring that these boards are held accountable for their actions and forbidden from engaging in illegal activities.”

IJ President and General Counsel Chip Mellor said, “This lawsuit is an important part of the Institute for Justice’s nationwide campaign to restore economic liberty to all Americans by defending their constitutional right to earn an honest living. Mercedes’ victory today marks a meaningful step in that direction.”

Mercedes has overcome a huge judgment from the Board of Chiropractic Examiners in Maryland. She does massage on people and horses. The BOCE sent her a cease and desist order to stop working on horses three years ago. She has been in and out of court several times. She has finally won on all judgments.

She has always performed with dignity and honor. But did not quit. She is quite a remarkable lady.

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With all this she still finds time to work tirelessly and quietly on the Membership Committee visiting schools and sharing the benefits of AMTA membership with students. She has represented our Chapter twice at the National Offices in Chicago at CVOP programs and in 2008 presented for National AMTA at the National Convention to other Chapters’ representatives on the topic of school visits. She has also been a presenter at the AMTA New England Regional Conference. Lisa is a gift to our chapter.

Lisa is passionate about massage, passionate about learning, a wonderful professional and excellent therapist who shares her gifts and time freely. She embraces a task, sees to its completion and is ready to take on another for the betterment of the profession. She certainly is an asset to our Chapter and to AMTA in general. She is compassionate, caring, wholesome and fun-loving. Massachusetts is proud to call her our own!

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Diana is a true asset to the AMTA/MI Chapter and needs to be recognize for her efforts in supporting not only the Michigan Chapter but also for being a major piece guiding our Chapter in the right direction for success. Many times Diana has given hours of her time to help the Michigan Chapter to become more successful, working into the wee hours of the morning to help with putting folders together for the presenters at the Spring Annual Event. As secretary she is always the person making sure deadlines are meet, keeping us on task at meetings, making sure we have completed all arrangements for future events that the chapter is putting on. I am personally grateful to have Diana as a part of this great team.

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Over the past few years she has held many positions on the board and chaired many committees. She was always the one to step up and do the jobs that had to be done. And she still serves to this day. The chapter and the state and the profession have very much moved forward and greatly benefited from her work and service.

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Ginelle is a person who see’s a need and doesn’t say “someone should” but rather “why can’t I? “ She has truly found a niche and is working to specialize in that specific area, filling a need without concern about what she might get out of it.

She has gone beyond just doing free massage for a deserving part of our population but identified a need and is filling that need by using her unique insights and providing a much needed resource for our community.

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Also Brad Decker did a wonderful job teaching sports massage at the Lincoln Marathon for the past several years. Brad Decker is Lincoln’s first and only Nationally Certified Medical Massage Therapist. He achieved this in 2005. He is a very dedicated massage therapist and takes great pride in his work and the talent that he shares with clients and other massage therapist in our community.

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Bricks or blocks are good, but without mortar, there is no strength. Shari has been that strength for us. Shari exemplifies the highest ideals of the AMTA.

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As a team player, Jeanie is pleased to use her rich library of personal experiences to help AMTA-NH achieve its goals. Jeanie is respectful of financials by monitoring the budget via production and postage costs; has incorporated a glossy cover, and kept costs down by limiting the heavier paper weight to just the cover.

She has renewed vendor interest in advertising in our newsletter. She is listening to what our members are looking for in this medium and bringing about those changes. She is working hand in hand with our Web committee to make sure current items are submitted for inclusion on the website.

Jeanie is not at all hesitant to go to her board liaison with thoughts, suggestions and/or questions. She is very supportive of all the chapter initiatives and frequently attends our CE classes and chapter community marketing events. She is a volunteer in many community endeavors. Jeanie is in private practice in Bedford, NH.

Congratulations, Jeanie! You make AMTA-NH proud!

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Preparedness, faithfulness, dedication, inspiration, helpfulness, cheerfulness, tirelessness, and joyfulness.

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Pat is meticulous; when she is given a task you can be sure it will be completed in a timely fashion and she will make it appear effortless. She is fun to work with and is a true team player.

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Claire brings to her life an attitude of giving life all she has to offer with a positive approach. She has been active with AMTA-NC most of the more than ten years that she has been a member. She was our secretary for several years. She stepped back from that when blessed with the opportunity to add mother to her many other talents and skills. Last summer she became more active again and volunteered to be our newsletter editor. We were thrilled to have her back. Claire approaches life with the theme “How can I use my talents to make it better?” That is what she has done in her work, her family, her commitment to AMTA-NC and her fight with cancer. When diagnosed with cancer last fall, she decided early on that she wanted to remain as active as possible with AMTA-NC and continue on as newsletter editor. She was assured that the job was hers as long as she wanted it. That was one of the best decisions we ever made. Claire has continued to seek improvements in the way we do our newsletters. She is dedicated to making it one that members will look forward to reading.

Claire has also sought improvements in the way people look at cancer. She has been very open about her condition and has approached it as simply part of life. While it has changed some things for her and limited activities that she might would have done otherwise, she has not by any means given into the condition. Claire has been through surgery and several rounds of treatments. There is no doubt that her positive approach and desire to continue to give life all she has to offer has played a major role with the doctors now saying that she is cancer free.

Claire realizes that each day is a gift that can be enjoyed the most when it is lived fully and shared with others. Her life is an inspiration to all in AMTA-NC who know her and a blessing to anyone who meets her.

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I have known Dralinn for more than 25 years—before she was ever a massage therapist, so I have been able to observe her behavior outside of this profession as well as within the profession. She volunteers willingly for assignments and serves with a smile. She takes an assigned task and completes it with enthusiasm. She loves her work as a therapist and promotes the profession wherever she happens to be. She is an incredibly responsible person—one never needs to question whether or not she will do what she says she will do. It is always done. She gives of her time and talents willingly. She is always eager to learn something new and apply it in her profession, as well as in her personal life. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of recognition.

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Kelly is very organized and has significantly helped to improved the Chapter’s education program. She has brought new ideas and a fresh attitude to the Chapter.

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He is honest, sincere, reliable, knowledgeable and dedicated. He has a good since of humor and does not take himself too seriously. He is a steady and calming influence to our board, someone we can rely on and he is fun to be around. Without him, we would not have the newsletter or website that we have now.

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Half way through a 4 year commitment, Ms. Schaffer has taken a group of students each month to our State Capital to perform chair massage for the Legislators and their Staff. As a result, our Legislators not only reaped the benefits of massage themselves but also have been educated as to the importance in licensing of Massage Therapists in the state of Pennsylvania. Her tireless efforts have proved fruitful this past Fall as HB2499, our massage licensing bill, was signed by the Governors’ office. Her group was there the day the bill passed and was sent off to the Governor.

Due to the incredible amount of time and effort toward this endeavor, we are extremely proud to award Margie as the recipient of the Meritorious Award.

Thank you Margie for all that you have done and continue to do for our Chapter and the massage profession!

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She models the behavior needed to get the job done, she searches for opportunities by seeking new ways to improve on the old standards.

Meritorious Award honors an individual’s diligence in volunteerism done in an altruistic manner. The tireless dedication to the cause that is fundamental to our profession and its goals are to develop and advance the art, science, and practice of massage therapy in a caring professional and ethical manner to promote health and welfare of humanity. That statement pretty much sums up who this therapist is.

Alda has worked in the health care field for the past 27 years. She is a twice graduate of CCRI, with an Associate Degree in Applied Arts, and Medical Secretarial Sciences. She then completed the Therapeutic Massage Program In 2005. She obtained her Bachelors Degree in Health and Social Services from Roger Williams University in 2002.

Alda has the best of both worlds, she has been able to utilize her management, organizational and customer servicing skills as part of the medical team of Woman’s and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. In 2006 she accepted a position as the division manager of one of the hospitals out patient departments. But it was her love of working with people and here need to be more directly involved in patient care that she chose the massage therapy profession as a second career.

In 2006 Alda opened the Just Breath Massage practice in East Providence RI. She is a member of CCRI`S Therapeutic Massage Advisory Council and a Mentor for the Therapeutic Massage Students Program. She is a member of the Rhode Island Crisis Massage Team and the Secretary for the Executive Board of the Rhode Island Chapter of AMTA. She is also The Education chairperson for the Chapter, she is certified as a CEIM-Certified Educator of Infant Massage, through the international association of Infant massage. This past fall 2008 Alda joined the adjunct faculty of the Therapeutic Massage Program at CCRI and teaches Therapeutic Massage 1.

Alda was recently awarded by RI Chapter AMTA The Outstanding Chair Award...... as well as the Chapter Meritorious Award for EDUCATION her dedication and vision has driven us on to new heights.

It goes without saying her record speaks for its self, the word CANT is not in her vocabulary. When we began to set goals for this project she set them higher. She took on the daunting task of submitting application for NCBTMB for the RI Chapter of AMTA which will be accomplished this year. The paper work alone would be enough to send people running not Alda, she rolled up her sleeves and dug in. She interviewed other states, researched possible presenters, sent out questionnaires for feed back, set up constant contact surveys. She had a direct line to National.... She is never without a question but so sweet, “What do you think about that or how does this work?” She already has the answer just checking to see if she missed anything.

As time played out we discovered she never sleeps, not unusual to receive an E-mail at 2 AM. Education never looked so good It was organized, detailed, affordable, good locations, excellent food, and topics of interest. She made it work! Besides all that she made a profit which quickly went into new equipment without straining the budget. Our treasurer Wayne Cotnoir, whom we affectionately call “Daddy Warbucks” was very pleased.

Education is important to Alda, the Board, the membership and the very life of this chapter. We have experienced the ups and downs, the learning curves of change and risk but through it all learning is FUN.....DAMENTAL. Thank you, Alda for a job well done.

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Carole is caring, dedicated, devoted, passionate about our profession. She has a strong belief system for what she does through massage to benefit her clients. She is still at 72 years young regularly attending meetings and continuing education classes promoting our profession’s growth. She is one of those who broke down doors so that the rest of us could walk through.

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When you use the words: giving, loving, caring, committed, warm, dedicated, gracious, compassionate, and forgiving, you are describing Evelyn. When she was our Chapter President, it was her goal to meet with and talk to each member to find out about them and what they needed from the Chapter. She felt it was very important for the Board to have communication with each other as well as the Committee Chairs and to discuss/brain storm whenever possible. Even now, Evelyn wants to know what she can do for others to help them in their massage endeavors.

We had a hard time finding someone to volunteer for the President position, especially after licensing. Evelyn said she would run, expecting a quiet term. Her first year was consumed by legislative conflict as some therapists in the state were trying to repeal licensing. Evelyn was at the Capitol, talking with our legislators and emailing and talking to therapists as to how to talk to our legislators. Evelyn kept her chin up and head held high as she endured much criticism.

Evelyn travels to the hospital and/or to friends’ homes and gives them massages before/after surgeries, gives loving care if they are sick. From her regular clients, payment is what the clients believe they can pay, for that session. During the legislative conflict, she lost a lot of income because she devoted so much time to the Chapter.

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Tanya has a tenacity that has enabled her to overcome a lack of experience, managing a website, initiating Constant Contact communications, producing a newsletter, and being the event coordinator for the Texas Chapter. Tanya doesn’t look away when there are new opportunities; she looks straight into the project and moves forward. It takes a great deal of motivation and determination to move several times, starting your massage ventures over and still comes out on top. She gave massages to volunteers and campers at a camp she attended for M.D. That in itself tells a great deal about the person Tanya is. Tanya speaks of the huge learning experience all of this has been. She was elected as 3rd VP in May of 2008 at S. Padre at the TX AMTA annual meeting and convention. Volunteers are special people who give and give. Tanya has been a smiling face for the Board, no matter how tough the going. Tanya has become the glue that is helping to hold this unit together.

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George has received numerous awards from the state chapter and on the national level since 1996, the biggest and best being the 2002 National Outstanding sports massage team. He has also been chosen as a representative for NCTMB’s national advertising campaign and served on their Nomination committee in 1999 and 2000. He also served on the National Sports Massage Education Council before becoming a Vermont board member. No other person in VT history has served as long and without being ask as George.

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Dianne was the initial motivator behind the formation of the Virginia Massage Emergency Response Team (MERT). During her attendance at the 1998 AMTA National Convention in Washington, D.C., she sat in on an inspiring talk by emergency responders who spoke about the importance to them of on-site massage to relieve the effects of trauma in crisis situations. Dianne was moved by their appeal and wrote an article about her experience for the AMTA-VA newsletter. This article then generated a list of interested Chapter members.

This initial group (including Dianne) went on to form the Virginia Massage Emergency Response Team which was called on by Virginia EMS to serve at the Pentagon on the evening of 9/11, and for the two weeks following. Additional training was provided at a site near the Pentagon, and massage therapists from Virginia and other states as far away as Washington joined in the relief effort. Over 70 therapists had the opportunity to participate, providing massage to the rescue personnel around the clock. Dianne’s heart and vision helped to create this amazing opportunity.

She has been an anchor, an organizer and a spokesperson at our annual Legislative Day at the Virginia General Assembly for years. We set aside one morning during the session for the lawmakers at the Capitol to come by and receive complimentary seated massage from our volunteers. This event generates a lot of goodwill for the massage profession, and raises our profile with lawmakers. This year the Chapter succeeded in having a bill signed into law that creates a Massage Therapy Advisory Board to represent the interests of our profession to our regulatory agency, the Virginia Board of Nursing. Dianne’s continued commitment to this Legislative Day event and to our profession helped to make this a reality. She is an outstanding Chapter volunteer and dedicated professional.

The AMTA-Virginia Chapter takes great pride in giving the 2009 Chapter Meritorious Award to Dianne Rand, of Richmond, for her unstinting enthusiasm and support of our profession and our Chapter.

Outstanding enthusiasm, creative vision, volunteer involvement, devotion to the profession, compassion for others, and a strong spirit of camaraderie.

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Annie has common sense, dedication to details and the ability to make clear the often times confusing world of numbers and budgets. She is compassionate, available and has a great sense of humor. She has been a tremendous benefit to me as President, to the Board, and to the Chapter. Every other member of the Board agrees with me that Annie more than deserves this recognition.

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What can I say about Karla, but she has been the back bone of our organization. She is the one who has volunteer so many hours to help make us who we our. Karla helps to keep us on track and has helped many of the new members. She always has a kind word and lots of encouragement for the rest of us. Karla has worked hard to help educate the public, encourage ethical behaviors, and to further enhance massage as a career. Karla Stull is one that I always want on my team!

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I am a certified First Aid/CPR/AED instructor for the Red Cross and have been for about 7 years. I am a volunteer Emergency Medical Responder in Hixton, and am the Coordinator for our Department. Because we are a distance from the nearest hospital and ambulance service, community members volunteer to go through training and respond to 911 calls, much like an ambulance and initiate and maintain patient care until the EMTs get there in an ambulance to transport the patient to the hospital. I have been a volunteer Emergency Medical Responder for 6 years. I am a volunteer Firefighter in Hixton. I have been on the department for about 2 years. I am the first woman ever on the department and am currently the only woman. We do everything from interior fire attacks to traffic control/scene safety. I couldn’t tell you which is more “thrilling”...crawling into a burning building dragging a hose line in smoke so thick you can’t see your partner in front of you OR standing on the icy Wisconsin interstate hi-ways... on, or even sometimes over the center line, holding a sign that says “slow down” while semi trucks come blazing by you on ice that you can barely stand on!! I teach continuing seminars all around the country..... Classes taught: “Massage for Special Needs Clients” and “Creative Forearm and Elbow Techniques” (currently putting together). I enjoy combining the thrill of traveling with the thrill of teaching. My next “tour” should be sometime in June of this year. I very recently completed my training as an Emergency Medical Technician. I am now taking call shifts with the ambulance service in Black River Falls. I volunteer one day a week at the Tomah VA Hospital. I am a patriot through and through and am so thankful for and proud of anyone who was willing to serve our country in that capacity. I can guarantee you that I feel better when I leave there than I could possibly have made them feel. I primarily work in the Hospice/Long-term Care unit and the Geriatric Psychiatric unit there, but have worked in several others.

And yes BOD... in my spare time... I sleep!!!

She is very energetic and fun to volunteer with.

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