Rehab Express

Clearly my first order of business as your new IARP president is to thank those members of the 2012-2013 board who have served this association so earnestly. Kudos to Steve Shedlin for his leadership, vision, and great sense of humor as president for the last two years. Under Steve's leadership, IARP took dramatic steps to transform our association into a more vibrant, contemporary, and relevant community.  We have not only a new look, but also a new vibrancy as we chart a new course. Steve will continue to serve our new board of directors for the next year.

I extend special gratitude and thanks to Pat Decoteau as outgoing treasurer. His unfortunate injury last October cut short his term. Pat has been an effective steward of the association’s finances for several years, an engaged board member and great leader for IARP.  Also, as a well-respected educator, Pat has been appointed by the IARP Board of Directors to the IARP Standards Compliance Review Board as the educator representative for the next year.  Barbara Byers aptly stepped in as the interim treasurer for the remainder of Pat's term, and has earned our appreciation as well.

Let’s also extend our gratitude to the outgoing board members:

• Ann Wallace who served IARP for four years as a director at large and fondly is seen as the board’s great ‘bylaws maven’;
• Susan Riddick-Grisham as the Life Care Planning IALCP representative to the board for four years and who always provided thoughtful and creative ideas;
• Norm Hursh and Kathy Trumm, who as the disability management and case management section representatives, led those two sections in their merger as the new IARP Rehabilitation and Disability Case Management Section.  They have set the stage for a strengthened section through their commonalities.

I also salute outgoing and remaining volunteer leaders at the chapter and section levels who tirelessly give of their time and energy as part of the IARP leadership network.  And I congratulate those new volunteer leaders who have stepped forward at a very exciting and pivotal time for our association.

At its meeting last week the new IARP Board of Directors continued to focus on the transformation nature that the new brand brings. IARP’s leadership embraces “The Course of a Lifetime Starts with IARP”. In doing so, we intend to further strengthen IARP as an association, meet our member needs, increase the benefits of the new career opportunities, boost our retention rate. and attract new members.  Your new board will continue to explore ways to make the Course of a Lifetime your personal path.

IARP is financially sound and our membership remains steady. We will continue to provide wonderful educational programs through our on-demand webinars, international conferences, and local and regional programs.  We will explore new services and, programming. More members need to be exposed to our mentor program.  We need to expand our affiliation programs.  We encourage more members to participate online in IARP discussion groups, and more.

I am inspired and fortunate to have my term as president at this pivotal and transformational time in IARP’s history. With dedicated, collaborative and talented teams at all levels of the IARP volunteer leadership, these are exciting times for us all as members of this truly special association.