CTF grows membership, plans to attend Abilities Expos

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Clinician Task Force has nearly doubled its ranks to 76 members in one year, says Cathy Carver, executive director.

Carver, PT, ATP/SMS, who runs the wheelchair and seating clinic at Spain Rehabilitation Center in Birmingham, Ala., took over as executive director of the CTF about a year ago.

“We're just finding that more clinicians want to be involved,” she said. “Clinicians understand the CRT world and they want to help and they need a place to go.”

The 76 members work in 36 different states, compared to 41 members in 26 states a year ago.

The CTF has made some changes that have helped to increase participation, Carver says, including taking more of a work group approach to its initiatives.

“When you can work on something with somebody else it's easier,” she said. “They see that as a way to get involved, without it being too overwhelming.”

Katie Fitzgerald, a new member, benefitted from this work group approach when she and Carver recently produced a short YouTube video on the difference between DME and complex rehab equipment geared toward consumers.

“I literally didn't know the CTF existed until I met Cathy and she said she was the head of the organization and that it was clinician based,” said Fitzgerald, PT, DPT, NCS, a physical therapist at Spain Rehab. “One of my biggest passions is patient access to the right equipment so they can be successful in living their lives. I was like, 'Oh, OK, I need to be part of that.'”

Carver, Fitzgerald and other members are now working to give the CTF a presence at the Abilities Expos for the first time next year. The CTF has been accepted to be part of both Expos in Texas and is on the waiting list for others.

“It's such an experience, even as clinicians,” Fitzgerald said. “There's so much information.”

Carver says, in addition to advocating for consumers, the CTF is also about networking, something that also helped to draw in Fitzgerald.

“You get to touch base with all of these amazing clinicians across the country,” she said. “The names that come up on conference calls—to be part of that movement is awesome.”