Re-branded event rallies around access

EAST AMHERST, N.Y. - NRRTS and NCART are rebranding their annual conference, naming it the Access2CRT Summit and rolling out a new logo with the tag line “Educate. Advocate. Legislate.”

The new name builds on www.access2crt.org, the industry's online resource for education on complex rehab issues on a state and federal level, and tools for contacting legislators about those issues.

“We wanted to tie the event to our advocacy website,” said Don Clayback, executive director of NCART, “because that summarizes what our collective efforts are all around.”

Previously, the event was called the National CRT Legislative and Advocacy Conference. Its new website: www.CRTSummit.org.

Another big change at this year's event, slated for March 30-31 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va.: It will offer CEUs. NRRTS and NCART hope this will draw more attendees to the event's education program on the first day—and the Capitol Hill visits on the second day.

“The more people who attend, the more people who are visiting Congress,” Clayback said.

The CEUs will also give attendees more bang for their buck, when time and money are limited.

“This way, their employer may even see it as more of a benefit,” said Weesie Walker, executive director of NRRTS.

At press time in late October, NRRTS and NCART hadn't completed the education program, but they had convened a planning committee with varied stakeholders, including a consumer and a clinician, to provide input.

“We feel like this is going to freshen it up and help us figure out the topics that people are most interested in,” Walker said.