1 State of Arkansas
2 93rd General Assembly
3 Regular Session, 2021 HR 1042
4
5 By: Representative Hawks
6
7 HOUSE RESOLUTION
8 TO RECOGNIZE THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL THERAPY
9 ASSOCIATION FOR ITS DEDICATION TO IMPROVING THE
10 HEALTH OF SOCIETY OVER THE PAST ONE HUNDRED (100)
11 YEARS.
12
13
14 Subtitle
15 TO RECOGNIZE THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL
16 THERAPY ASSOCIATION FOR ITS DEDICATION TO
17 IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF SOCIETY OVER THE
18 PAST ONE HUNDRED (100) YEARS.
19
20
21 WHEREAS, reconstruction aides, strong women who were the predecessors
22 to current physical therapists, were integral to the recovery of many World
23 War I soldiers and demonstrated their value as medical professionals and war
24 heroes, showing that those who would eventually be known as physical
25 therapists had a major role to play in the future of Americas health; and
26
27 WHEREAS, Mary McMillan, a reconstruction aide, was elected in 1921 as
28 the first president of the American Womens Physical Therapeutic Association;
29 and
30
31 WHEREAS, Emma Vogel initiated the first War Emergency Training Course
32 of World War II at Walter Reed General Hospital in 1941, consisting of six
33 (6) months of concentrated didactic instruction followed by six (6) months of
34 supervised practice at a military hospital; and
35
36 WHEREAS, Lucy Blair was a part of Dr. Jonah Salks national response to
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 HR1042
1 the polio epidemic in the early 1950s, serving as the staff coordinator for
2 physical therapists; and
3
4 WHEREAS, the effort to launch a two-year graduate education program for
5 physical therapists began at Western Reserve University, now Case Western
6 Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1960; and
7
8 WHEREAS, the first two (2) classes of physical therapist assistants
9 entered the workforce after graduating in 1969 from education programs at
10 Miami-Dade Community College in Florida and St. Marys Junior College in
11 Minnesota, which is now St. Catherine University; and
12
13 WHEREAS, the first physical therapy department at a Historically Black
14 College or University was established at Howard University in 1974; and
15
16 WHEREAS, the American Physical Therapy Association in 1978 launched the
17 Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy, which gained national
18 recognition by the United States Department of Education and the Council for
19 Higher Education Accreditation as the sole entity that grants specialized
20 accreditation status to qualified entry-level education programs for physical
21 therapists and physical therapist assistants; and
22
23 Whereas, the first doctor of physical therapy students graduated from
24 Creighton University in 1996, and as of 2015 all physical therapists are
25 educated at the clinical doctoral level; and
26
27 WHEREAS, the American Physical Therapy Association's vision of the
28 physical therapy profession is transforming society by optimizing movement to
29 improve the human experience; and
30
31 WHEREAS, given that the United States Department of Health and Human
32 Services indicates that more than eighty percent (80%) of adults and
33 adolescents do not get enough physical activity and that regular activity is
34 one (1) of the most important ways to improve health, physical therapists and
35 physical therapist assistants are critical to health services teams as
36 movement experts who improve quality of life by addressing pain or chronic
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1 conditions that limit participation in activities and by reducing the risk
2 for chronic diseases, enhancing fitness, and preventing injuries through
3 hands-on care, patient education, and prescribed movement based on rigorous
4 research; and
5
6 WHEREAS, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants treat
7 people where they are, providing care to people in many settings, including
8 hospitals, private practices, outpatient clinics, homes, schools, sports
9 teams and fitness facilities, the United States Armed Services, veterans
10 facilities, work settings, and nursing homes; and
11
12 WHEREAS, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants treat
13 individuals across the lifespan and have clinical expertise in eighteen (18)
14 specialty areas in the American Physical Therapy Association, which include:
15 (1) Acute care;
16 (2) Aquatics;
17 (3) Cardiovascular and pulmonary;
18 (4) Clinical electrophysiology and wound management;
19 (5) Education;
20 (6) Federal;
21 (7) Geriatrics;
22 (8) Hand and upper extremity;
23 (9) Health policy and administration;
24 (10) Home health;
25 (11) Neurology;
26 (12) Oncology;
27 (13) Orthopaedics;
28 (14) Pediatrics;
29 (15) Pelvic health;
30 (16) Private practice;
31 (17) Research; and
32 (18) Sports; and
33
34 WHEREAS, physical therapy is effective in reducing pain, such as low
35 back pain, as evidenced by a growing body of research for physical therapist
36 treatment of low back pain that includes a 2018 study published in Health
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 HR1042
1 Services Research showing that physical therapy as a first-line approach not
2 only saves money but also dramatically reduces the chance of receiving a
3 prescription for dangerous opioids; and
4
5 WHEREAS, students of physical therapy are being educated to address the
6 healthcare needs of Americans for the next one hundred (100) years; and
7
8 WHEREAS, the American Physical Therapy Association launched in 2020 the
9 Campaign for Future Generations to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion
10 efforts for the association and the physical therapy profession; and
11
12 WHEREAS, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants have
13 faced the challenge of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic head-on,
14 treating the most vulnerable, building on their proud history of work during
15 the polio pandemic, and playing an essential role in treating people who are
16 beginning to recover from the most severe effects of the coronavirus 2019
17 (COVID-19), both during their time in the hospital and after they leave, for
18 as long as it takes to improve function,
19
20 NOW THEREFORE,
21 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL
22 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:
23
24 THAT the House of Representatives recognize that:
25 (1) The American Physical Therapy Association for its dedication
26 to improving the health of society over the past one hundred (100) years; and
27 (2) The American Physical Therapy Association and its members
28 are essential partners to meet the future health and wellness needs of our
29 country.
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