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ACC-CTRS Why not both?
Nancy
Best
ACC, CTRS
After
20 some odd years of being an Activity Director licensed as
a CTRS and a member of NAAP, I was in a professional stalemate.
Over the course of the last 2 years, with prodding from close
friends, I became renewed in my professional field and became
actively involved at the national level.
I
was asked to serve on the NAAP National Convention Committee,
which I have been a part of the last two years. I have met many
new Activity Professionals and have maintained contact with
them. Through the NAAP, I nominated Tammy Lininger for “Administrator
of the Year”. Because of her dedicated and compassionate
approach to long term care and her support of the Activity Profession,
she was awarded this prestigious reward. With her support of
my Activities Department, many Activities Professionals approached
me to share my expertise on some special events.
During
the NAAP convention, Cindy Bradshaw, Executive Director of NCCAP
and I were conversing about the Activity Profession. She asked
me why I was not certified with the NCCAP organization. I explained
that I held my CTRS certification and had not considered another.
Later, in conversation, I was astounded by the fact that Pennsylvania,
my home Commonwealth, has one of the largest number of Activity
Professionals certified. However, it is represented by only
1 board member for NAAP Through NCCAP, there was one Activity
Professional on the initial review committee, Rena Tatka, ACC
and no one was our Commonwealth Representative.
Needless
to say, I was embarrassed by these statistics. I asked how I
could volunteer for NCCAP. Cindy informed me I must be certified.
I am now an ACC with NCCAP. I serve on their certification committee
and have begun my duties as the Representative for the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania. I have also had the opportunity to experience
the day to day operations at the national office in Virginia
Beach, Virginia. What a fantastic job they do.
As
in the poem “The Road Not Taken”, two roads
diverged in a woods and I, I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the
difference. NN
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