Continuing Education Committee- Presently Co-Chaired by 3 of our VOTA Board Members- Gabe Borman (new to VOTA Board), Virginia Blakely (new to VOTA Board) and Lindsay Thrall (experienced VOTA President)- volunteers and co-chairs will meet virtually starting in September to plan the fall virtual mini-series (mid-October to mid-November) that may include relevant evidence-based topics from a variety of practice areas (usually 3-5 one hour virtual presentations free for VOTA members and available for a low cost for VOTA non-members).  This committee begins in planning for the spring (usually late April or early May) VOTA in-person conference (there is a detailed written guideline to follow for this conference planning)

Membership Committee- Chaired by Rachel Wiley (new to VOTA Board) in consultation with past Board members Kristen Jackson and Amy Maxwell. This committee also includes Jessica Lague, who is a new Board member and the editor of the quarterly VOTA Newsletter.  Membership committee is focused on communication with VOTA members, overseeing our VOTA member and contact lists on the VOTA website, adding new materials to our VOTA website, and social media as well as assisting Jessica with articles for the Newsletter.  We also have a paid communication consultant Amie Marzen who uploads information and monitors our VOTA social media sites and can troubleshoot tech problems on our website (Amy is also a paid consultant to the Maine and New Hampshire OT Associations).  Membership will have committee meetings held virtually after work 4-6 times during the year.  

Legislative Committee-  Co-Chaired by Hannah Bloom with Lindsay Thrall (all experienced Board Members).  Thomas Hartigan, experienced VOTA Board Member also involved.  This committee keeps track of legislative issues on the state and federal level that impact Occupational Therapy Services in all practice areas.  Most recently this committee has been involved with lobbying the passage of the OT Compact Bill, and last year's state-level restructuring of public education that includes OT School practice.  Upcoming federal changes to Medicaid will need to be monitored closely in the upcoming years.

Pediatric Special Interest Group- Chaired by Karen Downey (VOTA Board), and Hannah Kinney and Catherine Armani-Munn (VOTA members).  This group has met for several years virtually during the school year either in the late afternoon or early evening.  We have approximately 38 members of this group- some can attend the virtual meetings and other keep up to date with the minutes provided for each virtual meeting.  We will start up again in Sept and usually go until May, meeting 7-9 times (taking time off around holidays and around the Annual Conference).  We have discussed topics relevant to pediatric outpatient, home health, hospital and school based practice areas.  This fall we will be looking at the final draft of the voluntary Vermont School Practice guidelines that this group has been working on since 2023.  This group will be presenting the Vermont School Practice guidelines final draft to the VOTA Board and the Vermont Agency of Education for their approval in the fall.

Aging in Place Special Interest Group- This group has been more loosely organized over the past 2-3 years.  We have met 2-4 times yearly virtually.  Ela Dupont (AOTA RA Vermont Rep) and Karen Downey (VOTA Board) have led the discussions along with Dena Wilkie and Kelly Hollingsworth, 2 VOTA members.  Several other OTs have joined this group as well.  We need to reorganize this fall, probably meeting in September or October.  Our group monitors the development of new Aging in Place programs in Vermont funded by grants.  We also have been involved in the UVM Center on Aging Gerontology Conferences and other Aging in Place presentations in Vermont.