Your Communicator 2024 IN TOUCH AMTA-KY Summer Newsletter

Summer 2024, Volume 31, Issue 1

In Touch

The Newsletter of the

American Massage Therapy Association

Kentucky Chapter

A Message from Your

AMTA-KY Chapter President

Jo Ann Klein, BSIBS, AASMM, LMT

Happy Summer!!! I’m happy to announce the TENTATIVE date for our Spring 2025 Business Meeting and Education Conference as March 27-31, 2025. Our Conference Coordinator has worked diligently with the Embassy Suites in Lexington to secure the space and get as low a price as possible for the event. While we are waiting for the contract to go through the channels of approval, we wanted to let you know the probable dates.

Your Board of Directors are going through the conference and course evaluations from this year’s conference. We take your feedback and use it to decide what to offer in future conferences. As soon as we get all the contracts approved, we will let you know what we will offer in Spring 2025.

As a follow up to the 2024 Conference, we have had inquiries from some of who have not received their emailed certificates of attendance for the classes they took. Please look in the spam or junk folder to see if the certificates were routed there. If they are not in those folders, please contact the instructor directly. The certificates are sent to you by the instructor. We have heard back from instructors that they had some difficulty reading some of the email addresses on the sign-in sheets for their classes. The instructors do the best they can to get the documents to you, but their emails may have gone to addresses other than yours. We are looking at ways to avoid this issue in the future.

The tentative date for our Fall Fun Fling is October 13, 2024 at Mammoth Cave National Park. We are waiting for the contract to process for this event. More information will be sent and posted as soon as possible.

As there were no submissions for the pin contest, the board voted to use the previous design, but change the color. We chose teal to reflect Kentucky being the bluegrass state. Blue and green make teal.

We are always looking for those people who are interested in helping our profession through volunteering with the AMTA-KY. We love when people come to us with fresh ideas, solutions, and a desire to help raise up AMTA-KY and the massage profession as a whole. If this sounds like you and you are interested in volunteering in any capacity, we would relish welcoming you to our team. There is online and in person training, along with job descriptions and estimates of the amount of time to expect from each position. You can also reach out directly to Ann Phillips or Alicia Kleid at volunteercoorchair@amtaky.org.

Thank you for your continued support of AMTA and the Kentucky Chapter.

Jo Ann Klein, BSIBS, AASMM, LMT

AMTA-KY President

AMTA-KY

Member Spotlight

Volunteer Coordinator Co-Chair

Alicia Kleid, LMT

Hello!! Single lady here!! Hey!! I am a pet mom to my little girl cat. I just said goodbye to my best boy dog. I am born and raised in the great state of Ky.

I’ve been a massage therapist close to 20 years. Went to massage school after receiving my BA. I had always wanted to be a massage therapist. I went to school and had an amazing instructor named Gordon Clark.

I have been an AMTA member (starting as a student member in 2005). As an

AMTA-KY member, I have been the Benevolence Committee Chair, I attended Board meetings back in the day, taking notes for the AMTA-KY Chapter. I am currently on the Volunteer Committee as co-chair with the amazing Ann Phillips. I love massage therapists. I love the profession. I love building people up, not tearing them down.

Time flies so quickly. I know there should be 5 and 10 year plans. However, life happens and things generally don’t turn out the way you hope/think they will. This is not a pessimistic point of view, It is a realistic point of view. So, I do my best to stay grounded in my faith. I try to love those that come into my circle the best I can.

And, if the music is right, I will stay on the dance floor all night. Peace. - Alicia

Government Relations Report:

May 26, 2024

Ann Boone, LMT

Government Relations Chair

Your Government Relations team has been busy this year. Many thanks to Bob Babbage and his Cofounders team for their support and mentorship as well as each and every volunteer involved in supporting our state AMTA-KY Chapter. We need and appreciate your support!

An update on several issues we’ve been working on and following:

The Federal Department of Education (DoE) passed a bill restricting the number of clock hours a vocational school can teach and still receive Title IV funding (i.e. PELL Grants, Loans, etc.) to the current minimum number of clock hours for each state which goes into effect July 1, 2024. Kentucky’s minimum is currently 600. There is a bill to amend this ruling to allow these institutions to teach up to 150% of the minimum number of clock hours required by state or federal agency for such trainings. This applies to all vocational trainings, not just Massage Therapy. Should the amendment eventually pass, it would allow Kentucky to teach up to a 900 clock hour program and still receive Title IV funding.

Here is an explanation of the bill Federal DoE bill that passed in October 2023: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2024-04-09/updates-new-regulatory-provisions-related-certification-procedures-and-ability-benefit

The law will take effect before this amendment is able to be considered. It will be brought up in the 2024/2025 Federal legislative session. There is also at least one lawsuit to reverse/amend the Federal DoE ruling. We will be continuing to watch current and new developments.

The Interstate Massage Compact put forward by the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) proposing a bill to promote portability of Massage Therapy licenses was presented to the Kentucky legislature in the 2023/2024 session. At this time, it has been tabled due to opposition of certain aspects of the proposal. Military families are currently able to take advantage of this portability. AMTA continues to work with the FSMTB, Association of Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP) and other vested parties to continue to explore the best way forward.

We were able to have the Continuing Education (CE) for Microcurrent devices submitted and approved by the Kentucky Board for Licensure in Massage Therapy (KBLMT). We are currently working with a PEMF company (BEMER) to have that device also fully approved within our scope of practice by having them submit a CE approval application. It is a slow process and we’re determined.

Lastly, the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners (KBVE) continues to work on a framework for Animal Massage regulation. Board members and licensees with the KBVE would like input into developing a program possibly for 2025. KBLMT has expressed interest in having a seat at the table with regards to regulatory input. Please contact the kbve.ky.gov and request to be on their mailing list for any developing information and with any questions. Please pass this information along to any equine therapists, currently practicing or interested in doing so.

I look forward to seeing everyone in Tampa in September!

In health,

Ann E. Boone, LMT, BCTMB, MLD-C

Remember: Please continue to check the KBLMT website for any updates (bmt.ky.gov).

We will share updates as we receive them as well.

If you have any further questions, please contact Ann E. Boone, LMT at grchair@amtaky.org.