How
to Start an ASEP Affiliated State Association
Matthew G. Wattles, MS
President, Idaho Association
of Exercise Physiologists
You are most likely reading
this article because you have a passion to promote the profession of the
Exercise Physiologist. Whether you have a bachelor’s degree or a
PhD, you have invested a great deal of time and energy into the field and
now you are ready to reap the rewards of that time and energy. You
are ready for the field to move forward. You have the same goals
that I do. You would like for the exercise physiologist to be recognized
as a true profession, to be respected for our contributions and to be compensated
fairly for our work. The goals of this article are to make you understand
the importance of starting an ASEP affiliated state association and to
describe in detail the process of developing and implementing a state association.
This article will discuss three areas:
-
What is a state association?
-
Why start a state association?
-
How to start a state association.
I have also created a detailed
list of exactly what you need to do to set up a state association.
This list will tell you exactly what to do and the estimated time involved
to complete each step. Let me start out by telling you my story and
how the Idaho Association of Exercise Physiologists was born.
My story is probably no different from many exercise physiologists throughout
the country. I began to realize that our profession lacked a vision
and direction while I was completing a series of internships that I needed
to complete my undergraduate degree. During one of those internships
I worked in a hospital as an exercise physiologist along side nurses, respiratory
therapists and physical therapists. I soon realized that the exercise
physiologist was on the bottom of the food chain in the health care industry.
I began to question my profession about the observations I had made during
my internships. I also began to ask my professors questions such
as
-
Why are nurses running exercise
physiology programs when they are not educated or trained in the field?
-
Why are exercise physiologists
not respected in the health care field?
-
Why are exercise physiologists
not licensed in this state?
-
Why is it that exercise physiologists
cannot bill insurance companies for our services?
-
Why is it we cannot find decent
paying jobs in our field?
I received a lot of blank stares
and about the only response I received during those years was that a large
sports medicine association would be discussing these matters at their
next conference. None of my questions was ever answered. The
truth was that all of my professors had no idea what was going on because
NO ONE was asking the "tough questions" at these conferences. I became
extremely frustrated.
I spent the next few years
searching for the answers to these questions until one day while I was
on the Internet, I entered “Exercise Physiologist” into a search engine
and found ASEP’s website. I had NEVER heard of ASEP before this point.
I spent the next few hours reading through all the articles on their website.
In the next few weeks of my questions were answered. Finally it all
began to make sense. I figured out that no one was going to help
us. It was up to exercise physiologists throughout the country to
pull together and promote the profession. I also learned that I was
personally responsible for exercise physiologists not moving forward, because
I was not active in promoting the field. I had been sitting back
waiting for someone else to promote the field. I now knew what I
needed to do. I began e-mailing Dr. Tommy Boone about what I could
do to help promote the field from my home state. I began talking
to EPs in my state and convinced them that ASEP would help us. In
early 2000, IDAEP was born and affiliated with ASEP. ASEP is now
part of me and my way of thinking as an exercise physiologist. I
am very excited about the field and where it is going. We have a
vision and we now have a road map of how we will get there. The profession
of a new exercise physiology has begun.
What is a State Association?
Lets start by defining what
a state association is. A state association is an exercise physiologist
association that is affiliated with ASEP for the soul purpose of promoting
the profession of the exercise physiologists within the state that its
members reside. It is a legally structured non-profit corporation
and follows the same corporate laws as any other non-profit corporation
within the state in which it was created. At the present time, there
are only "3" state associations affiliated with ASEP. They are:
(1) Idaho (IDAEP); (2) Indiana (IAEP); and (3) Minnesota (MAEP).
The Indiana association is the oldest and most structured of the associations.
Indiana has taken some exciting steps to promote the EP profession in their
home state. IAEP recently announced that Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon
has proclaimed October 29th as Exercise Physiology Day in the state of
Indiana. IAEP plans a substantial marketing campaign with press releases
throughout the state. This is one way that Indiana will drastically
increase the visibility of the profession within their state. It
is just the beginning.
As you will soon see, those
of us who have worked hard to create these state associations have created
templates for other states to follow. We have also created a Manual
for Starting an Affiliated State Association. The manual provides
a step by step guide in developing and running an ASEP State Association.
The manual will dramatically ease the work and decrease the time to create
other ASEP affiliated state associations.
Why Start an ASEP Affiliated
State Association?
Ultimately, we control our
own future, and we will control the future of exercise physiology.
The choice is ours. We can choose to come together unified and be
strong, or we can stand alone, divided and weak. Starting and supporting
a state association will help unite exercise physiologists in your state.
Our field is stalled and
going nowhere, yet the other healthcare professions continue to flourish
and continue to promote, unify, and support their profession. Exercise
physiologists, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite direction.
We have no unity. We have been fighting with each other for decades.
As a result of this, we find ourselves lost without a profession.
There is a lot of money to be made in the exercise physiology field.
Wouldn’t it be a shame for the exercise physiologist not to make any of
it.
Look at any strong health
care profession. They all have state affiliated associations that
seek to influence their profession on the state and local level.
Nurses, physical therapists, medical doctors, all have developed strong
state associations affiliated with their national professional organization.
What do these professions have in common?
-
Extremely strong exclusive professional
Associations. They are unified.
-
They are licensed (registered)
in all 50 states.
-
They have decided as a profession
that they needed to come together and support their profession.
-
They have created state affiliated
state association that can influence their state legislature.
The sad fact is exercise physiologists
have no sense of themselves, no sense of a profession. We need people
to step forward with a vision – a vision of creating a dynamic new profession
in exercise physiology. A profession that we can all be proud of.
A profession in which we get the respect we have all worked so hard to
achieve. A profession that will give us financial as well as career
stability. It is time for us to choose to come together to legitimize
the field of exercise physiology, the field that many of us are extremely
proud of and have worked so hard to earn a living in. Everything
is in place for us to claim our stake in the healthcare industry.
We need ASEP affiliated state associations throughout the country.
I cannot stress to you enough
that if you do not have a state association affiliated with ASEP the exercise
physiology profession in your state will go nowhere. ASEP can and
will promote the profession at the national level, but they cannot not
influence each individual state. It is in each state's best interest
to be affiliated with a national organization exclusive for exercise physiologists.
ASEP is the national organization exclusive to exercise physiologists.
States will benefit in many ways from this affiliation including:
-
Support of a national organization.
-
Professional recognition.
-
Support and marketing of state
organizations via the ASEP national web site.
-
National exercise physiologist
certification.
-
Accreditation of exercise physiology
academic programs.
-
Assistance to members of state
organizations in advertising, securing jobs, and the continued support
in the effort to gain licensure in the state.
Here is what will happen if
you don’t form a state association. First of all, There will be no
unity of Exercise Physiology in your state. As a result, the exercise
physiology field in your state will continue to be stagnant. The
field will go nowhere! Other health care providers will continue
to take over our field. They are currently taking over the duties
and responsibilities of exercise physiologists. Why? Because
no one will stop them. The bottom line is that people do not understand
what exercise physiologists are or what we do. It is up to us to
educate the health care industry in our states. An ASEP affiliated
state association is the first step.
Finally, you will continue
to be at the bottom of the pay scale for most allied health care professionals
who possess an associate’s degree or less. Take a look at the average
salaries for selected healthcare practitioners: (1)
-
Licensed practical nurses are
$13.48 per hour or $28,040 per year
-
Clinical Exercise Physiologists
are $13.92 hour or $ 28,945 per year (2)
-
Radiological Technologists are
$16.51 hour or $34,340 per year
-
Radiation Therapists are $19.88
hour or $41,360 per year
-
Registered Nurses are $20.71
hour or $43,070 per year
-
Physical Therapists are $27.49
hour or $57,190 per year
-
Occupational Therapists are
$24.65 hour or $51,260 per year
As you progress from associates
to the bachelor degree in healthcare fields, the
average wages increase dramatically
unless you are an exercise physiologist. Licensed practical nurses
spend approximately 1 year in school and are making the equivalent of a
master-prepared exercise physiologist who will spend 7 years in school.
Our country’s best and brightest students are not going to enroll in education
programs where there is no career track or money to be made. Increasing
the exercise physiologists' salaries will bring better students into our
educational programs. This will further increase the strength of
the exercise physiology profession. Creating ASEP state affiliated
associations will help to accomplish these goals. Here is what will
happen if you do develop and support an ASEP affiliated state association:
Short Term:
-
Your association will set the
agenda, determine the direction, and make the decisions about the future
of the exercise physiology profession in your state.
-
Your association will set the
agenda, determine the direction, and make the decisions about the future
of the exercise physiology profession in your state.
-
You will increase visibility
of the exercise physiology profession (Indiana’s Exercise Physiology day)
-
You will have created a central
location where exercise physiologists in your state can ask questions and
find answers.
-
You will have established a
support network for exercise physiologists which will increase unity.
Long Term:
-
Autonomy of the EP profession.
-
Exercise physiologists will
be regulated as a profession (licensure).
-
3rd party reimbursement.
This will result in stability
of careers and an increase in exercise physiology salaries across the country.
This will directly impact the quality of students that enroll into exercise
physiology programs. Look at the average salaries of allied health
care professions.
How to Start a State Association?
ASEP State Organizations
Committee has created a Manual for Starting an Affiliated State Association.
The manual provides a step-by-step guide in developing and running an ASEP
affiliated state association. The manual covers everything you need
to do to start an association and includes an appendix that you can use
to legally form a non-profit association in your state.
SPECIFIC AND DETAILED
STEPS
Step 1: Become
an EXPERT in the professionalization of Exercise Physiology.
The first thing you should
do is read ASEP’s Manual for Starting an Affiliated State Association.
Next, read all you can on our profession. You need to understand
the issues at hand. Start off reading ASEP, IAEP, IDAEP websites.
Read the articles in the Professionalization
of Exercise Physiologyonline.
PEPonline
is the only journal in the world dedicated exclusively to the profession
of the exercise physiologist. Next, join Yahoo’s Exerise-phys discussion
group, it’s free. When you join, you will receive daily emails that
will keep you up to date on what is happening in the field: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exercisephys
Talk to those of us who have
ASEP affiliated associations in our home states (Steve Jungbauer, Tommy
Boone and myself). We are willing to answer your questions.
Our emails addresses can be found through our websites:
Note: The estimated
time to complete this step is 10 hours.
Step 2: Determine
the purpose of your association.
Every organization should
have a written statement that expresses its reason for being. These
include developing and writing out a Mission Statement, Vision,
and Goals and Objectives for the association. This is an easy
one. Why recreate the wheel? We have already spent time in
our states to create our mission statement, vision, and goals and objectives.
With these templates you can simply substitute your state name for ours.
You can find the templates for these in ASEP’s Manual for Starting an
Affiliated State Association.
Note: The estimated
time to complete this step is 2 hours
Step 3: Form a Board
of Directors.
Initially, the Board can
be composed of the founding members. You need 3 people to legally
form a non-profit corporation. After your association becomes more
organized you can begin to recruit board members that can better serve
the association. For instance, in Idaho we are currently in the process
of recruiting an M.D. that has a serious interest in exercise physiology.
This Doctor will have strong ties to the Idaho Medical Association which
can help influence the Idaho State Medical Board (The Idaho State Medical
Board's primary responsibility and obligation is to protect patients through
proper licensing and regulation of physicians and other health care professionals).
This would help us when we seek licensure in the state. We are also
looking at recruiting a person from the insurance industry. We feel
they may be able to help us with 3rd part reimbursement.
Note: The estimated
time to complete this step is 6 hours, if you have contacts that are interested
in starting an ASEP affiliated state association. In the long term,
you will be involved in an ongoing commitment to recruit board members.
Step 4: Draft bylaws.
Bylaws--the operating rules
of the organization--should be drafted and approved by the board early
in the organization's development. We have included a Constitution
and Bylaws template in the appendix of ASEP’s Manual for Starting an
Affiliated State Association. You can simply substitute your
state name for ours.
Note: The estimated
time to complete this step is 1 hour.
Step 5: File articles
of incorporation and other paper work required to legally register your
association as a non-profit corporation.
ASEP’s Manual for Starting
an Affiliated State Association contains a list which gives you contact
information with the address and telephone number to contact your Secretary
of State to fill out the proper forms to incorporate you Nonprofit association.
Also listed is the Web address so that you can download corporate forms
right from your computer. You will find links on each States website
that will also answer all of your questions about filing forms in your
state. Make sure to download or request a copy of your states Nonprofit
Corporation Act. This will give you all the legal details about filing
a Nonprofit Corporation in your state.
Note: The estimated
time to complete this step is 2 hours.
Step 6: Establishing
a Formal Affiliation with The American Society of Exercise Physiologists.
The mechanism for establishing
a formal affiliate relationship with the American Society of Exercise
Physiologists (ASEP) is a straightforward and relatively simple process.
There are four requirements that must be fulfilled by a state or regional
association and ASEP in order for this relationship to receive formal approval.
These requirements are listed below.
-
Written notification to ASEP
expressing the intent of your association to establish a formal relationship
with ASEP. This requirement can be satisfied through completing the
Application for Formal Affiliation that has been included with these instructions.
-
An association must demonstrate
a “like purpose” to the philosophy and operations of ASEP through the practice
of similar goals and objectives. This requirement can be satisfied
by providing ASEP with a copy of your association goals and objectives,
philosophy and any additional information that reflects the intent and
purpose of your association.
-
The mutual exchange, review
and acceptance of the Constitution and/or Bylaws of the association and
ASEP. A copy of the ASEP Bylaws is enclosed.
-
A formal vote by ASEP Board
of Directors and the members of your state or regional association approving
the establishment of a liaison relationship between organizations.
The completed application form
and related materials should be returned to the:
ASEP National Office
C/O Tommy Boone, Ph.D.,
MPH, FASEP, EPC,
Department of Exercise Physiology
The College of St. Scholastica
1200 Kenwood Avenue, Duluth,
MN 55811 USA.
Note: The estimated
time to complete this step is 2 hours to meet with you board, accept these
terms and complete and submit the application.
Step 7: Develop
a strategic plan. The strategic planning process helps you express a vision
of the organization's potential.
There are websites that can
help you write the strategic plan for free. Try the website listed
below.
This website will give you the
exact details of how to develop a strategic plan for your ASEP affiliated
state association. You may also contact IDAEP (http://www.idaep.org)
for more specific information on strategic planning.
Note: The estimated
time to complete this step is 4 hours.
Step 8: Create a
Website to help get information out to your members.
The Internet has become extremely
advanced. You can now create websites for free with no knowledge
or experience in web design or web programming. A website is one
of the most cost effective ways to get information to your members.
They also eliminate a tremendous amount of time wasted on paperwork and
costs of mailing information out to your members. Websites can be used
to:
-
Market and advertise your ASEP
affiliated state association.
-
Publish information about the
EP profession in your state.
-
Publish monthly newsletters.
-
Complete online membership applications.
-
Publish online state membership
directories, and
-
Create exrecise physiology job
listing in your state.
To get you started on your website,
try one of the many websites that will allow you to have free web space,
web-based e-mail, a domain name (idaep.org), and web page-building tools
so novices can create attractive informative websites. Many of these
websites are 100% free. IDAEP originally used the website below for
our first website.
Note: The estimated time
to complete this step is 20 hours. This is the time it will take
to gather information and publish it on your website.
In Conclusion
If you spend approximately
47 hours you will have created an ASEP affiliated state association that
will unite and promote the exercise physiologists in your state.
Forty-seven (47) hours is not a lot of time. If you can find 3 people
that will help you, then you may only have to work 15 hours each.
Ask Dr. Tommy Boone or Dr. Robert Robergs how many hours they have put
into creating and supporting ASEP in the past 4 years?
The bottom line is that throughout
the entire process you will not be alone, and from here on out you will
have the support of our national professional organization.
We are currently in the process of working on an ASEP Affiliated State
Associations marketing plan so each state can use to rapidly promote their
association throughout their state. ASEP has taken many steps to
ease the process of creating an ASEP affiliated state associations.
ASEP cannot develop associations in each state. This is a call to
exercise physiologists across the nation. Everything is in place
for you to start a state association. The responsibility now lies
with you.
You have the opportunity
to be one of the pioneers of the profession of exercise physiology.
You can be one of the many to come who will carry the field forward and
make the difference. You can start an ASEP affiliated state association.
You can if you believe, if you dream, and are willing to work hard.
You know who you are.
References
1. 1998 National
Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates Professional,
Paraprofessional, and Technical
Occupations. Occupational Employment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[Retrieved December 16, 2000 from
World Wide Web] http://stats.bls.gov/oes/national/oes_prof.htm
2. Janot,
J. M. Exercise physiologists survey in cardiac rehabilitation. Non-published
survey of 564 staff exercise physiologists.
Copyright
©1997-2001 American Society of Exercise Physiologists. All Rights
Reserved.
ASEP
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