14 minute read
Member Spotlight: Marilyn Moffat PT, DPT, PhD, DSc (hon), FAPTA page
How Long have you been a member of APTA New York?
I became a student member in 1963 and a full member in 1964, so have been a member of APTA for 58 years.
What do you enjoy most about APTA New York?
There are many things that I have enjoyed over the years about being a part of APTA New York, but certainly the outstanding highlights include chairing and running one of the largest NYPTA Annual Meetings we have ever had that was held in New York City in 1977 at the Roosevelt Hotel with bag pipers leading us into the banquet dinner, serving as President of NYPTA for 2 terms, and developer of both the Legislative and Leadership Chapter Workshops. In addition was my time serving in many different capacities including Editor of the Newsletter, member of the Continuing Education Committee, member of the Taskforce on the Future of Physical Therapy, member of the Board of Directors, participant in the Legislative Workshops for 11 years, Legislative Consultant for 18 years, Chair of the Political Action Committee for 5 years, Chair of the Taskforce on Insurance, member of the Vision and Strategic Planning Retreats, Chair of the Taskforce on Implementation of the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice in NYS and also as a consultant for that implementation for 6 years, and member of the Physical Therapy Scope of Practice Taskforce.
Tell us a little about your background, and how your path led you to where you are today.
My physical therapy education was at the certificate level, hence up until I went back for my transitional DPT degree, I had only a certificate not a degree in physical therapy. But that was what was typical for those of us entering physical therapy programs at the post-graduate level. My undergraduate degree led me to a teaching path, and I decided I did not want to teach high school students as a career. Fortunately I had a former professor who suggested I look into physical therapy, and to do that I spent some time at the New York State Rehabilitation Hospital in Havestraw NY (now Helen Hays Hospital) where I fell in love with what I saw being done with patients. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. I applied to the New York University Program that summer (I had most all of the science requirements for entry including, biology, chemistry, physiology, and microbiology and did a cram a year of physics into that same summer) and was admitted to the fall class. Finishing my entry level certificate in 14 months, I then went on for my master’s degree and my PhD degree.
What’s the most rewarding part about your work and what are some challenges?
The three distinct components of my professional career – practice, teaching, and service - have all been rewarding in their own way even in spite of challenges along the way. My patient/client practice is and always will be the part of my life that provides me with unique challenges but wonderful rewards as I try to get each and every patient/client as fit in the strongest/healthiest way possible that is pleasing to them and their lifestyle. And to do that with the shortest number of visits possible and making that patient/client a partner in the process so that they are motivated to continue whatever good achieved for as long as needed. I have been truly blessed meeting and being a part of the lives of so many patients, each of whom has left an indelible mark on my life.
My academic responsibility includes directing our DPT program at New York University, and many will never remember that I was the first to mention a clinical doctoral degree as the entry-level degree to the Section for Education in 1977. Most also do not know that NYU was the first program to submit an entry-level doctoral program to the NYS Department of Education in 1984 and if any one knows the workings of the Department of Education, we got mired in state politics for over 10 years and finally got our approval and admitted our first doctoral class in 1998. It took a long time to get there but the reward was in seeing it achieved. My teaching over the years has been in many areas from exercise, fitness theory, examination and intervention for the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular/pulmonary systems, to research at the post-professional level. Certainly these last two years have presented unbelievable challenges as we navigated unchartered waters through the COVID pandemic. I am happy to say that we were able to keep all of our students on track and amazingly healthy throughout and am hoping that we will return to teaching using the best of methodologies available to us.
My service to the profession, both nationally and internationally, has provided infinite rewards and is probably the reason I have been willing to continue to give to the profession. What has been so rewarding was having 3 awards named after me – the Marilyn Moffat Leadership Award of the American Physical Therapy Association, the Dr. Marilyn Moffat Distinguished Service Award of the New York Physical Therapy Association, and the Marilyn Moffat Service Award of the North America/Caribbean Region World Confederation for Physical Therapy. In addition, during the 2021 APTA Centennital Celebration, the Marilyn Moffat Atrium was dedicated in the new APTA headquarters in recognition of my work for the Campaign for Future Generations Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
What is a typical day like for you?
Early to rise, because if I don’t exercise before my day starts, it invariably doesn’t happen. So I am usually up around 5:45 and depending on whether I am in New York City or on Long Island, my activity varies. Since I have my office on Long Island, I have access to my treadmill and weights so will do aerobic and strength training that way when I am there. In the city, I have to rely on the city streets or 10 flights of stairs in my apartment and body weight exercises. Stretching and some balance will be done in both locations. In the city I normally will leave for my NYU office and will be there as long I must be to teach, lead the DPT program, see students, and attend meetings (I currently co-chair the School’s Council and Senate which occupies many hours of my time). COVID has also placed many challenges upon academicians and was so glad that NYU made the decision to return to full in person classes this past fall semester. When I am on Long Island, I see patients on Friday and Saturday and even sometimes on a Sunday. I try to catch up on mail, bills, and a few personal things on the weekend as well. I serve as a reader in church throughout the year and currently serve on my church’s Music Committee. I try very hard to be sure that I use evenings to catch up with family and/or friends for dinner to unwind and also I take advantage of many of the wonderful cultural aspects of New York City whenever possible (again this has been trying during COVID but I was fortunate to get to three different performances of the NY Philharmonic between November and December of 2021).
If and when things finally begin to settle, I still have international teaching that was postponed because of COVID in both Israel and China that I will then fit into my life in a way that it does not interfere with my responsibilities here.
Who is one of your role models and why?
This is a difficult question for me, because there were people at varied times during my professional life who served as role models, including: two physical therapy faculty members while I was a student – Beth Addoms and Arthur Nelson; early career models – Lucy Blair and Charles Magistro; and international role models – Howard Rusk and Mildred Elson. And I must also mention, three people in my life who served as continued role models in that they provided me with the inspiration to pursue excellence in my professional career, with the drive to rise above mediocrity, and with the tenacity to stick with my goals even if the odds of achievement seemed small – my mum, my dad, and my husband. To all of these individuals I am ever indebted.
What’s the most important trend you see today?
The trends impacting the profession include issues related to practice and education. Certainly the COVID pandemic has opened up new possibilities for providing physical therapy services, but we will have to be sure that the patient/client still remains the primary focus of our service delivery and that regardless of mode of delivery that the patient/client receives the absolute best services we can provide. The characteristics of patients/clients most likely to succeed in any model are not yet known, and research is needed in this area. We will have to use our clinical judgment to determine those patients who are best served by a hands on program, by a center-based program, or by a multidisciplinary program. Training of physical therapists must consider the skills necessary for potential emerging models, some of which will be delivered remotely, to be sure that expected outcomes will be achieved.
The recent success on the Medicare proposed cuts does not mean that these proposals will not come back again. As the US economy is challenged with the massive Congressional spending, cuts or seeking other sources of revenue will in all likelihood occur, which may potentially place increasing stresses on physical therapists and their practices. The payment reform which had begun through APTA a couple of years ago needs to be looked at again.
In addition, the continued proliferation of physical therapist and physical therapist assistant educational programs does not bode well for income levels for physical therapists. If supply continually exceeds demand, income will not increase. The studies by APTA and those purported by the government indicate that supply will continue to exceed demand through this decade and steps need to be taken by CAPTE and APTA to address the continual approval of new programs. This proliferation of programs also places stresses on programs seeking high quality clinical affiliations for their students.
There are certainly other trends and areas of concern that hopefully will continue to be addressed by our professional association and those members who had dedicated their time to helping to address them.
Member Spotlight (Continued)
What advice would you give APTA New York members who are new to the profession and want to make a difference?
Get involved as early as you are able in your career. As a starting point, I always feel it is important to know the history of any organization deserving of your volunteer efforts. There are so many opportunities for service to your district and to APTA New York. Begin by attending meetings, by getting to know the leadership, by getting to know areas in need of volunteer expertise particularly those areas in which you have an interest, by offering to serve on a committee or to serve as a district delegate, and by eventually running for an office. Get to know your congressional representatives at both the state and federal levels so you can support the profession’s legislative efforts. Do community volunteer work that will let the citizens of your community know the value of physical therapy. Know that you as one person can make a difference in the profession and never underestimate what you might be able to do to influence our future.
How do you make time to volunteer and be active in groups you’re involved with?
I have always maintained that busy people always find time to do things that they want to do. In addition, my mum and dad instilled in me an incredible work ethic, but also the importance of giving back in whatever way one can, whether it be time or financial resources. And on top of that I am incredibly organized, otherwise many of these things that are part of my being would not be possible. Hence even to this day I continue to volunteer my time to APTA New York by serving as a delegate, to APTA during the past almost 2 years by Co-chairing the Campaign for Future Generations Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund Raising Committee, and to the Foundation for Physical Therapy Research by being a member of the Board of Trustees and coordinating all of the efforts for their President’s Sustaing Fund. I also serve as Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the World Rehabilitation Fund (and have served with them since 1998), I chair the Exercise Committee at my local club, and as I indicated before I serve my church in several capacities.
What else would you like your fellow APTA New York Members to know about you?
While physical therapy has been an incredibly important part of my life, my family and friends help me to balance life. In spite of all of the difficulties in New York City over the past almost 2 years, I still love what the city has to offer in the way of cultural opportunities, including the opera, the theater, the Philharmonic, and the vast array of museums, and I am so looking forward to open access to all of these opportunities.
Member Spotlight
I have been an inveterate traveler (a love instilled in me by my grandmother who took me on my first major train travelling in the US and also took me back to my Scottish roots and then through Europe when I was 11 years of age), and there are currently very few places in the world that I have yet to see. I still get back to visit family in Scotland on a regular basis and am hoping to finally feel comfortable getting on an international flight in the not too distant future.
For this time in my life I have been animalless and truly miss the joy of having animals around. There were very few years in my life without them, but when I was elected President of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy with an incredibly demanding 8 year period of time with international traveling all while continuning my New York activities, I felt it was not fair to have another animal in my life since I had never boarded an animal in a kennel and could not think about having one being alone all day while I was in the city. Thus, a portion of my life that I do miss.
I am an avid reader and freely admit that a lot of my reading now is done through audio books. With this easy access to reading, I can read while I am walking to my office in the city or while on my treadmill on Long Island. My choice of reading varies from both fiction to nonfiction. On audio, I have just finished “The Code Breaker” by Walter Issacson about the Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues who discovered CRISPR, and prior to that I had finsihed a Daniel Silva novel. My current actual physical book is an older one, but one I hadn’t had a chance to read when it came out titled “The Iron Lady”, the story of Lady Margaret Thatcher.
I am a bridge player and was so glad all during COVID, that Bridge Base Online offered the opportunity to continue playing. I play a very mediocre game of golf but still love to get out and enjoy the peace and quiet of the course. I try to practice what I preach in terms of lifestyle, but must admit I love good food. And with all of my traveling life, there is hardly an ethnic cuisine that I do not enjoy.
My hope is that this small vignette will motivate you to consider serving your profession in whatever way fits with your lifestyle, because we are all stronger together and can accomplish so much more together.
