President's Report

In October we held our AGM and National Conference in Melbourne, which again proved to be a very successful event. At our AGM I am pleased to report that our current Executive has remained unchanged from the previous year, with the addition of Neil Orr from Tasmania being voted onto the Executive. This now enables COCA to have Executive members “on the ground” in nearly all States and Territories in Australia. This should enable ongoing improvements with respect to seminars and other continuing education programs for practitioners in all states.

I would like to thank the Executive for their ongoing support over the last 12 months. We are very fortunate to have so many dedicated and talented members of the professions who devote considerable time and effort to ensure that COCA achieves its objectives.

In the month prior to the AGM we also welcomed the arrival of our new Executive Director, John Jannese. John has brought with him a wealth of knowledge and experience having fulfilled a similar role for the APA for a number of years, and more recently was employed as the registrar for the Psychologist Registration Board of Victoria. He has also worked for many years in the corporate world and has an accounting background. In the short time John has been at COCA he has proved to be an enormous asset, and has been a wonderful help to the Executive as a whole and to me personally. We hope that John will remain a long-term member of the COCA team.

The addition of John to the COCA office staff, alongside our Executive Secretary, Alan Ralph and administrative assistant, Colleen Ralph, places COCA in a position to continue to provide high quality continuing educational services.

The forthcoming year will again see expansion of the seminar series to all States and to Canberra. We are also looking to expand the distance educational modules available for practitioners who are more isolated and are unable to attend the seminars.

In early 2003 we will announce our international speakers for the Annual Conference in Sydney on 18-19th October 2003. Mark this week-end in your diaries.

We plan to continue in 2003 the Risk Management Program initiated in 2002, with the topics being:

• Patient Communication
• Contraindications and Complications Associated with the Use of Electrotherapy
• Infection Control Procedures in Practice

The above units have been authored by authorities in these fields, and the format will follow the previous year’s program of a distance education module complemented by seminar presentations of these topics. I believe that you will find these chapters as pertinent and useful as the 2002 program.

An organisation such as COCA is very much member driven and I would welcome any comments or suggestions at any time with regard to seminar topics, speakers and modules for distance education packages. Please feel free to contact me via email on peter.werth@coca.com.au or via fax on 1300 88 66 90.

As this year rapidly draws to a close, and in light of the recent world events that have shown us that our part of the world is not the safe haven it once was, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a happy and safe festive season, and look forward to an enjoyable and peaceful 2003.

Peter Werth,
National President