Letter from the President, Christine Dennis

August, 2004

I feel so incredibly grateful for all the wonderful people that work hard to make our association the wonderful entity that it is. Over the years there have been so many fabulous people. I feel so blessed to have been able to follow in many of their foot steps, to brush elbows with many others and to have come to love so many of them for their spirit and their passions. For as much work and energy that one can spend helping this association, the benefits are so much greater than one could possible imagine. This association has brought me so much peace and sense of purpose.

It is such a wonderful feeling to be in a room for a meeting, a seminar, herb fair, or whatever it might be and to feel so at home. To be with “my kind of people”, people who all share the same passion and love for the plants, to all be working for herbalism, and for the good of the planet, is such an amazing feeling. I am so grateful that at the end of each day when I can finally turn my computer off and walk away, I can do so knowing that I have helped, that I have been part of the solution, that I have made such great friends with people who care and will always be a part of my life. Sure there are times when it can be frustrating when we are dealing with financial limits, time limits, seemingly boring documents, etc but at the end of the day those are just details. The end result is synergy.

So far this year, we have accomplished a lot.

• Promotional materials to sell including bumper stickers, tote bags, and stainless steel mugs

• OHA T-shirts for volunteers

• Scope of Practice

• Insurance coverage for Professional Members of OHA

• Revised Professional Members Certificates

• Planning of two Herbal Medicine Seminars with – Aviva Romm and Rosemary Gladstar

• 4 beautiful journals including this one (bigger than EVER to say the least!!!)

• The Celebration of Herbs - Herb Fair (a HUGE undertaking with thousands of attendees!)

• Revised pamphlets and promotional material

• Revised website

• Participation in a country wide discussion group for a national herbalist association

• Attendance at various events across Ontario

• Attendance at the NHP information session to keep the membership informed

• Attendance at various political meetings and gatherings

• A database and program for an Adverse Event Reporting System

• A Disciplinary Procedure finalized

• A Continued Professional Development Standards established

• An Annual Professional Members meeting

• OHA vision established

• Planning of the Annual General Meeting coming up on September 19th

There are so many people that I want to say thank you to for such a productive year thus far. I am sure that I will miss a few people so please forgive me and know that it is a memory lapse.

Thank you to all the PPAC people who have worked so hard for the Professional Membership. Thank you Monika Ghent, Michael Vertolli, Bruce Robertson, Kerry Hackett, Celina Ainsworth, Angela Bossence, Helen Theodosiou, Rick DeSylva, Peter Laker, and Lisa Hazanoff. Thank you Frank A. Cameron, M.A. LL.B., Barrister and Solicitor for his generosity for doing the Disciplinary Procedures and Continuing Professional Development documents gratis and to Kerry Hackett for taking this task on.

Thank you Carol Little for bringing Rosemary Gladstar to Ontario and for organizing the 2 days for her seminar and for all your help with the Aviva Romm seminar organization as well. Thank you to Lisa Hazanoff for all the posters, flyers, and ads that you have done for all the various events;

Thank you to all the people who worked so hard for the 6 months that it takes to make such a big event as the Herb Fair such a success. Thank you Diane Kent, Celina Ainsworth, Betsy Carter, Marcia Dixon, Carol Little, Esther Kalaba, Karen Hazburger, Betty Donald, Lisa Hazanoff, Wendy Tooley, Linda Kerec, Angela Bossence, Sarah Trask, Alexis ?, and Helen Thiodosiou.

Thank you to Rick DeSylva for your generosity in picking up the bills for both the bumper stickers and for the volunteer t-shirts.

Thank you to John Redden for all your time and effort to produce the journal. Thanks to the entire journal team, including Danette Steele, Rosemarie Mart, Linda Harvey, Susan Elliotson, Una Hutchings, Annette Nyga, Mark McEwan of Printforce, Shelly Hawley-Yan, Rosemary Phelan, Kerry Hackett, Celina Ainsworth, and Pat Crocker.

Thank you to Michael Vertolli for all your contributions to the OHA and herbalism over the years. Michael has decided that it is time to focus his energy and attention in other areas now. We wish him all the best.

A group of people, spearheaded by Celina Ainsworth, Kerry Hackett, and Bruce Robertson, has developed a thorough and concise Scope of Practice (SOP). After hours and hours of discussion and many emails later, a beautiful piece of work has been finalized. Thanks so much to ALL the people involved, in addition to Celina, Kerry, and Bruce are Monika Ghent, Lisa Hazanoff, Michael Vertolli, John Redden, and the rest of the board including Rick DeSylva, Betty Donald, Angela Bossence, and Helen Theodosiou.

This SOP has allowed the OHA’s Professional Members to be accepted by an insurance company for malpractice insurance including the external and internal remedies. This is a huge achievement! This insurance company has given exclusive coverage to the OHA and the Professional Members. Thank you Bruce for the long hours and work in securing this for us.

On a more serious note, the OHA Board of Directors has been faced with the challenge of much work needing to be accomplished but with few volunteers to do so. We understand that everyone is busy; however we here at the OHA are working to not only support and to promote herbalism but we are also working to ensure that herbal medicine remains available to all Canadians. I am sure that there are many groups across the country that would not mind seeing this association and herbalism crawl under a rock and wither away but that is not going to happen if we have anything to do about it! We are determined to work hard and fight to have our voices heard.

The Board has decided that since much time, effort, and money go into the promotion and support of our Professional Members, more help is going to be needed from these members. We have decided to divide the current committee, Professional and Political Affairs Committee (PPAC) into two separate committees; one just for the promotion of professional members and the other for political affairs. This way, volunteers that have a particular interest in either one or the other can better focus their energies. Additionally, as of the AGM, we will have two Professional Membership rates. For those members that are able to donate a few hours per month to the association (I.e. – volunteering to man booths, sitting on a committee, helping work on various documents and projects, etc.), the fee will be $175 plus GST per year. However, those who are not able to find time to volunteer can help through extra financial support by paying a slightly higher fee of $225 plus GST per year. This extra $50 per year will go directly back into the association for Professional Members.

I would like to emphasize the fact that people do not need to live in the greater Toronto area to be able to volunteer. There is a lot of work that can be done via the internet and telephone so please, do not let this stop you from getting involved and helping support and secure your profession and interest. For example I live 2 ½ hours outside of Toronto.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that this year, the AGM will be held on September 19th. Please see the notice in this journal for more details. I hope to see some of you there! In the mean time, have a great rest of the summer!!

Letter From the President, May 2004

Letter From the President, February 2004

Letter From the President, November 2003

Letter From the President, Fall 2002

Letter From the President, May 2002

Letter From the President, February 2002