Tag: weesie walker

ATLANTA - When the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine holds its annual event here later this month, NRRTS will be on hand to raise awareness of the CRTS and RRTS community and the issues affecting them.The ACRM serves a global community of researchers and clinicians who deliver evidence-based rehabilitation interventions to people with disabling conditions, such as spinal cord injury.“To accomplish what we want to accomplish in Congress, it's going to take involvement from all around,”...

It's always a pleasure to speak with Weesie Walker, the executive director of NRRTS and before that a long-time clinician with National Seating and Mobility. Here's the thing about Walker: She may be one of the most unassuming people you know, but she's also one of the smartest. Being as steeped in the complex rehab world as she is, naturally we talked about the urgent need for legislators (or CMS itself, for that matter) to permanently protect accessories for complex power wheelchairs from being...

LUBBOCK, Texas - NRRTS is giving its registrants one more way to stay up to date on their education.The organization, starting with the January issue of Directions, a magazine that it publishes bi-monthly, began featuring articles that registrants can read and then take a test on, to earn continuing education units or CEUs.“It's just another way to give people a different learning method,” said Weesie Walker, executive director of NRRTS. “Watching a webinar is one thing, but to...

LUBBOCK, Texas - NRRTS has been approved as an accredited provider for the International Association for Continuing Education and Training, saving the association money in the long run.  “Education is part of NRRTS' registration (fee) so theoretically a NRRTS registrant can get up to 30 hours of education at no cost,” said Weesie Walker, executive director. “In order to continue providing that benefit, the NRRTS board decided to make an investment in the IACET application.”Previously,...

YARMOUTH, Maine - It takes a team to provide complex rehab, but when family members and clinicians can't agree on a course of action, it's up to providers to take the lead, says Weesie Walker, executive director of NRRTS.Walker, who has 30 years of experience as a rehab provider, recently hosted a NRRTS webinar about the importance of building consensus during a wheelchair evaluation.“I once worked with a seating therapist who had never done switch access for power driving and she wasn't knowledgeable...

LUBBOCK, Texas - Membership at the National Registry of Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers is on the rise.“Over the past five or six years, our registrant numbers were static due to people retiring or leaving the industry,” said Weesie Walker, executive director of NRRTS. Now, those numbers are starting to go up thanks to new entrants into the complex rehab market.Walker also chalks up the increase in membership to the popularity of its webinars, which have also seen a 25% increase...

WASHINGTON - Stakeholders are hard at work developing supplier standard recommendations that they want to have on hand once a bill to create a separate benefit for complex rehab is signed into law.The bill stipulates that the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services consult with a stakeholder workgroup to look at creating a standard over and above the assistive technology professional (ATP), says Don Clayback, executive director of NCART."What we're doing proactively is setting up...

WASHINGTON - A recent story in the Washington Post highlighting power wheelchair fraud is simply rehashing old news at the cost of highlighting current problems, industry stakeholders say. “A Medicare Scam That Just Kept Rolling,” which appeared in the Aug. 16 issue of the newspaper, looks back five to 10 years, and focuses on people who started businesses with the sole purpose of defrauding the government, said Don Clayback, NCART executive director. “You can tell...

LUBBOCK, Texas - Stakeholders may have thought they were losing a powerful complex rehab advocate when Weesie Walker retired last December, but as the new interim executive director of NRRTS, she is back in the game.“It's almost like I never left,” said Walker. “It's invigorating to jump back in and be part of things during this exciting time.”Walker retired from National Seating and Mobility last December after 20 years. Her retirement freed her up to step in as NRRTS interim...

WALSENBURG, Colo. - Weesie Walker is only the second person in NRRTS's 20-year history to be named a NRRTS Fellow. She retired from her position as a branch manager for National Seating and Mobility in Atlanta in December. Walker spoke to HME News about why she devoted the past 20 years to maintaining standards in complex rehab.HME News: You were one of the first NRRTS registrants. Why did you join?Weesie Walker: I knew I wanted to be involved with the group and learn more. We didn't have the education...