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Sharon Nichelson, CMOF, has been elected chairperson of the Board of Certification/Accreditation, International (BOC), succeeding Preston Madler, BOCO. During its November 2009 meeting in Owings Mills, Md., the board of directors also elected to office; vice chairperson John Kenney, BOCO, BOC; secretary Kimberly Hertz, BOCO, CMF; treasurer Joe Lawson, BOCO; and member-at-large Jim Hewlett, BOCO.
Nichelson practices mastectomy fitting and orthotic fitting with Frontier Home Medical in North Platte, Neb. She was first elected to BOC’s board in 2006. A BOC item writer for the certified orthotics fitter exam, Nichelson has been a member of the BOC legislative committee and the ethics committee, and she has served for 2 years as BOC’s vice chairperson.
“BOC practitioners play an ongoing role in patients’ lives,” BOC president Claudia Zacharias, MBA, CAE, said in a news release. “There’s a confidence level that has to exist for the combination of physical and emotional healing to take place as rapidly as possible. As BOC continues to certify practitioners in five different specialties, and continues to accredit facilities as CMS-compliant locations, it will be important to be an advocate on behalf of the multiple providers engaged in patient care.”
BOC’s elected officers are continuous members of the board, which is comprised of 14 individuals and includes 11 O&P practitioners.
Kenney is president of NeuroFlex Orthotics, Inc. in Laguna Hills, Calif. An inventor who holds several patents for orthotic device design, Kenney is also a partner in OSCI/NeuroFlex, a pre-fab orthosis manufacturer in Florida.
Hertz has been a member of BOC’s board for five years. She is employed by Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics of Spring Valley, N.Y. One of her interests has been speaking and writing on mastectomy fitting, and advocating that fitters increase their skills and potential through both certification and continuing education.
Lawson is the managing partner in Lawson Medical, LLC, headquartered in Virginia Beach, Va. He earned his orthotics certification while building Lawson Medical into a company with locations in Virginia, the District of Columbia and Delaware. This is his second term as treasurer.
Hewlett brings nearly 40 years of experience to the board, including marketing, owning DME businesses, operating an O&P facility and serving as a consultant to both DME services and O&P practices. This is his second term as member-at-large.
