WCPT President Emma Stokes and the Danish Minister of Health Ellen Trane Nørby were among the guests at the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the Association of Danish Physiotherapists, Danske Fysioterapeuter.
The celebrations took place at Ny Carlsberg Glypotek in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 6th June.
Highlighting the developments the Danish association has gone through since its foundation in 1918, Ellen Trane Nørby said: “The importance and significance of the physiotherapist will grow in the future, because of your holistic approach to the patients. There will be great need for this skill in the next decades, because of more focus upon closeness with the patient, without making compromises with the quality of the treatment.”
Emma Stokes congratulated the association and expressed great gratitude for decades of cooperation with successive leaders of the Danish organisation. In particular, she noted that the founding meeting of WCPT took place in Copenhagen in 1951 and that the Danish association had given WCPT a President, Rudie Agersnap, a Vice-President, Inger Brønsted, and very recently a Board member, Johnny Kuhr.
Paying tribute to the current President Tina Lambrecht for her support on WCPT’s international work, Emma said: “Tina told us kindly, but firmly, that we had to do things in a different way. We are very grateful for that, because it has improved us in many ways.”
WCPT Chief Executive Officer Jonathon Kruger also attended the celebrations. He said: “It’s an honour to be able to celebrate this important anniversary of one of the founding members of WCPT. I look forward to future celebrations with other founding members, such as the Canadian Physiotherapy Association which turns 100 in 2020 and the American Physical Therapy Association which turns 100 in 2021.”
