In addition, Dr. Voight was inducted into APTA's Sports Physical Therapy Hall of Fame, recognizing his positive impact on the profession of physical therapy for over 25 years.

Featuring Dr. David Williams, Professor of Public Health at Harvard University School of Public Health and Staff Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Commission to Build a Healthier America.

ALSO PARTICIPATING
- Tom Cigarron - Co-founder and Chairman of Healthways, Inc. and Chairman of Alignment Nashville, a public education support organization
- Dr. Stephanie Bailey - CDC Chief, Office of Public Health Practice
- Juan Canedo - Director of Progreso Community Center
- Helen Moore – Director of Non-discrimination Compliance and Health Care Disparities for the Bureau of TennCare, and an Edgehill community member
- Jacky Akbari – Chairperson of the Middle Tennessee Diversity Forum
- Dr. Eleanor Bright Fleming – Edgehill Dental Collaborations and Policy
- Dr. Alisa Haushalter – Director of the Bureau of Population Health Programs for Metro Public Health Department
- Yvonne Joosten – Executive Director of the Office of Community Engagement at Vanderbilt Institute for Medicine and Public Health
- Winona Yellowhammer – Spokesperson for the Native American Indian Association of Tennessee
- Ann Hatcher – Vice President of Workforce Development Programs at Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)
- Belmont University faculty, staff and students

SCHEDULE
8:30am - Registration
8:45am - Welcome
9:00am - Framework for a Healthier Community - David Williams
9:30am - Dialogue I
11:00am - Dialogue II
12:15pm - Lunch break
1:30pm - Dialogue III with guest panelists
3:15pm - Closing Remarks - David Williams

TOPICS INCLUDE
How Our Neighborhood Affects Our Health
Partnering Together for a Healthier Community
A Community Perspective on Disparities Research
Beyond Health Care: Building a Healthier Community

Click here to get more information and RSVP.

Co-sponsored by:

Belmont University's Center for Community Health & Health Equity

Presentation Partners Include:
Nashville Health Disparity Coalition
Meharry Medical College
Metro Public Health Department

The first clinical of the third year is already half way over! I am currently working in an outpatient neurological rehabilitation center. It is completely different from any setting I have been exposed to thus far. The clinic consists mainly of patients who have had strokes; however, there are currently additional diagnoses including traumatic brain injury, amputee, and spinal cord injury. Every patient comes to “Day Rehab” for 6 hours a day for intensive therapy. Each patient must qualify for at least two out of the three disciplines offered: physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. I have been very fortunate to gain experience working in a clinic that focuses on a team approach to therapy. A speech therapy student and I just had the opportunity to plan a Super Bowl party for the patients incorporating therapeutic activities and, of course, football. It was not all work for the patients though. The halftime show of karaoke was a huge hit!

The clinic has recently purchased a Wii system and a Wii balance board to be used during therapy. Therefore, I have logged many hours on the Wii and the WiiFit finding different ways to incorporate all three disciplines into “Wii-habilitation” and choose activities appropriate for each individual patient to present as an inservice to the clinic. Who would have ever thought that a patient with a spinal cord injury could sit on the balance board, and his weight shifting could be tracked the same way an ambulatory patient would? It has been a wonderful experience using a commercially available technology to train my patients and find new, entertaining approaches to therapy.

Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “It’s a distinct honor to welcome Fred Gray to Belmont’s campus, especially during the week when our nation celebrates the accomplishments of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement. At Belmont we encourage our students to use their gifts and talents to impact the world. There are few better examples of individuals who have accomplished that mission than Fred Gray.”

The event will begin with an 8:30 a.m. panel discussion featuring Gray along with the following special guests:
• Dr. Henry Foster, Jr., professor emeritus and former dean of the Meharry College School of Medicine and nominee for U.S. Surgeon General under President Bill Clinton
• Dwight Lewis, columnist and member of the editorial board for The Tennessean
• John Seigenthaler, founding editorial director of USA Today, founder of the First Amendment Center and award-winning journalist who briefly left his career in the 1960s to work in the civil rights field.

Following a 20-minute intermission at the conclusion of the panel forum, Gray will return for a keynote lecture at 10 a.m. His presentation will conclude with a question-and-answer session.

Politics in Play

Tommy Thompson, four-term Governor of Wisconsin and former Secretary of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, recently painted a scenario of political intrigue filled with back room bargaining and deal-making worthy of the latest political best seller. However, he wasn’t speaking of a fictional thriller but of the real life maneuvers that will be necessary to get a healthcare reform bill out of Congress.

Speaking at Belmont University a week before Thanksgiving, he predicted that Congress would pass a new, comprehensive healthcare bill, but not without some Congressional arm twisting, “and a lot of shootouts and deal cutting” before reaching a “cantankerous” compromise.

“The president wants the healthcare bill out. Nancy Pelosi wants it out. Harry Reid wants it out,” he explained, of the push to move quickly. Thompson added that, for Democrats, the specter of “what happened in 1994 with the Clintons’ attempt at healthcare reform hangs over their heads.”

The briefing, part of Belmont University’s continuing speaker series, Diagnosing Our Future, was held at the university’s Gordon E. Inman Center.

About twenty kids total attended the camp and enjoyed various activities ranging from kickball to mummy wrapping both students and kids alike in toilet paper. The kids also participated in bowling games, monster musical walk (a Halloween spinoff of musical chairs), a “witch witch ghost” version of duck duck goose, and playing parachute games with a full size parachute. The kids also got to dress up in costumes of different hats, tiaras, sunglasses, and beads and walk through a curtain of streamers where bubbles were being blown around them as they then participated in a bean bag toss into pumpkin and ghost cutouts. They also had the chance to get a little messy by having to find “eyeballs” (or grapes) in bowls of marshmallows, flour, rice, and spaghetti. Finally the kids participated in an arts and crafts activity in which they designed and decorated their own paper plate masks with feathers, cotton balls, construction paper, markers, crayons, and stickers.

At the end of the day each of the kids received a special award certificate for an activity that they did exceptionally well at. All in all, both the Belmont students and kids alike really enjoyed this special Halloween themed Sports Day and made memories that will last for a long time.

In a lively presentation at Belmont University Monday afternoon, Former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson discussed the potential future of health reform legislation currently before Congress.

Thompson said he expects a bill will be on President Obama’s desk before Christmas. That bill will include a public option, health insurance exchanges, taxes for people who make more than $200,000 per year, taxes on so-called “Cadillac” health plans, and employer credits for wellness and prevention programs.

Click here to read the full article.

Dr. Voight was one of two keynote speakers at XI Jornadas Nacionales y Internacional de Fisioterapia held in Madrid, Spain recently. The event was held in conjunction with the Spanish Olympic Committee and hosted at their National headquarters. The topic of his presentation was Current Concepts in Hip Pathology. In addition, Dr. Voight was also a guest of the Spanish Soccer Federation and the Real Madrid Football club and spent time in their facilities.

In the companion lists to The 50 Best Jobs in America, Physical Therapist was ranked as the 8th best position for job growth with a 27% increase in opportunities expected during the next 10 years for 181,000 total jobs. Physical Therapist was ranked 2nd for low stress with 59.5% of those surveyed saying their job is low stress. Occupational Therapist was ranked 9th for low stress with 50% saying their job is low stress. 97.3% of those nurse practitioners surveyed said their job was secure ranking Nurse Practioner as the 4th best for job security. Physical Therapist also made the job security list at #8 with 96% saying their job is secure. Nurse Practitioner was #7 on the list for future job growth and #6 on the list for job satisfaction. Occupational Therapist came in at #10 for job satisfaction. And finally, Nurse Practioner was ranked as 9th best for those who think their job makes the world a better place.

See more at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/2009/.

Second year physical therapy students recently participated in a prosthetics lab in which local amputees volunteered their time to come in and talk about their conditions. The class was able to perform an evaluation and get an understanding about what it’s like to live with a prosthetic limb. Earlier this year, the class also participated in a disability project in which everyone was to spend 4 hours in a wheel chair. Students got a taste of what it feels like to be a disabled person in public, and experiences were shared in class. It was a learning experience that most won’t soon forget.

Look on the Speaker Series webpage for upcoming presentations in the speaker series with Fred Gray on January 20, 2010 and Dr. David Williams on March 25, 2010.

Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “In addition to providing a time to celebrate and thank all the workers behind this immense project, a topping out is also a time to look forward to when this structure is complete. This building will be a model, 21st century academic facility, providing a venue where our students and faculty resources can intersect in service to help meet the medical needs of our community and our world.”