Dr. Ruby Dunlap’s Uganda Fulbright Blog
The non-verbal expression, “eh,” is most consistently noticeable in North America among English speakers dwelling near and around the U.S.-Canadian border. It shares company with such verbal expressions as “you bet!” a response so characteristic of the area that when an agricultural expert from Minnesota answered a question with it recently, I couldn’t help but smile with memories of miles of northern forests and lakes riding in on the coattails of “you bet!”
My own southeastern United States, on the other hand, is known for the spoken elaboration of multiple syllables into words which are written with only one. One of my favorite examples was from a patient who asked me, “Can you give me a nerve pill—I’m fixin’ to have a spell.” I hadn’t realized before that moment how many syllables a southern woman could put into the word “spell.” Practice saying, “Spay–ee—ell” and you’ll get an approximation. Make sure you draw it out to communicate adequately the threatened onset of something most dire.
Monthly Archives: October 2009
PT alum named an Emerging Leader
Cara Felter, a 2004 DPT graduate of the School of Physical Therapy at Belmont University, has been named as an Emerging Leader by the American Physical Therapy Association.
Felter was recognized in the October 2009 issue of PTinmotion Magazine with the following tribute: “Cara Felter, PT, DPT, is a senior physical therapist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, in Baltimore, Maryland. Also a Brain Injury Specialist certified by the Brain Injury Association of America, she has a passion for working with individuals with brain and spinal cord injuries. Felter, who joined APTA in 2001, has been a member of the APTA Neurology Section since 2005. A former member of the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association, she is a current member of the APTA of Maryland, where she serves on the Continuing Education Committee and is being mentored to become the director of education. Felter expects to complete her Master of Public Health degree at The Johns Hopkins University in December 2009. In addition to her APTA activities, Felter raises dogs that are trained to help people with disabilities.”
In relating her honor to the School of Physical Therapy, Felter provided the following comments: “When Belmont says, ‘From here to anywhere,’ they really mean it. My education in the Belmont DPT program prepared me academically and clinically. My professors challenged me to think analytically and use research to guide clinical decision making. They also encouraged me to get involved in the APTA as a means of protecting and promoting my profession. I could not have asked for better mentors on the path to becoming a physical therapist.”
Nursing Professor Leads the Way in Safe Patient Handling
Not many a day goes by that Lynne Shores doesn‟t influence lives in the nursing world. As a college professor, author, lecturer and community advocate for more than 30 years, she has helped educate and direct the energy of thousands of registered nurses who care for today‟s patients. And, she has played a key role introducing hospitals and universities to safe patient handling instruction.
“Someone once told me, I have the passion and patience needed for working with beginning nursing students,” explained Shores. “It‟s true. I love to see that fire ignited when a student does well!” To that end, Shores served as Belmont University‟s representative at ANA‟s Safe Patient Handling Conference five years ago. Learning about new research and state-of-the-art lift equipment energized her to tackle the neglected topic of safety in nursing instruction. And, it granted her the chance to work with peers at ANA and NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) to implement core curriculum for teaching students about on-the-job safety. Currently, Shores serves on the National Advisory Committee for the newly launched ANA Safe Patient Handling Recognition Program.
Pharmacy Faculty Present at Annual Meeting
Pharmacy faculty members Drs. Mark Chirico and Eric Hobson recently were invited to join the Nonprescription Medication Academy via attendance at its annual meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Hobson provided the meeting’s Keynote session, “Pharmacy students’ learning styles: course and curricular implications,” and Closing session, “Developing and using rubrics to enhance student learning … and faculty satisfaction.” Dr. Chirico presented his poster presentation, “Group learning method for teaching Rx to OTC switch to first-year students.”
PT Students Pitch In for Dierks Bentley’s Miles & Music for Kids
Professor Mike Voight reports. . . .
During the October celebration of national physical therapy month, approximately 100 Belmont University Physical Therapy students and faculty volunteered their time to assist with the organization and on-site operation for the 4th annual “Dierks Bentley Miles & Music for Kids” charity motorcycle ride and concert to benefit Vanderbilt’s Children Hospital. The ride took place on October 11th when thousands of leather-wearing folks gathered on their ‘hogs’ to ride along-side Dierks Bentley for his annual Miles and Music for Kids. Starting off at the Cool Springs Harley Davidson in Franklin, TN; the ride wound its way through the Natchez Trace down to Riverfront Park downtown Nashville. There, Dierks was joined by some his best celebrity buds to entertain the masses … literally THOUSANDS of people all to raise money for Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
OT Professor Contributes Chapter to New Book
Dr. Scott McPhee, Professor of Occupational Therapy, had a chapter recently published in the book, What you need to know about Nursing and Health Care in the United States (B.L. Nichols & C.R. Davis, Eds., New York: Springer Publishing). This book is intended for foreign trained nurses who are applying for a visa to work in the United States.
The chapter Dr. McPhee wrote details the history of occupational therapy, education requirements, licensure, and areas of practice (with descriptions of typical types of patients and goals for therapy).
Pharmacy Students Receive Immunization Certification
The School of Pharmacy’s Class of 2012 recently received Immunization Certification, following completion of the American Pharmacist Association Pharmacist Immunization Training Program. This achievement is not only good news for the students and the School of Pharmacy, it has important implications for Belmont University, the Nashville community and all of the communities from which these students come. These 68 students will now join six pharmacy faculty to provide 74 additional health care providers who are able to provide immunizations when needed.
PT Graduate Chosen as Outstanding Young Alumna from APSU
Dr. Bethany McKinney Froboese, a 2003 graduate of Belmont’s School of Physical Therapy, has been chosen as an Outstanding Young Alumna by her undergraduate alma mater, Austin Peay State University. The award recognizes her contribution to APSU as a volunteer. Froboese will be honored with other alumni award recipients during homecoming festivities at the end of October.
After receiving her Doctor of Physical Therapy from Belmont, Froboese took a job as a physical therapist with Inmotion Rehabilitation. Three year later, she joined Premier Medical Group and, in 2007, she found her current position as a physical therapist with Tennessee Orthopeadic Alliance.
Froboese is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association and is a Susan G. Komen lymphedema treatment provider. She is a certified Lymphedema therapist, a certified clinical instructor and a certified sole supports provider.
Her volunteer work also extends into her community, such as assisting in a one-day teaching experience for Clarksville-Montgomery County School System anatomy and physiology AP classes about physical therapy and physiological principles used for her profession.
Those Nurses
Dr. Ruby Dunlap’s Ugunda Fulbright Blog
Along the stone retaining wall outside our apartment is a row of snowy white daylilies. That is, I call them daylilies because of their leaf, stem and bud shapes. If not actually a daylily, they must be close kin to the daylily tribe. The flowers start out as a daylily bloom, a suggestion of a white trumpet on a slender stalk. But then the Designer of this flower changed His mind. Instead of the expected trumpet shape, the flower turns into a loose fringe of white, the petals going abruptly from wide to narrow in a graceful drape. I do not know which gives me more pleasure, the recognition of a familiar plant type or an unexpected variation in that type. This daylily illustrates my conviction that our appreciation of diversity needs to be anchored in an appreciation of unity. Otherwise, diversity becomes mere difference and mere difference seems to me to degenerate easily into competitive hostility among differences.
Pharmacy Student Receives RXportfolio National Achievement Award
Zachary Renfro, a second year student in the School of Pharmacy at Belmont, was one of 20 students selected nationwide from more than 9,000 entries as a recipient of the 2009 RXportfolio National Achievement Award. The award criteria consisted of content, quality of writing and overall achievements professionally displayed within their RXportfolio.
Gov. Bredesen, U.S. Rep. Cooper Lead Healthcare Conversation at Belmont
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and U.S. Representative Jim Cooper provided the keynote addresses for “Diagnosing Our Future,” the inaugural presentation in Belmont University’s Gordon E. Inman College of Health Science & Nursing Speaker Series. The event was held on October 13 in the Frist Lecture Hall in the Inman Center on Belmont University’s campus.
The theme of the speaker series, “Diagnosing Our Future,” reflects the call to collaboratively advance new ideas to improve healthcare and healthy living for future generations. The purpose of the series is to connect these ideas with the greater community of Nashville and Middle Tennessee and with students in Belmont’s health science programs who are preparing to serve society as physical therapists, pharmacists, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, occupational therapists, and social workers.
Nursing Professor Recognized as a Health Care Hero
The Nashville Business Journal recently honored professor Jane Shelby as one of the 2009 Health Care Heroes in Middle Tennessee. Shelby is a professor of nursing and the former director of the university’s undergraduate nursing program.
“I am very honored and humbled by this award,” said Shelby. “It really is not an award for me personally but for all the faculty and staff in the School of Nursing who work so hard to prepare our students for their profession.”
Shelby was recognized in the “Behind the Scenes” category along with other local leaders, including Aileen Katcher of Katcher, Vaughn and Bailey Public Relations, Julie Warner from the Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center and Jonathan Uttz from Psychiatric Solutions. This was the third annual luncheon to “help celebrate the accomplishments of the leaders, innovators, strategists and caretakers, whose work is helping to grow the region’s health care industry and reinforcing Nashville as the health care capital of the nation.”
Pharmacy School Holds First Annual Practice-Site Poster Forum
Second year Student Pharmacists who have completed their first practice experience rotations recently presented posters summarizing their experience in the Frist Lecture Hall. Fifty-six posters in all were displayed showing unique characteristics of the practice sites and the learnings achieved at these sites. First year pharmacy students, who will begin their practice rotations in January, attended to get tips on site selection, and pharmacy faculty attended to learn about student involvement at the sites.
According to Dr. Mark Chirico, assistant professor of pharmacy practice, who is course coordinator for the P-2 practice experiences, “This forum presented a unique learning opportunity for all participants. It exemplified the practical nature of our program and the hard work our student pharmacists are putting into their education.” The School of Pharmacy has more than 100 sites for training student pharmacists in dispensing and patient care across greater Nashville, and the number of sites is growing every semester to accommodate the growing student body.
Belmont Board Member R. Clayton McWhorter receives award for service
R. Clayton McWhorter has been named the recipient of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s 16th annual Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award. McWhorter, a businessman and former health-care professional, serves as chairman of the board for PharmMD, and he is on the board of trustees for Belmont University.
Belmont Grad appointed to Kansas Occupational Therapy Council
Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson has appointed Angela Petite to that state’s Occupational Therapy Council. Petite, of Leavenworth, Kansas is an occupational therapist for USD 409, Atchison Public Schools, providing assessments and services to children identified with special needs. She attained a master’s degree in occupational therapy from Belmont University and her certification in 2004. The Occupational Therapy Council reviews all applicants for examination and licensure, determines the applicants who successfully pass the examination, licenses applicants and adopts rules and regulations as necessary.
The Maid Escaped Mid-Term
Dr. Ruby Dunlap’s Uganda Fulbright Blog
As Dad and I walk down to the track most mornings around 6:30 AM for exercise, we meet many elementary school children in neat uniforms headed for school. They walk purposefully and soberly but their faces break out into smiles as we greet them. “Good morning,” Dad says, “God bless you. God loves you. Have a good day at school.” And they beam with pleasure, receiving the gift as Dad intended to give it.
We see children outside the campus headed for school in deep purple, bright pink, yellow, orange or green uniforms. The effect is of a moving flower garden. The imagination fast-forwards 5 years, 10 years, and one wonders what kind of man or woman each child will be father or mother of and what kind of world today’s fathers and mothers will leave tomorrow’s. I especially wondered this as I spent a day this week doing school physicals on 43 girls ages 13 to 20 at a secondary boarding school.