On April 24, Dr. Mike Voight from Belmont’s School of Physical Therapy gave the 5th Annual James R. Andrews Endowed Lectureship in Sports Medicine at Tulane University Institute of Sports Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Along with Dr. Thomas Byrd, Voight presented a course on The Hip: A Comprehensive Course on Evaluation, Surgery and Rehabilitation of the Athletes Hip. Given in a hybrid in-person/online event, Chief of Orthopedics at Tulane Medical School Dr. Felix Savoie and the incoming President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery welcomed approximately 500 clinicians to learn more about the implementation of cutting-edge conservative and surgical techniques associated with the athlete’s hip. Dr. Voight presented on the modern philosophies on rehabilitation of the hip from both a conservative and post-operative perspective.

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On April 19, students from Belmont’s School of Physical Therapy volunteered for the First Annual Tracy Lawrence Mission Possible Celebrity Golf Shootout to benefit the Nashville Rescue Mission. Students along with their faculty advisor Dr. Mike Voight arrived early in the morning to help set up the guest registration area and prepared the on-course refreshment stations. Shortly thereafter, 30 teams of golfers along with more than 40 celebrities from stage and screen began arriving for a day of golf and fellowship. 

During the event, many of the students served as marshals / witnesses for various on-course challenges that included cars/trucks for a hole-in-one as well as a final shootout for $150,000 in cash. The day finished up with an informal acoustic concert given by the various musical celebrities who had participated during the day. 

At the end of the day, the real winner of the day was the Nashville Rescue Mission as more than $225,0000 was raised to help feed the homeless. Tracey Lawrence, Kid Rock and PGA tour player John Daly all publicly praised the students and personally thanked them for their help in making this event a success and have already begun planning for a bigger and better event next year.

In April, second-year students in the Belmont Doctor of Physical Therapy program volunteered to construct a wheelchair accessible ramp on the home of a community member in need who uses a power wheelchair. The previous ramp was not built to ADA-compliant regulations and was too steep and slippery when wet, creating a hazard when leaving the home. The students performed well under pressure and completed the project quickly during the community member’s doctor appointment so as not to be an inconvenience.

The ramp build is an annual project between second-year DPT students and United Cerebral Palsy of Middle Tennessee. This year’s ramp build was coordinated by Dr. Cathey Norton, assistant professor in the School of Physical Therapy at Belmont. During the course of the project, 21 students with a range of talents and experience came together to run power saws and nail guns to complete the ramp in five hours, with careful monitoring from Professor Dr. Renee Brown.

Due to the rapid shift to remote learning last spring, this project became a casualty of the pandemic. This was a welcome opportunity to get back out and serve the community.