Dr. Lorry Liotta-Kleinfeld will be inducted into the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Roster of Fellows at the 2010 AOTA conference in Orlando, Fla., on May 1. The Roster of Fellows recognizes occupational therapist members of the AOTA, who with their knowledge and expertise, have made a significant contribution to the continuing education and professional development of members of the association. Dr. Kleinfeld’s award is in recognition for advancing occupational therapy education. This prestigious honor has been awarded to less than 1 percent of practicing occupational therapists since its inception in the 1960s.
Category Archives: Inman College of Health Sciences
From third-year PT student Kelly Ehlert. . . .
I am currently finishing up my third rotation in inpatient rehab here in Searcy, Arkansas. When people find out I’m not from Arkansas and don’t have to be here, they always ask…so was it your choice to come here or were you made to? I always would state something about having to get certain rotations done and not having a place to do it in TN that I wouldn’t have to drive to the moon and back for each day. I would also throw in there the fact that there is great Trout fishing in the rivers and my husband encouraged me to come here to check it out (secretly he had spring break during this time and I knew he wanted to fish for free the whole week).
Anyways, long story short, I came to a place where I really only knew a few people which was also in the middle of nowhere! However, not only has this rotation given me the confidence in myself that all my hard work through the semesters has paid off and that I just might know enough, but it’s also given me time to grow in other ways.
PT Alum featured in People Magazine for work in Haiti
Jennifer Watters, an ’06 Belmont DPT alum, was featured in an article in the April 12, 2010 People Magazine. Jennifer is currently volunteering with Handicap-International, US for three months. She began her work in early March.
You can read her journal posts by clicking the “.Jen Watters Haiti Blog” link to the left.
Here’s the link for the story from People and the content of that article is below:
MAKING AMPUTEES FEEL WHOLE AGAIN
– JENNIFER WATTERS, 28
Jennifer Watters places a wrap around the stump that had been 21-year-old Lundia Jacques’ lower right leg. “Keep it tighter at the bottom,” Watters counsels Lundia, whose dreams of becoming a flight attendant were shattered when, while she was ironing, “my house fell on me.”
Few images capture a country’s agony better than the dozens of men, women and children with missing limbs who line up every day at the makeshift clinic Watters runs for the nonprofit Handicap International. And few people represent the outpouring of kindness that has flowed into Haiti better than Watters, a gregarious volunteer physical therapist who saw images of the quake on the news and thought, “God put this in front of me.” Never having been to a disaster zone, she quit her hospital job in Alexandria, Va., and arrived on March 3 in Port-au-Prince for a three-month stint.
These days she rises at 7 a.m., splitting her time between the clinic and tent cities, treating patients and training local staff. Every Sunday she attends mass outside the ruins of a once-glorious cathedral. “I cry a lot there,” she says. “That [Haitians] can be surrounded by destruction and yet sing and have a sense of peace. . . . It gets to you.”
Haiti Update #8
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, April 25 at 10:04pm
Salut!!
Kiman ou ye? How are you? I hope that this finds everyone well!! I can believe that I am finishing my 8th week in Haiti already!! Two months is along time, and while sometimes it is hard to remember life before Haiti, the time here really does go by quickly as well and this week was no exception!
First of all, thank you so much for all of the Birthday and the get well wishes. After I slept all day on Monday, I really did feel much better. My housemates surprised me Monday night with a cake and small party, and I even managed to eat a piece with no problem – there was no way I was going to miss out on my birthday cake, stomach bug or not!!! It really was a good Birthday!
Dahlgren One of Three Finalists for Chaney Award
Congratulations to School of Nursing professor Lucyellen Dahlgren who is one of three finalists for the 2009-10 Chaney Distinguished Professor Award, the highest honor presented annually to a faculty member at Belmont University. More than 90 faculty members were nominated for this year’s award which will be presented …at graduation ceremonies on May 15th. Learn more about Lucyellen at her profile page linked here. Again, congratulations and good luck Lucyellen!
Haiti Update #7
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Monday, April 19, 2010 at 4:40pm
Bon Fete! Bon Anniversarie! Happy Birthday!
First of all, thanks so much to everyone for all of the wonderful Birthday wishes!! It’s been a very interesting birthday and a very interesting week in Haiti. We started the weekend and the Birthday festivities off with a big party at one of the HI houses. There were three other people celebrating birthdays this weekend and one of them leaving this week – so we had quite a celebration! There was lots of food, drinks and DANCING!! It was so much fun!! I think I was in the first group of people to leave, which was at 2 am!! See, I’m not too old to stay out late (occasionally).
Belmont PT Graduates Achieve Distinction – 100% of 2009 Class Pass Licensure Exam on First Attempt
Belmont University has recently learned that 100% of graduates who received doctoral degrees from the School of Physical Therapy in 2009 have successfully passed, on their first attempt, the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE). This is the second time in the history of the program that an entire class has passed the exam on their first attempt, although Belmont graduates have achieved ultimate pass rates of 100% on the exam for the past 8 years. Individuals must pass the examination to receive certification or licensure as a physical therapist in the United States.
The national completion rate for the NPTE in 2008 (the latest year for which this data is available to the public) was 85%. A new passing standard was implemented in 2008 by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) who developed and administer the examination. Belmont University is one of five institutions in the state of Tennessee that are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).
Haiti Update #6
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday at 6:37pm
Alo! (Hi!) – I think I might run out of different greetings soon, but I’ll keep trying to give you a variety! =)
It’s strange how time is going so quickly and yet from Sunday to Sunday when I write my updates seems like an eternity. I guess because the weeks are so full it seems like it must have surely been more than a week that’s gone by.
I started off the week by amusing the local staff as I greeted everyone with a “Joyeus Paques” (Happy Easter) on Monday morning. My accent must have been pretty bad – it took five or six tries before most of them figured out what I was saying, but it was worth the effort as I was usually rewarded with a pretty big smile!
Safari 2
Dr. Ruby Dunlap’s Uganda Fulbright Blog
From March 15 through 18 we took our second safari, traveling west and south to Queen Elizabeth Game Park and then to the far southwest corner of Uganda where it meets Rwanda and Congo. The road between Kampala and Mityana was dirt and bone-jarring; it has been under construction for about seven years. From Mityana westward was a smooth, paved road, steadily climbing in elevation until we reached the lush tea and matooke plantations of Fort Portal. Beyond Fort Portal were the majestic Renzori Mountains, the Mountains of the Moon.
We descended into the Western Rift Valley south from Fort Portal, traveling with the Renzoris on our right and passing matooke-laden bicycles like this one. One could feel the heat increasing from the cool mountain air of Fort Portal to hot, dusty Kasese. Just south of Kasese, we stopped to take photos at the Equator and pass from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere.
Scholten Elected Chair of Tennessee Social Work Educators Association
Dr. Lorraina Scholten, associate professor of social work was elected to serve as chairperson of the Tennessee Social Work Educators Association at their February 2010 meeting. The association is comprised of 14 member universities from across the state currently providing accredited social work education at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels.
The association operates as a collaboration with the Tennessee chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and the Tennessee Center for Child Welfare. The focus of the association is to improve quality of life by impacting the quality and scope of professional social work education in Tennessee. This is a three-year appointment.
PT Alum shares about her experience in Haiti
From Abby Witcher (DPT ’09)…..in a recent note to classmates and Gail Bursch, Abby wrote:
I have been meaning to share with you about an opportunity that some of you may really enjoy. I went to Haiti to do some relief work and physical therapy with the survivors of the earthquake. I worked in an orphanage with post-op ortho kids as well as worked at a tent hospital that Miami Hospital with adults and children. Anyhow, it was an amazing experience of make-do PT and a mess of surroundings. So many had such incredibly sad stories, especially the children.
All this to say, there are so many countless opportunities for physical therapists, especially now as people are coming out of casts, external fixators and amputees may be getting their prosthesis. I worked with a group called, MercyWorks, but another group is looking for PTs to come help. Please let me know if this sounds interesting to any of you. Email me and I will send you a website for more information.
If interested in this opportunity, let us know and we’ll put you in contact with Abby.
Money Matters
Dr. Ruby Dunlap’s Uganda Fulbright Blog
Kampala and larger Ugandan cities and towns are full of well-dressed folks busy with cell phones and other electronic devices. The streets buzz with vehicles, bodas, and the press of business. Yes, it is a developing country but “develop” is a dynamic word and Uganda is a dynamic country by what the eye can see. Happy hour billboards and slick-paged magazines like “The African Woman,” (http://www.africanwomanmagazine.net/) communicate universal issues of modern life: family, fashion, business, romance, work and leisure. There seems to be a certain cosmopolitan sameness to the world’s urban centers. Perhaps that is where we are all headed in the end: vast cities stratified by economically defined neighborhoods: the posh gated communities, the rows of industrial looking apartment complexes, and the slums.
Haiti Update #5
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 7:27pm
Joyeuses Pâques ! Happy Easter !
What a full and blessed week. I don’t think that I will be able to write everything down, but I’m going to try and hopefully it won’t be TOO long! =)
First of all, I want to share with everyone the very good news that my tetraplegic patient was accepted into Miami University’s hospital here in Haiti on Tuesday and we were able to transfer him over there on Thursday with the help of IOM (another NGO that organizes medical transport). It was so amazing, I just called on Tuesday morning and spoke with the coordinator and he said, “Sure, when can you send him over?” I was shocked. And everything came together so smoothly. The administration of the current hospital, the doctors, his family and the transport – it all worked out perfectly. Bon Dieu Bon!! God is so good! So thank you for all your prayers!! I wish that everyone could have seen the smile on his face and on the faces of his wife and daughters, for the first time in a long time they had some hope. I cannot even begin to express how happy it made my heart!!
MSN Grads extend “pass” streak for certification exam to six years
All of the most recent Belmont MSN graduates have passed the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Family Nurse Practitioner certification exam on their first attempt. This is the sixth consecutive year that graduates of the School of Nursing’s MSN program have achieved a 100% first-attempt success rate on the national certification exam.
ANCC is the world’s largest and most prestigious nurse credentialing organization, and a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association (ANA). ANCC certification is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies and the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification. Their exams are a fair and accurate measure of professional competency. ANCC board certified nurses have met strong professional development standards, are in the greatest demand and command the highest salaries. Certification is accepted by governing boards, insurers, and the military.
The Master of Science in Nursing at Belmont University can be completed in 16 months attending full-time or in 28 months attending part-time. The director of the program, Dr. Leslie Higgins, has been an integral part of the program since its inception in 1994.
PT Student steps up for Special Kids
Katie Ritz, a second year physical therapy student, shares about some extra steps taken in her recent clinical at Special Kids. . . .
While doing my clinical at Special Kids in Murfreesboro, I was asked by my course instructor to think of an inservice or project that would identify a need at the clinic. I noticed that while working with the children, we often used stairs as a strengthening technique, but the 8 in stairs were too high for many of the kids. The therapists would improvise and use benches to create steps that were not as high, but the benches were not secure, and made a safety issue. I enlisted the assistance of my husband, and with the space guidelines from Special Kids, we designed the staircase with 4 3″ steps and 2 6″ steps and handrails at two different heights. My husband and I donated the material and built the steps in a weekend. It is a great feeling to know that the stairs now sit in Special Kids’ main gym and are utilized on a daily basis by many children!
OT Students Announce Pediatric Research Study
Belmont Occupational Therapy students Jessica Deal, Carleigh Evans, and Julie Kluska have announced a research study to assess the perceived need for pediatric aquatic therapy in Middle Tennessee. The study is being conducted under the supervision of two OT professors, Dr. Lorry Liotta-Kleinfeld and Dr. Jeanne Sowers.
The students are recruiting practicing pediatric occupational therapists to participate in the study through an anonymous and confidential survey.
OT Students act as advocates to Tennessee Legislature
First year OT students recently visited Legislative Plaza to talk with legislators, acting as advocates for recipients of TennCare who are at risk for losing services. This follows the OT curricular thread of Faith Based Advocacy. Pictured here is the group of students and Dr. Jeanne Sowers with the First Lady of Tennessee, Andrea Conte.
Haiti Update #4
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 7:20pm
Bonswa!!! (which is Creole, last week I used the French!)
Wow! This week has gone by so fast! And this Wednesday will mark 4 weeks for me here in Haiti! Wow! I am definitely feeling settled in here, which is nice. While I miss home, I am happy to be staying two more months. I’m just starting to get a little bit of the language and I’m really enjoying getting to know our Haitian staff and my patients. I can tell I am starting to be “long term” here though, because my friends are starting to leave. There have already been a couple in the past week, but beginning next week the group that I came with will all start to leave without me – Sad!! Most people are only staying 4-6 weeks, so it is hard to see them come and go. But there is always a new group and everyone is great!
Haiti Update #3
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 6:00pm
Bonsoir! (Good Afternoon!)
This has been a very bittersweet week for me in Haiti, which so many amazing things and also some big challenges. First, I found out on Tuesday that my grandmother passed away on Monday, her visitation was Wednesday and the funeral mass on Thursday, so there was really no possibility of me to go. It was really hard for me to be here in Haiti, so far away from everyone, but I did get to talk with my family several times – they even called me on my Haiti phone when the skype wasn’t working out, which I am sure they will regret when they see their phone bill – but I definitely appreciated it. Everyone here was great too and I got lots of hugs from my housemates! My grandma loved angels, and even though I am sad that she is not with us here, I know that now she is resting with the angels and I am comforted by the thought =) If you think of it – your prayers for my grandma and for my family will be much appreciated!
Belmont Professor Named President of Tennessee Occupational Therapy Association
Dr. Jeanne Sowers, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy at Belmont University, was recently elected as the 2010 President of the Tennessee Occupational Therapy Association (TOTA).
The statewide association supports and encourages the provision and availability of quality occupational therapy services to enhance the occupational performance of consumers in Tennessee through communication, education, professional development, advocacy and legislative involvement. TOTA aims to be a model for state occupational therapy associations in enhancing occupational performance among consumers. There are more than 2300 licensed practitioners of occupational therapy in the state of Tennessee.
Dr. Sowers has practiced as an occupational therapist for more than twenty years and has served in diverse roles within the profession. As a practicing clinician, Dr. Sowers’ experience is in the area of adult physical rehabilitation. She has published and lectured at local, state, and national conferences on various subjects including the provision of occupational therapy in the hospital intensive care unit, ergonomics, and rotator cuff dysfunction.
In addition to her new role as President of TOTA, Dr. Sowers serves the Nashville community as a board member for Homeplace, Inc., a group home sponsored by Belmont United Methodist Church.
PT Professor receives Lifetime Achievement award from APTA
Dr. Mike Voight, Professor of Physical Therapy at Belmont, has been honored by the American Physical Therapy Association as a recipient of the Turner A Blackburn Lifetime Achievement Award from its Sports Physical Therapy Section. The award signifies a lifetime of positive contribution to education at both the university and continuing education levels. Dr. Voight received the award at the recent APTA Combined Sections Meeting in San Diego, CA. Pictured with Dr. Voight (gray suit) are SPTS president Tim Tyler on his right and past president Tab Blackburn on his left.
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.
A Dialogue to Build a Healthier Community
The public is invited to join A Dialogue to Build a Healthier Community, part of the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing Diagnosing Our Future speaker series. Admission is free.
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
Haiti Update #2
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 1:40pm
Bon Jour !!!!
First I want to give a disclaimer that I am typing this on a French computer and while I’m getting more used to the different keyboard, I haven’t mastered it yet, so please forgive my typos !!
Wow ! What an amazing week ! I’m not sure if I should write more frequently or just save everything up for Sunday. I’m afraid these « little » updates will turn into novels very quickly ! I guess you can always read them little by little, so I’ll just write and not worry about it ! =)
This week I was stationed at the same antenna as last week (CDTI) ; which was great for getting to know the local staff ; the patients ; and also the Americans at the hospital next door. We’ve really had some nice collaboration where they’re referring pts to us and I’m taking pts up there, which is a nice change from me just running up there 3 or 4 times a day ! We had our busiest week at the clinic yet ; one day we had 54 pts who had come by 12 :30 ! (we are set up to see about 45 a day) so that was little crazy ! We also had the clowns without borders come and do shows at all our hospitals and clinics this week which was SO awesome ! Unfortunately I missed the show at my clinic because that was the day we had so many pts, but I saw some pictures from the other clinics and they were great ! I could definitely hear everyone laughing so, it sounded like they had a great time !
If you put it that way…
Dr. Ruby Dunlap’s Uganda Fulbright Blog
“Newtonian mechanics is satisfactory,” says Polkinghorne, “for largish objects moving at ten miles an hour, unsatisfactory for the same objects moving at a hundred thousand miles a second.” “Kuhn dismisses as an irrelevancy the well-known fact that Newtonian mechanics is the slow-moving limit of Einstein’s mechanics. Yet to physicists this relationship would seem to be important, for it explains why classical mechanics was so long an adequate theory and why it remains so for systems whose velocities are small compared with the velocity of light.” (One World The Interaction of Science and Theology, pp. 14,17)
Probably Newtonian mechanics sufficed for explaining the movements of your vehicles on ice and snow this winter in the U.S. The reports about your winter have been remarkable, especially since, while the Equator crosses southern Uganda, the elevations are high enough to make it balmy most of the time. Some days have been downright chilly, a few hot in the afternoons. Mornings in paradise are almost always perfect mornings of comfortably cool freshness. And the look from our “tree house” apartment is always one of lush rain forest. Here is a photo from the family home in Ohio where I spent my teen years and one from where we are living now to show the difference this winter. We also see monkeys in the trees around our house, unlikely in either Ohio or Tennessee.
Haiti Update #1
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 1:41pm
Hello! Bon jour! (which works in French and Creole)
I hope that this finds everyone doing well!! Today is Sunday, which is our day off every week. It was a very nice surprise since I wasn’t sure if we would work straight through the week or not. Today has already been a very nice day. I got up this morning and went to mass at the main cathedral in Port Au Prince with several of my housemates. Even though the cathedral was completely destroyed, the crucifix is still standing! And there are several other churches like that in the city – amazing! We had mass outside.