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School of Health Professions
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Faculty Accomplishments
Occupational therapy faculty at UT Health San Antonio are engaged in many professional initiatives and endeavors. Some highlights of their recent accomplishments and activities include: Karin Barnes, Ph.D., OTR will be named a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) at the 2017 AOTA Annual Conference & Centennial Celebration. Additionally, Dr. Barnes is engaged in research involving pediatric mobility and development through the Go Baby Go project, as well as research on sensory processing in children.
Occupational therapy grads make donation in honor of late professor
Although LT. Col Paul D. Ellsworth, OT (Ret. US ARMY) retired from UT Health San Antonio in 1998, the impact he had on the Department of Occupational Therapy lasted long after his time at the university.
Because of his commitment to the occupational therapy profession and passion for helping others, Ellsworth was highly regarded and respected among peers and students. In 2009, family, friends, former students and colleagues honored Ellsworth with an endowed academic scholarship in his name.
Students travel to Colombia on educational and cultural exchange
Ivan Dominguez won’t soon forget the pediatric patients with neurological conditions he met while visiting Colombia last month as part of a student cultural exchange trip organized by the School of Health Professions.
Time for wacky fun at the Allied Health Games
By Kate Hunger
Becky Liu will have the benefit of experience when she competes this month in the Allied Health Games. Her favorite event?
Watermelon eating, followed by tug-of-war.
“It was a really fun experience but last year we had a lot of school work,” said Liu, a second-year occupational therapy student and School of Health Professions ambassador. “This year life is getting a little easier.”
Grand Rounds Spinal Cord set for April 12
The final Grand Rounds lecture this semester will focus on spinal cord injury.
The lunch hour talk is set for April 12 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., and will give attendees a full picture of the healthcare continuum a patient with spinal cord injury experiences.
Physical Therapy faculty well represented at national conference
UT Health San Antonio physical therapy faculty presented at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting, held last month in San Antonio.
“Our school has a very good showing in terms of faculty participation, and that certainly helps elevate our program’s reputation in the state and across the country,” said Greg Ernst, Associate Professor and Department of Physical Therapy chair, of the program’s representation at the Feb. 15-18 conference.
Students gain real-world experience by volunteering with local non-profit organizations
When physical therapy student Adrian Frausto volunteers at the faculty and student-run clinic at Haven for Hope, he is gaining valuable practice he will use professionally in the none-too-distant future. But beyond honing skills, Frausto also is providing much-needed services to populations that otherwise would not receive them.
Art Cart program allows students to engage in creative volunteer role
Kathryn Hinojosa coordinates Art Cart, a program that provides art and crafts activities for volunteers to do with pediatric patients at University Hospital. She knows firsthand the effect a simple art project can have on a child in the hospital.
In one case, a nurse reported that a little boy had been complaining of pain before his Art Cart visit but did not request pain relief afterward.
“He completely forgot that he had pain,” Hinojosa recalled.
Hinojosa will give a presentation on the Art Cart program as part of the Interprofessional Lecture Series.
Karin Barnes, Ph.D., OTR to be named fellow of American Occupational Therapy Association
Occupational Therapy Associate Professor Karin Barnes will be named a fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association at the organization’s annual conference and centennial celebration in Philadelphia this spring.
UT Health students train across disciplines while providing care to families at SAMM Transitional Living and Learning Center
Respiratory care and physician assistant studies students participated this winter in a program designed to foster interprofessional clinical training while creating health plans for homeless families.
The RESPECT program (Realizing Enhanced Student Inter-Professional Education through Clinical Teamwork) brings together medical, dental, dental hygiene, nursing, pharmacy, respiratory care and physician assistant studies students.
Occupational Therapy Professor to receive Presidential Award
Occupational Therapy Associate Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor Kimatha Oxford Grice will receive a 2017 Presidential Award for Distinguished Service to the Institution next month.
School of Health Professions Dean David C. Shelledy nominated Grice for the award.
Interprofessional Open House in April will be the first of its kind
Prospective students interesting in learning more about admission to the School of Health Professions will also have an opportunity this spring to hear from three of the school’s programs at the School’s first Interprofessional Open House. The event is set for April 8 at 10 a.m. on the Long campus.
Alumna joins Respiratory Care faculty
Kristina E. Ramirez already had earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology when a family member began treatment with a respiratory therapist. Once she witnessed the expertise and care provided by that therapist, Ramirez knew she had found her calling.
SHP Grand Rounds lecture, UT System Heart Walk, health fair on tap for February
Several on-campus events schedule for February will spotlight public health:
The School of Health Professions’ Grand Rounds lecture series offers attendees a chance to learn about health conditions from the perspective of the full range of health professions.
This spring’s first of two lectures is set for Feb. 1 on the topic of diabetes and obesity. The April 12 lecture topic will be spinal cord injury. Lunch will be provided. Lectures run from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at MED 3.309L and STR 1.102.
Karen D. Barton: liaison librarian to the School of Health Professions
As the library liaison for the School of Health Professions, Karen D. Barton serves as the single point of contact to help students, faculty and staff navigate the resources available at Briscoe Library and innovate ways to enhance learning.
Barton’s office hours in the RAB lobby are Mondays from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., and she also is available for one-on-one help, including student research project assistance.
“We will help them develop their research questions, to find what resources they can go to,” she said. “We are pretty much a hand to hold in the process.”
Faculty snapshot: Physical Therapy professor keeps the focus on pain and its impact on mood, mind and movement
Professor Maureen Simmonds brings personal experience to bear in her pain research. Years ago, Simmons broke her back and pelvis in a horseback riding accident. Her understanding of pain informed her research from the very beginning, she said, and continues to do so.
“What I was taught about pain didn’t match what I was feeling,” she said. “It influences mood, mind as well as movement.”
Simmonds recalled thinking, “I need to understand this better.”
Research retreat hones ideas, honors Kudolo Award winners
The School of Health Professions hosted its annual research retreat on Dec. 9.
The day’s offerings included a morning workshop, which allowed faculty to “refine and renew their research ideas,” according to Dr. Kathryn S. Aultman, Director, Research Operations for the Schools of Nursing and Health Professions.
“By developing their Programs of Science, faculty can integrate their teaching, practice and research activities and stimulate their productivity,” Aultman said.
Art Rounds: Elective course shows how visual thinking strategies translate from art to patient
It’s unlikely that first-year occupational therapy student Amy Honeck will soon forget Paul Gauguin’s Sister of Charity.
Honeck researched and visited the oil painting — and even tried her hand at painting the nun depicted in the work— throughout her time in Art Rounds, an enrichment elective course offered through a collaboration between the UT Health San Antonio and the McNay Art Museum.
Grand Rounds talks scheduled for spring semester
First-year Doctor of Physical Therapy student Mike Nash has a better idea of the role a physical therapist plays in treating a patient with sepsis, thanks to a recent Grand Rounds lecture.
Nash attended both of the Grand Round Lectures series events this fall. Open to all students, the series features faculty from the School of Health Professions and is designed to foster interprofessional exchange by illustrating the ways all six of the School’s health professions treat a range of diseases and disorders. The series debuted in the fall of 2015.
Department of Emergency Health Sciences offers mass casualty training to airport employees
Dozens of airport employees at the San Antonio International Airport learned how to help victims in mass casualty events during training led by Terry Eaton, assistant professor of Emergency Health Sciences and civilian training officer.
The training program, Stop the Bleed, familiarized airport workers with how to use special kits, called I-Paks, and also taught them how to assess and stabilize injuries until first responders arrive. The kits, which are located throughout the airport, include gloves, scissors, a chest seal, tourniquet, combat gauze and a space blanket.
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