hsrs news archives

Springfield College physician assistant (PA) students were highlighted in Healthcare News of Western Massachusetts regarding their efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Seven PA students chose to spend their spring break volunteering by signing up with ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). Visit this page for the full story. J. Patrick Decoteau, Professor of Rehabilitation & Disability Studies, recently joined a national group of rehabilitation counseling leaders who met with the Senior Executive of Disaster Mental Health Services, Dr. Susan Hamilton. Visit this page for more information. David Miller, PT, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Physical Therapy Department, coauthored a case report, Physical Therapy Examination, Evaluation, and Intervention for a Patient with West Nile Virus Paralysis. The report appeared in the June 2006 edition of Physical Therapy. Visit this page for details. Joan Simmons, Associate Professor of the Occupational Therapy Department, ran a workshop, “Upper Extremity Functional Exercise,” this past June. Visit this page for additional information. Harley Maxwell, Clinical/Field Coordinator for the Emergency Medical Services Management program, was nominated to receive the EMS Educator of The Year Award by AMR Ambulance of Hampden County. He was presented with the award at the Hampden County EMS Banquet in May 2006. Student Achievement:
Melissa Dennis has been selected to receive the Distinguished Graduate Student Award for the School of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies. This award is given to only one graduate student who demonstrates Academic Excellence, Leadership, Research, and Service to Humanity. Ms. Dennis graduated this May from the program in Rehabilitation Counseling and Services with specialty preparation in Counseling for Deaf & Hard of Hearing and Psychiatric Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling. Student Achievement:
Andrew McLlarky, junior majoring in Physical Therapy was selected to receive the Britton C. McCabe Scholarship. This award is presented each year to the two men and two women who have the highest grade point average at the end of the fall semester of their junior year. Harley Maxwell, Clinical/Field Coordinator for the Emergency Medical Services Management Program, was nominated to receive the EMS Educator of The Year Award by AMR Ambulance of Hampden County. He was presented with the award at the Hampden County EMS Banquet on May 16, 2006. Dr. Patrick Decoteau, Professor of Rehabilitation & Disability Studies, presented at the 2006 International Association for Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP) Annual Conference held at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, MN in May, 2006. The presentation entitled: "Professional Disclosure + Informed Consent = Informed Choice" was co-presented with Jeffrey Carlisle, the current chair of the Commission on Rehabilitation Counseling Certification (CRCC) and focused on the private sector. Student Achievement:
Christie Plummer, Physical Therapy - Professional Year I, was presented with the Marilyn L. Cohen Memorial Award on Stepping Up Day, April 20, 2006. This award is presented in recognition of scholarly accomplishments in a Health Related undergraduate program and demonstrated commitment to the Humanics Philosophy. It was established by Dr. Joel Cohen, Professor Emeritus in Biology. The Rehabilitation and Disability Studies Department held their annual Recognition Breakfast on April 21 to acknowledge the academic excellence, dedication and personal commitment of outstanding students in service to others. Visit this page for more details.   Robert Hopkins, Assistant Professor of the Emergency Medical Services Management department received the Eaton E. Freeman Award at the regional EMS meeting in April. Visit this page for details.  Dr. Bernard Graney, Professor of the Rehabilitation and Disability Studies Department, gave an invited presentation on "The Founding of Residential Schools for Persons of Limited Intellect in North America, with special emphasis on the role of Hervey Backus Wilbur" on Friday, April 21, at Syracuse University.Visit this page for details. The Physical Therapy Department held their annual Recognition Day on Friday, April 7. Sue Lundin was the recipient of the Gertrude Lamb Award, named in honor of Trudy Lamb, Professor Emeritus in Physical Therapy. Visit this page for more details. The OT Department hosted a Post Professional Program OPEN HOUSE - Advanced Education in OT - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at the Allied Health Sciences Center. On March 23, 2006, the Physical Therapy Department hosted a day-long seminar on advanced rehabilitation for geriatric patients titled, “Geriatric Rehabilitation: A Clinical Approach”. The seminar was available to the PT students graduating in May with their MS degree and to the members of the department's clinical education faculty. The presenter at this event was Alice Bell, PT, GCS. Visit this page for details. The GREENE MEMORIAL LECTURE IN PHYSICAL THERAPY, with Speaker: Kevin E. Wilk, PT, DPT, “The Evolution in the Treatment of ACL Injuries: What's New in Rehabilitation” took place Friday March 31, 2006 at 1:30pm. Visit this page for details. Dr. Robert Hewes, Associate Professor, Rehabilitation and Disability Studies , was recently appointed to the Editorial Board for Journal of Rehabilitation Administration, a peer reviewed journal. [Feb, 06] Julia Chevan, Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy department was awarded a community grant totaling $18,000 from a Doug Flutie Foundation for work she is doing in soccer with special needs kids for her local community. [Jan, 06] Dr. William G. Plested, President-Elect of the American Medical Association visited the Springfield College campus to speak to students in the School of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 from 10 to 11 AM in the Fuller Arts Center Auditorium. Visit this page for more details. Kelly Goodell, entry-level masters' degree student in Occupational Therapy at SC, and Deanne Whollers, Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant student at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) collaborated on an 8-week OT treatment-activity group at the Mercy Care for the Homeless Shelter for Women on Worthington Street, Springfield, MA. Visit this page for more details. Robert L. Hewes, Associate Professor from the Rehabilitation and Disability Studies Department recently spoke on "Current Ethical Issues in Rehabilitation Counseling" at the New Hampshire Rehabilitation Association Annual Conference in Concord, NH, on November 14, 2005. In the summer of 2005, he also published a peer reviewed article in "Ethical Issues in Professional Counseling" that focused on ethical decision-making. Dr. Hewes stated that he "was especially delighted with this article because I co-authored it with a former student of our program (while she was completing her degree here at SC). What a thrill it was to mentor someone along in the arena of academic publishing!" Health care professionals who recently provided service to Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina participated in an interdisciplinary panel discussion moderated by Dr. William Susman, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies. Visit this page for more details. Mr. Charles Milch, Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies was the keynote speaker at theMassachusetts Association of Physician Assistants (MAPA) Annual Meeting in October, 2005. Read Maria Luizzi's article and view pictures from his experiences in Nicaragua by clicking here. For the last five years, Professor Tara Hengeveld, Occupational Therapy Department, has offered a free workshop to the occupational therapy clinicians on how to supervise an intern in the clinic. This year the workshop was held on Saturday, October 15, 2005. The workshop was designed to both prepare and to thank our clinical supervisors for training our occupational therapy students in the practical application of theory at the clinical level. Dr. William M. Susman, Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies delivered the Keynote Address at the White Coat Ceremony of the Physician Assistant Program held on National Physician Assistant Day - October 6, 2005. This ceremony is a right of passage into the clinical experience for students who will take the AAPA Professional Oath and will be begin seeing patients in the community. Professor Julia Chevan, Physical Therapy Department , coordinated the first annual Western Massachusetts Physical Therapy Student Day on September 24, 2005. This event was sponsored by the Western District Massachusetts Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association and was hosted by the Department of Physical Therapy. The day helped to promote October as National Physical Therapy Month. Janet Cope, Physical Therapy Department ; Susan Guyer, Exercise Science and Sports Studies ; Katherine Post, Occupational Therapy Department ; and Jennifer Shea, Physical Therapy Department coauthored an abstract entitled Self-Prepared dissection or prosection: What is best for learning human anatomy? that recently appeared in the journal Clinical Anatomy , 2005; 18(8):621. This research was presented at a poster presentation at the annual meeting of The American Association of Anatomists in San Diego in April 2005 and at The American Association of Clinical Anatomists in New York City in July 2005. This cross-department, cross-school effort represents a fine example of research collaboration. In addition, the work has practical value in helping to answer questions of best practices in teaching anatomy. Dr. Linda Tsoumas, Associate Professor of Physical Therapy , and Deborah Pelletier, Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy, presented a poster entitled “Student peer-to-peer interactions for professional behavior development in an entry-level curriculum” at the national Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association meeting in February 2006. Regina Kaufman, Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy Department , is the recipient of the 2005 Stanford Award, granted by the Journal of Physical Therapy Education for her Spring 2005 article entitled A Reflection on Disciplinary Nature and the Status of Physical Therapy Scholarship . This award is for "the most influential educational ideas" appearing in the journal for the year. The award was presented by the Education Section of the American Physical Therapy Association at the Combined Sections Meeting held in San Diego in February. Dr. David Miller, Chair of the Physical Therapy Department accepted the award on her behalf. Michael Accordino, Associate Professor in Rehabilitation and Disability Studies , co-authored an article with Connie McReynolds, Ph.D., CRC and Chad Sedam, MS, CRC. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Course Content in Rehabilitation Counseling Programs appeared in the Winter 2005 edition of the Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling .