Oct. 6, 2020
Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Custom Fitness
Jeff Carr is an alumnus with a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences and a Masters of Health Education with an emphasis in Exercise Physiology and Public Health. He is the owner of The Ftiness Company May 29, 2020. Sam O’Keefe/University of Missouri Phil’s story is typical. He came to The Fitness Co. in Columbia with a common problem he hoped to correct with exercise. At 39, his lower back bothered him so badly that he stopped riding bikes with his kids. Phil’s body is not typical. Every person’s physiology is unique, says Jeff Carr, Phil’s personal trainer and…
Oct. 6, 2020
Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Santa’s Helpers
Santa’s Helpers Many of the children Rachel Hughes works with as a pediatric physical therapist can’t play with off-the-shelf electronic toys. “A lot of them have significant motor impairments and can’t push a button to activate the toys,” says Hughes, DPT ’19. The MU Health Care Children’s Therapy Center — where Hughes has worked since she was a student — bought adapted versions of popular toys, which can cost up to five times more than the originals. Knowing the price tag, Hughes was dismayed when one of the adapted toys broke. As she took the toy apart to see…
Oct. 6, 2020
Adapting for Accessibility
It was an aha moment when Bill Janes, a faculty member in the occupational therapy department, learned about Go Baby Go, a national network of students and professionals who modify ride-on toy cars for toddlers with limited mobility. “I realized this is why I became an OT, both because of how the kids responded to Go Baby Go and how it brought out a maker tendency in me,” Janes says. “I like to fix things and make them better for people.” Janes established Mizzou’s Go Baby Go chapter, a campus-wide collaboration that includes students in OT, art, physical therapy…
Oct. 6, 2020
Kicking the Habit
The Marlboro Man might be long gone, but smoking and nicotine use in the Show-Me State live on at surprisingly high rates, says Jenna Wintemberg, BA ’10, MPH ’12, PhD ’17, assistant teaching professor of health sciences. An alarming 19 percent of Missouri’s adults smoke. Up to 50 percent of Missouri high school students have tried tobacco or electronic cigarettes, which pack lots of nicotine and come with the risk of pneumonia and respiratory failure. “The numbers for e-cigarettes keep going up and up and up,” she says. Wintemberg, a nationally certified tobacco treatment specialist, developed Adolescent Cessation in Every…
Oct. 6, 2020
Fun for All
Nestled in the courtyard between Mizzou’s Lewis and Clark halls, the School of Health Professions’ new Inclusive Playground inspires people of all ages and abilities to do some exploring of their own. Tiger paw footprints lead to wheelchair-accessible structures and towers that include a Braille station and a music keyboard with drums nearby. Swings adapt to various mobility levels, an enclosed merry-go-round ensures safety and a basketball hoop adjusts to many heights. “We serve populations that can definitely benefit from something like this, so we thought it was a worthwhile investment,” says school advancement officer Michelle Custer, BA ’03. Populations…
Oct. 6, 2020
Speaking Out
People with Parkinson’s disease often struggle with weak, imprecise speech. To help them, the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences created a program that provides individual and group therapy. Under faculty direction, graduate students gain experience working with participants during the sessions. Since 2018, the nonprofit Parkinson Voice Project has provided yearly grants to carry out this work. Most clients enter the program speaking 5 to 10 decibels below average, comparable to a quiet conversation at home, and reach normal range the first day. However, it takes about two weeks before others notice and comment on their stronger tone.
Oct. 6, 2020
Celebrity Therapist
James McCorkle has used a wheelchair for most of his six years of life, and, for much of that time, he has been a client at the School of Health Professions’ PhysZOU clinic. That’s where he met physical therapy student Mark Weleaga, who quickly realized that McCorkle needed to improve his wheelchair skills. “During my first session with James, we had to encourage him a lot to get him to do different wheelchair skills and play games,” Weleaga says. So, for help, he went straight to the top — Mizzou’s wheelchair basketball team. “I was hoping to make therapy fun.”…
Oct. 6, 2020
The Road to Recovery
In 2018, opioid use disorder killed 1,132 Missourians, a rate well above the national average. Communities statewide need access to providers who can help them deal with the problem. In response, health psychology chair Laura Schopp, MA ’91, PhD ’95, is using a new $1.2 million grant to expand an internship program that deals with the problem, particularly in underserved communities. Opioid use disorder occurs in about 29 percent of patients who have been prescribed drugs for short-term pain relief but find it difficult to use them as intended, Schopp says. “Health psychology comes to this arena with great skills…
Oct. 6, 2020
The Who of COVID-19
Michelle Teti, DrPH, is associate professor and associate chair. Enid Schatz, PhD, is the chair of the MU Department of Public Health. Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, School of Health Professions faculty have been quick to help the public better understand not only the disease but also its social aspects, including race. The pandemic is highlighting and heightening disparities, say Enid Schatz, professor of public health, and Michelle Teti, an associate professor in the same department. For instance, say the health disparities experts, a study of 27 states reports that the COVID-19 death rate is four…
Oct. 6, 2020
Manufacturing Opportunities
Marym Musab was drawn to her degree in nuclear medicine because it offers opportunities for patient interaction and saving lives. Musab, BHS ’20, trained in the use of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosing and treating disease. A key feature of her education included a six-week rotation this past spring at the MU Research Reactor, which makes radiopharmaceuticals and ships them worldwide. “I was very impressed with MURR,” Musab says. “We’re always ordering these drugs, but we don’t usually see what’s involved in getting the radiopharmaceuticals out and delivered.” MURR, the country’s most powerful university research reactor, is the sole U.S. producer of…