November 19, 2020
Daring to Care – Social Work alumna supports students
Tiffany Le, a graduate student in occupational therapy, was nervous at first. Like other students seeking financial assistance from the Care Team at Mizzou, she would be sitting down for a one-on-one meeting with the team’s coordinator, Nicole Logue, MSW ’16. “Will she judge me?” Le wondered. “Will she understand why I desperately need this?” Due in part to regional stay-at-home orders, dozens of students found themselves out of work and grappling with such fears as they sought emergency funding. As the nation began to realize the scope of the crisis, Mizzou’s Care Team took stock locally.
November 18, 2020
SSW alumnus Stan Remer wins Social Work Pioneer award
Nov. 18, 2020 School of Social Work alumnus Stan Remer was recently named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) foundation. According to the website, “NASW Pioneers are social workers who have explored new territories and built outposts for human services on many frontiers. Some are well known, while others are less famous outside their immediate colleagues, and the region where they live and work. But each one has made an important contribution to the social work profession, and to social policies through service, teaching, writing, research, program development, administration, or…
October 14, 2020
Improving health care autonomy for young adults with autism
Independence has always been a driving force in Nancy Cheak-Zamora’s life. Now an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Health Professions, she grew up undiagnosed with dyslexia, a learning disorder that can lead to difficulty reading. “Although I wasn’t receiving all the assistance or services I probably needed because I was undiagnosed, I always had supportive people in my life who encouraged me and gave me opportunities to be successful,” Cheak-Zamora said. “That encouragement fundamentally allowed me to take on more independence and work through challenges in a way that has helped me succeed in both academia…
October 8, 2020
COVID Silver Linings
MU Adult Neuropsychology Clinic stayed steps ahead of peers in adapting to serve the community Oct. 8, 2020 Department of Health Psychology clinics in the School of Health Professions serve well over 1,000 patients every year. In addition to clinical service and research in autism, brain injury and rehabilitation, the department’s faculty oversee an extensive psychology training program for pre-doctoral interns and postdoctoral residents. “We are one of the most high-volume clinics in the country when you consider number of patients seen per faculty member,” says Dr. Eric Hart, associate department chair, director of adult neuropsychology, and clinical professor.
October 6, 2020
Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Going the Distance
Early in her career, pediatric physical therapist Kelsey Okruch helped a 3-year-old patient with spina bifida learn to walk using an assistive piece of equipment called a gait trainer. “I had to physically move his legs when we started,” says Okruch, BHS ’08, DPT ’10, manager of MU Health Care’s Children’s Therapy Center. As the child gained strength and confidence, he was able to move his legs on his own. He also gained distance. A hospital receptionist stuck tape to the wall to mark his progress, moving it a little farther every week. Eventually, the tape and the boy traveled…
October 6, 2020
Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Get with the Program
Get with the Program Prior to March, Singapore had been recognized for controlling COVID-19 better than most other countries, but then the virus boomeranged back with a vengeance. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that people in Singapore — and indeed the world over — now understand the role of respiratory therapists (RTs) in intensive care. “Before the pandemic, no one really knew about what we do,” says Ivan Lee, BHS ’12, who was the first Singaporean to graduate from MU’s respiratory therapy program. Helping patients in respiratory failure breathe using a ventilator, “We are there to make a difference…
October 6, 2020
Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Custom Fitness
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 FitCo’s owner. Carr, BHS ’11, M Ed ’15, spent their first session finding out how Phil’s body performed various movements. Phil works as an HVAC installer, and years of squatting and crawling in cramped attic spaces had taken their toll on…
October 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…
October 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…
October 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…