We often see academia as an inward-looking environment where faculty and students sit behind ivy covered walls and pursue research and scholarship without much interaction with the “real world.”
However, a few moments spent inside the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of North Georgia will dispel this notion entirely. In this academic setting, service to others is critical to each student’s education.
Teresa Conner-Kerr, PT, PhD, MBA, Dean and Professor at the College of Health Sciences and Professions believes that the Carnegie Foundation recognition of UNG as a community-engaged institution for the Advancement of Teaching makes complete sense.
Conner-Kerr explains, “A community engaged institution designation denotes the commitment of a university faculty and staff to working with the community on focused areas of interest to both parties.”
“This prestigious designation is earned through providing evidence that ongoing successful partnerships assist communities with solving problems while providing faculty with opportunities to develop immersive/applied learning experiences for students as well as support for scholarship that investigates and provides potential solutions for community partners.”
One example of this is engagement is the PT department’s faculty practice, whose mission is to “optimize health status and eliminate health disparities of persons in rural and medically under-served areas of Georgia and to serve as a bench-mark in care provision and education of the medical community and general population.”
In conjunction with the faculty practice, there is the Gold Dust Riders Hippotherapy Camp (more on that in another story) as well as the Russell’s Racers program.
This program is named for Russell Connaway, a young man who has a significant motor and cognitive disability but who really enjoys interacting with people his own age.
Terrie Millard, PT, DPT, MMSc, PCS and Associate Professor, Physical Therapy at UNG says this program came about because physical therapy students are typically fitness oriented, so two students created the program in 2007 to allow people with disabilities to participate in 5K races.
She says, “Activities for individuals with disabilities for leisure enjoyment are very limited for adults. Most sports and leisure activity programs are designed for children and youth. The students asked Russell to join them and Russell’s Racers was formed.”
She goes on to say, “Since that first race, many individuals with disabilities have participated in 5Ks thanks to the assistance of UNG DPT students. The responsibility of organizing Russell’s Racers has been passed down class to class since 2007. “
Millard explains that often participants are pushed the majority of the distance, but are then encouraged to finish the race under their own power via devices like a an adaptive tricycle or a body weight support gait system.
She adds, “Russell’s Racers has promoted the development of assisted running for many other groups in the north Georgia area.”
Another exciting learning opportunity that has its origins in community outreach is the inaugural event that happened on the UNG campus this summer. In addition to community involvement, this program also integrated collaboration between academic institutions to bring an inter-disciplinary wealth of experience to students and some pretty nifty devices to enhance the lives of participating patients.
This collaboration was given the acronym cREATe which stands for “creating rehab engineering and assistance technology experiences.”
Fourteen doctoral students in UNG’s Department of Physical Therapy teamed up with nine industrial design students from Georgia Tech. The students were divided into four faculty-supervised teams and each team spent one week working with a patient and the patient’s family to create a device to help enhance daily life for the patient.
The experience lived up to its moniker and the collaborations between the engineering students, UNG’s DPT students, and faculty bore some very promising fruit.
Teams worked together all week with the patients and their families, who provided insight and feedback. Students then presented their final designs. Georgia Tech students returned to their campus to build the prototypes of the designs and then returned two weeks later to deliver them to the clients.
One young patient, Evan, has a condition that causes slow motor development. He also experiences decreased control of the neck and head. In order to help Evan strengthen the muscles that will help him gain control of his head and neck, his team of collaborators created a portable play environment. This colorful and tactile tool was an insightful solution for engaging a young patient and addressing his physical needs.
Naturally, the patients weren’t the only ones to benefit from this unique collaboration. Students benefited as well. In addition to a nice bullet point on a resume and a cool addition to a portfolio, they learned much in the hands-on, think-tank type of environment.
Mary Franklin, PT, EdD, Department Head for Physical Therapy at UNG says, “The biggest benefit to the student is to have hands on involvement in an innovative, collaborative project designing something beneficial for patients in the community.”
Conner-Kerr adds, “This program allows students to be involved in the creative process for therapeutic product design. Clinical experts and the people who receive the product for use inform successful product design. Students see an expanded horizon for their own developing expertise and experience a collaborative interdisciplinary process.”
Jacob Kelly, a UNG DPT student on schedule to graduate in May says of his experience, “The biggest benefit to my education from cREATe was seeing ways to meet the needs patients had in everyday life and not just while they are at the clinic.”
“We designed equipment for them to use at home, in the community, at school or work. Instead of simply meeting a physical therapy goal in a clinical setting, we solved the problem of what patients needed to achieve their greatest level of functional independence in every area of their life; this gave us a very unique insight as students.
Kelly adds, “The benefit to the community of the cREATE program is that these community members were able to get this state-of-the-art adaptive equipment and completely custom-made devices at no cost to them.”
Franklin says that while the designs were created for a particular patient, the implications could be greater. “Hopefully, some of the designs will be patented and then constructed to be used by other patients.”
Based on the success of this recent collaboration, Franklin is hopeful that more such opportunities are on the horizon for UNG DPT students.
She says, “PT students working with engineering students is rare and unique. We are hoping it will lead to other collaborative courses and degree programs in the future.”
Conner-Kerr says that plans are already being made to provide the cREATe program again for the current academic year.
