CHCS Perspectives Summer/Fall 2013

PERSPECTIVES • SUMMER-FALL 2013 – Page 44 In early March, 62 students and 5 faculty members from the Hybrid Entry-Level D.P.T. Program in Tampa teamed up with the Greater Ridgecrest YMCA to provide a community wellness fair in Largo, Florida. The goal was to provide the community with use- ful health assessments and knowledge to enhance overall wellness. Many individuals in this community are medically underserved and most do not have access to health care or physical therapy services, so the PT students led participants through a series of screenings at stations focusing on different aspects of wellness, including car- diovascular, pulmonary, balance, and exercise assessments. At each station, participants were given a report on their health status and some simple exercises or lifestyle adjustments they could do to im- prove their health. The participants also received information about nutrition, di- abetes, and low-income health insurance from organizations around Pinellas County. The reaction of the participants to the NSU students was overwhelmingly positive. According to one par- ticipant, Keri Labrant, “I wasn’t sure what to expect but was so impressed by the variety of information presented and available. The screenings done by the NSU students were excellent—they were fun activities to try and they offered helpful information. I was also very impressed by the professionalism of even the first- year students.” In fact, it was an NSU PT student, Billy Siesel, who helped or- ganize the event from scratch, working with Vernon Bryant from the YMCA along with Keiba Shaw, D.P.T., associate professor, and Mary Blackinton, Ed.D., PT, program director for physical therapy at the Tampa Campus to plan the event specifics. However, participants were not the only ones who appreciated the community wellness fair. The D.P.T. students also benefitted from the opportunity to work with real people who valued their training and experience. In addition, the program gave students the chance to apply information they had learned in classes such as health promotion, wellness, and prevention, cardiovascular and pul- monary PT, professional issues in PT, and exercise physiology. Several students commented that participating in the wellness fair helped them recognize how they had learned in school. Other students valued the unpredictable nature of what you will find during community-based screenings. First-year student Matt Levin stated, “One of the great things about the wellness fair was that it gave students an opportunity to work with one another as well as the fac- ulty. I really felt it helped us bond in a different way than we do in- side the classroom.” Dr. Blackinton was not surprised by the students’ comments. “Community wellness fairs are considered service-learning programs because they serve BOTH the participants and the students. This program represents NSU’s core values of community and academic excellence. We also hope to instill in our students the professional values of altruism and social responsibility, and what better way than to touch our community right here?” By the Hybrid Entry-Level D.P.T. Program – Tampa Campus Wellness Fair Proves Beneficial for Students and Attendees Kathleen Rockefeller, Sc.D., PT, M.P.H. Associate Professor and Research Coordinator (principal investigator) Mary Blackinton, Ed.D., PT Associate Professor and Associate Director Hybrid Entry-Level D.P.T. Program (co-investigator) Lance Cherry, Ed.D., PT Assistant Professor (co-investigator) Melissa Riba, PT, OCS Assistant Professor (co-investigator) Keiba Shaw, Ed.D., PT Associate Professor (co-investigator) PT Tampa The following faculty members received a $10,000 HPD Educational Research Grant in 2012 to conduct the study entitled “Where Does the Time Go? A Work Sampling Study Comparing Faculty Activities in Traditional and Hybrid D.P.T. Program.”