The Arch

INSIDE

summer/fall 2012 edition • occupational therapy division college of health professions • medical university of south carolina

2 Mission Trip to Uganda2 MUSC Foundations Award

3 Student Update3 Research News

Another Fantastic Year for Camp Hand to Hands By Richard Hendry of the Coastal Community Foundation

No exaggeration -- a $2,500 grant this summer from our Webb-Croft Endowment to a program at MUSC designed and produced by Patty Coker-Bolt (Ph.D., Assistant Professor and community blessing) resulted once again this summer in children receiving life-changing therapy that would have cost their families a total of more than $250,000 if given at teaching hospitals in other parts of the nation. The week-long 30-hour program is called “Camp Hand to Hands”, and costs the children’s families ZERO. Here’s what it does, and how it leverages the dollars provided 100-fold, turning $2,500 into more than $250,000:

CIMT (“Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy”) uses splinted gloves fashioned into puppet mittens on a stronger limb to get children with

Jerome Kevin Burik, MHS, OTR/L, of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, August 12, 2012. He was born on August 13, 1959 in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, son of Claudia Lusko Burik and the late Jerome Stephen Burik. He attended West Virginia University, then transferred to the Medical University of South Carolina graduating in 1982 with a BS degree in Occupational Therapy and in 1991 with a Master of Health Science degree. As a licensed occupational therapist he has been an independent contractor, a consultant, an adjunct instructor and an entrepreneur. He co-founded the first private practice of Occupational Therapy in Charleston, SC (Therapy Resources) prior to joining the faculty at MUSC. In 1999, he was appointed Assistant Professor and the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator in the Division of Occupational Therapy, College of Health Professions at MUSC, where he served at the time of his death. He was an active member of AOTA and the South Carolina Occupational Therapy Association and served on a number of Advisory Boards. He was a great collaborator with his faculty colleagues which led to his participation in many funded grant activities and

publications. He also held a leadership role in the MUSC Leadership Initiative, C-3, Creating Collaborative Care, which promotes inter-professional education strategies that builds teamwork for bridging the classroom to the clinic. In 2002, he was awarded the MUSC Health Science Foundation Teaching Excellence Award, in the Developing Teacher Category. When interviewed about this award, he said he loved his profession and wanted to educate his students, not only train them. Jerry was an inspiring and dedicated faculty member and an excellent Fieldwork Coordinator. Many phone calls occupied his nights and weekends as he advised and encouraged students on fieldwork. A gifted teacher, he spent his life passing his love of occupational therapy on to his colleagues, students, and his patients.

Jerry will be greatly missed by his MUSC family, students, alumni, and the many OTs he interacted with through the years.

OT PROFESSOR REMEMBERED FOR HIS CARING HEART

Continued on p. 2

Mr. Jerome Burik

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The Arch page 2summer/fall 2012 edition • occupational therapy division

Another Fantastic Year for Camp Hand to Hands By Richard Hendry of the Coastal Community Foundation

Continued from p. 1: cerebral palsy (or other conditions) to want to use their free weaker limb to participate in deliriously fun activities. The result is that over the course of a week of “Camp Hand to Hands”, the weaker limb becomes stronger and more available to the children. While places like the Kennedy-Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins can charge a family $15,000-$20,000 or more for this experience (usually not covered by insurance), it was FREE to the 14 kids who did it this summer at MUSC’s O.T. program because, using MUSC students as the therapists in loads of space made available by MUSC for this, the only things that have to be bought are lunches, splinting supplies and hand puppets, and craft things from area discount stores for the MUSC students to make games, props and decorations for each day’s different theme (one day, maybe the Olympics; another day, maybe Disney World). As you can see from the photo, the ratio of MUSC students to kids is incredible at better than 3-to-1. Patty Coker-Bolt received one of Charleston Magazine’s 2011 “Giving Back” awards for volunteerism – not for this program, but because of her leadership in helping to create the Charleston Miracle League. She also was one of the founding board members of Pattison’s Academy. Legions of local special needs children are better off in lots of ways because of Patty.

MUSC FOUNDATION AWARDDr. Patty Coker-Bolt was awarded the MUSC Teaching Excellence Award in the Educator–Mentor category. Presented for the first time in 1995, these university wide teaching awards given by the MUSC Foundation were proposed as part of MUSC’s Educational Strategic Plan. Dr. Coker-Bolt was presented this award at Faculty Convocation on August 21, 2012. Patty continuously inspires the students she teaches both in the classroom and as a role model in community service. We are very proud of her!!

MISSION TRIP TO UGANDAEvery year Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy students participate in a medical mission trip with other students and faculty across campus. This year twenty-one College of Health Professions students participated along with Dr. Patty Coker-Bolt; there were sixty MUSC participants total in the medical team this past May. They traveled to Uganda and provided a variety of therapy services to numerous individuals and learned so much about healthcare and cultural differences through this experience.

Dr. Patty Coker-Bolt

page 3The Arch summer 2012 edition • occupational therapy division

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Contact: Lauren Melton Dickerson meltonl@musc.edu

RESEARCH NEWSMichelle Woodbury, PhD, OTR/L is testing the effect of a new upper extremity stroke rehabilitation virtual reality game. She designed this new game in collaboration with a computer science research team at Clemson University’s School of Computing. The game, called “Duck-Duck-Punch,” has an

old-time carnival feel but incorporates modern innovative movement-scaling technology that enables a person who has very little movement in the “real world” to have near normal movement in the virtual world. A therapist tailors the movement-scale to match a client’s unique ability level. Therefore even patients with limited movement can

successfully use their arm to play the game. The team hopes that one day this system will be a low-cost, user-friendly way for a therapist to provide “off hours” opportunities for a person with stroke to practice arm movements. This game was recently selected as a worldwide finalist for the Microsoft Imagine Cup Kinect Fun Labs Challenge 2012 competition! Please contact Michelle Woodbury at 843-792-1671 if you would like more information about this exciting research study.

The Occupational Therapy program welcomed 44 new students into the program on May 23. The selection process was challenging. Three hundred and eleven students applied to the program. This means being accepted into the program is no small feat! The incoming class is a very good mix of in and out of state students.

The second year class has 42 students who are currently in their last semester of didactic coursework before beginning their fieldwork in January. They worked hard this summer coordinating the 12th annual H.O.P.E. 5K Walk/Run for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) which took place on Saturday, June 9 at Isle of Palms. This was a huge fundraiser with proceeds nearing $12,000 to benefit South Carolina residents and

their families living with ALS.

Graduation for the 41 students in the class of 2012 took place on Saturday July 14 at the Church of the Holy Communion. Faculty and students were very excited to have Dr. Amy Lamb as the graduation speaker. She is the current Vice-President of AOTA and the former AOTPAC Chair and delivered an inspiring graduation speech encouraging graduates to become involved in their state and national associations.

CHP WELCOMES NEW FACULTY MEMBERDr. Matthew Malcolm, PhD, OTR joined the MUSC faculty in July. He is primarily based in the Department of Health Sciences and Research with a joint appointment in the OT Division. Dr. Malcolm comes from Colorado State University where he served as the Assistant Department Head in the Department of Occupational Therapy. He has 14 years of clinical and research experience in the areas of neurorehabilitation and neuroscience/ neurophysiology. He received his BS in OT at the University of Buffalo and his PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Florida. The focus of Dr. Malcolm’s research is to investigate new therapies designed to assist individuals with neurologic damage in regaining skilled movement.

Dr. Matthew Malcolm

Dr. Michelle Woodbury

What Legacy Will You Leave? We all desire significance – to lead happy and fulfilled lives surrounded by family and friends. And for many of us, there is a compelling need to make a difference – to leave a lasting impact on the people most dear to us and the world in which we live. The search for significance and desire to plan for the future leads many to ponder their legacy. What kind of legacy will you leave? A bequest is perhaps the easiest and most tangible way to have a lasting impact on the people and organizations that mean the most to you. And a bequest may be an effective way to make a gift and lessen the burden of taxes on your family and on your estate. To learn more about how you can leave your legacy, please contact Leslie Brady, Director of Development at (843) 792-8547 or bradyl@musc.edu to have a confidential conversation. Click here for more information.

STUDENT UPDATE