16 Jefferson REVIEW
Synnestvedt
Brajot
Snyder
Piersol
Covelman
School of Health Professions OT Students Working with Refugee Families
Some first-year occupational therapy students are partnering with refugee families referred from Philadelphia’s Nationalities Service Center, helping them adapt to life in America. The students work with families on activities such as personalizing their homes, learning how to use public transportation, connecting to library resources or getting a driver’s license. Many of the refugees come from third-world countries, and “they often bring the emotional scars of trauma and years of living displaced,” says Associate Professor Stephen B. Kern, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA. “While students practice their OT skills, they also learn about their clients’ cultural and political histories and how to communicate with limited shared language.”
Students Receive Scholarships
BS/MS occupational therapy student Tova Ganz is the first recipient of the Ethel Beard Burstein Scholarship, established by Ethel Beard Burstein, an occupational therapist with roots in Philadelphia. In her application essay, Ganz wrote: “Together with my clients, I have experienced the joy of learning to walk again, the frustration of losing friends after a stigmatizing diagnosis, the intricacies of dealing with various family and team members and, most of all, the exhilaration as people come to understand and realize that they can and will live their life to the fullest extent possible.”
Entry-level master’s OT student Annalisa Synnestvedt is one of four students awarded a scholarship by the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association. Synnestvedt became active with the POTA board task force in April 2012. Two senior radiologic sciences multicompetency students, Marie Brajot (MRI/general sonography) and Rebecca Snyder (general sonography/vascular sonography), received scholarships from Lambda Nu, the National Honor Society for Radiologic and Imaging Sciences. Scholarships were awarded to 11 students nationally.
JEC Receives Pew Funding
Jefferson Elder Care has received a Pew Fund Grant for $150,000 to provide dementia services to families in the Delaware Valley. Clinical Director Catherine V. Piersol, MS, OTR/L, says that nearly half of JEC referrals do not qualify due to income level, type of insurance or Medicare Part B eligibility. This funding will allow 140 clients and their caregivers to receive services over the next three years.
Medical Dosimetry Students Score High
One hundred percent of Jefferson’s 2011 medical dosimetry graduates (Department of Radiologic Sciences) passed the medical dosimetry certification exam in September 2011. The national pass rate was 52 percent.
Interprofessional, International Interaction via the Internet
In spring 2012, the Jefferson School of Health Professions and Kitasato University in Japan engaged in a fourday online conference that focused on the nature of collaborative care in each country’s healthcare system and explored similarities and differences in team functioning. Groups from the two universities met via synchronous online conferencing. Jefferson’s Departments of Couple and Family Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Radiologic Sciences developed a program around a scenario based on the interprofessional care required for a traumatic brain injury. During the conference, the Japanese students also presented about the impact of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami on Japanese people as well as the healthcare system and its response to the disaster. “The presentations sparked discussion between the Kitasato and Jefferson students, but also among the Jefferson students from the different departments, leading to better understanding of each profession’s role on the healthcare team,” says Kenneth Covelman, PhD, chair of the Department of Couple and Family Therapy. Students learned cultural differences in health care, such as how Japanese students must earn a bachelor’s degree and graduate as generalists in radiologic sciences, ready to work in several modalities. The crosscultural experience showed physical