Camden Stockton Accepts MIAA Internship for Spring 2012

Camden Stockton has accepted an MIAA Internship in Kansas City, MO.  His responsibilities will include administration of conference championships; development of conference marketing materials; rules-compliance; working with the MIAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee; working with the Director of Communications; and other duties as assigned by the MIAA staff.  The internship will begin in January and last until June, 2012.  Congratulations, Camden!

 

 

Students Unload Food at Salvation Army Food Bank

Students from HLTH 150 Nutrition for Health & Wellness unloaded a semi-trailer of food at the Salvation Army Food Bank on September 26, 2011.  As a continuation of this class’ efforts to reduce food insecurity and hunger in Adair County,  they will sponsor a food drive October 17-23, 2011.  There will be tables on campus requesting monetary and food donations during that week, staffed by the HLTH 150 students and Health Science majors.  On Saturday and Sunday, October 22-23, 2011, the students in HLTH 150 will have tables at the Hy-Vee Food Store requesting food donations and money to support the Salvation Army Food Bank in Kirksville.  Individual students, campus organizations, faculty, and staff are encouraged to support this food drive.

Jackie Goff (May ’10) volunteers at Missouri Children’s Burn Camp

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/fitness/article_b5649ba6-9c05-5fbd-9330-50ea5e00e138.html

“Linda and Gary Hansen came to speak to my Occupational Therapy class at Washington University in St. Louis about burns this summer. Gary had been burned while in his car and had to have several surgeries on his face for the burns. They helped to improve the burn support group here in St. Louis and they began the Missouri Children’s Burn Camp. At the end of their presentation, Linda mentioned that she needed more counselors for the camp. I decided to go. I can’t even express or describe how absolutely AMAZING that experience was!! I learned SO much while I was there and met so many amazing people. The outlook on life of those campers truly inspire me. The camp is held at Camp Sabra campground in the Lake of the Ozarks. It is wonderful and there are SO many activities there. I even faced my (big) fear of heights and walked across a bridge with missing planks about 40-50 feet in the air!– it was SO scary but I was moved to do it. I returned from camp yesterday and I woke up today feeling great and with an even better outlook on life than I had before the camp. It was so touching and everyone there is like a big family. There were also two campers from Peru who were invited to come who only spoke Spanish. One of the campers was in my cabin. I was with her the majority of the week and helped to translate for her, especially when she was trying to speak to other campers. The St. Louis Post Dispatch actually came and wrote a story on those two campers while we were there and went into the Sunday paper yesterday. I’m glad that happened so that more people can read/learn about this amazing camp. I hope to do more work with them in the future as a counselor, as well as help them to write grants because this camp is privately funded to provide a free camp experience to burn victims. Wonderful, wonderful~~ I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to be there.”

-From a former Truman student,

Jackie Goff, BHS, CHES, MSOT/S  ’12
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Program in Occupational Therapy

Christina Sancken in Peace Corps Peru

 

Christina Sancken will be serving as a Community Health Promoter for the Peace Corps Community Health project in Peru from September 15, 2011 to November 24, 2013.  The purpose of the Community Health project is that community members living in rural communities will have improved health conditions through adopting healthy lifestyle practices.  As a CHP (and most likely the only American in my community), she will be collaborating with NGOs, local health posts, educational institutions, and community groups to help achieve the goals of the Peace Corps Community Health project.

Sustainability is one of the most important aspects of this program.  In order to create sustainable practices and programs, she will spend a significant amount of her time dedicated to needs assessments, teaching, training, and evaluations for different groups of community members on nutrition, proper hygiene, and disease prevention.

Margaret Loehnig Completes Internship in Cape Town, South Africa

Senior Health Science major Margaret Loehnig took a trip during the summer of 2011 to Cape Town, South Africa, along with 20 other Truman students. The trip was one aspect of a course entitled Democracy and Human Rights in South Africa, led by sociology professor Dr. Elaine McDuff. In Cape Town, Margaret completed an internship at Maitland Cottage Home (MCH). MCH is an inpatient pediatric orthopedic hospital in which children may receive surgery for numerous conditions affecting their bones, including (but not limited to) leg length discrepancies, Blount’s, cerebral palsy, clubfoot, tuberculosis of the joints and/or spine, hip disorders, and fractures due to motor vehicle accidents. The children then recover in the wards and receive schooling and physical therapy.
Margaret’s job as an intern was to observe the work of the physical therapist, assisting whenever possible. She learned how to measure crutches for the patients, became familiar with several assistive devices that may be used in therapeutic settings, and observed the stretches the physical therapist performed with the patients. She also had the unique opportunity to help doctors put plaster casts on patients with clubfeet.
Margaret’s favorite part of the experience was interacting with the children at MCH. “They treated me as a playmate, teacher, and physical therapist combined, and I learned just as much from them as they learned from me. Most of the children were barely discouraged by their physical disabilities; they approached all challenges with energy and dignity. Even in the moments when they were being naughty or bossing me around, the children at MCH never failed to put a smile on my face. On my last day, they all wrote me letters and drew me pictures. It was painful to say goodbye.”

Abbie Smith Joins UNC-EXSS as Assistant Professor in Exercise Physiology.

Abbie Smith, PhD, CSCS joined the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, as an assistant professor in July, 2011. Dr. Smith completed her undergraduate degree from Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) in Health and Exercise Sciences, and she completed her graduate work in Exercise Physiology from the University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK; MA and PhD), where she served as the coordinator of the Metabolic and Body Composition Laboratory.
Abbie’s research interests center around exercise and nutrition interventions to modify various aspects of body composition, cardiovascular health, and metabolic function in obese, elderly, and women. She is an active researcher in the field of sport nutrition and exercise performance, in both young and old athletes. Some of her primary work has focused on beta-alanine, creatine, and proteins/amino acids. She is also interested in applied aspects of neuromuscular fatigue.
Dr. Smith is an active member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN). Abbie also contributes to the field through many peer-reviewed manuscripts, scholastic book chapters and multiple International and National presentations.