“With skills like communication, time management, and leadership that I developed in the HES department, I am able to balance responsibilities in my personal, academic, and professional life.  I am currently pursuing an educational doctorate at the University of Missouri-Columbia, while working as the Assistant Director of Student Services in the School of Nursing at a mid-sized institution.  My time spent at Truman prepared me for a career vested in improving quality of life for others.  My present role perfectly couples my passion for improving access to quality healthcare and broadening access to education.

I feel blessed to have received such a quality education from faculty that cared about more than grades and evaluations.  While I would not have been able to predict where my career would take me five short years ago, I have felt prepared to tackle every challenge and opportunity provided to me thanks to the learning and encouragement I received at Truman State University.

I would embolden each new student to be open to opportunities and to get involved in the HES department.  You will learn just as much inside the classroom as you will outside working with peers and mentors.”

— Alizabeth “Blair” Ballard (’13), Health Sciences

 

 

In early August, Abby McWilliams, Hanna Slosson, and Lara Pfeiffer attended the American Society of Biomechanics annual conference in Boulder, Colorado to present their research study titled “Kinematic Gait Characteristics of a Heterogeneous Population”. The project was led by Brandon Thurman, who unfortunately was not able to attend.

From turning a broken chair into an end table to making knick knack shelves from a pair of crutches, an environmental health class discovered creative ideas for recycling old items.

Janice Clark, professor of health science at Truman State University, encourages her students to think about National Recycling Day a little bit more than the average college student. Every fall in Clark’s HLTH 362 course, students are challenged with a “Second Life Project.” As part of Clark’s curriculum for the environmental health class, students not only give a second life to old products but also construct a paper to fully analyze the impact the project can make. “The Second Life Project is my original idea for a class project, and it’s been on the HLTH 362 schedule of course activities for the past five or more years,” Clark said. There are no restrictions for what products the students can use except for the minimal use of brand new products.

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Excerpt from Ashley (Nassau) Walsh, Health Science ’02, Improving Nurse Satisfaction Requires Root Cause Solutions on Health IT Outcomes website.

By Ashley Walsh, MHA, Sr. Financial Analyst and former Perioperative Business Manager, UCHealth

A recent RNnetwork survey found half of the nurses they surveyed (49.8 percent) have contemplated switching professions, with 27 percent citing overwork as the reason. In his analysis of this data (as reported by Kelly Gooch on Becker’s Hospital Review), RNnetwork President Eric Darienzo offered six ways healthcare organizations can create a nurse-friendly culture including improving communications between nurses and administrators, recognizing the hard work of nurses through simple acts like an “employee of the month” award, and doing more to foster a teamwork mentality.

To read more, visit Improving Nurse Satisfaction Requires Root Cause Solutions from Health IT Outcomes

About The Author
Ashley E. Walsh, MHA, is a senior financial analyst and former perioperative business manager at UCHealth Metro Denver campus. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in health science from Truman State University in Kirksville Missouri and her Masters in Health Administration from Maryville State University in St. Louis Missouri. Since February 2009, Ashley has been with UCHealth where her responsibilities include capital and operational budget maintenance, patient billing, utilization reporting, expansion planning and perioperative supply chain management. Ashley is lean trained and participates in regular process improvement initiatives across UCHealth.

After graduating with a B.S. in Health Science in 2015, Linnea Heimsoth started working as a medical scribe through PhysAssist Scribes. She works directly with providers, charting in real time during each physician-patient encounter in the ER. Currently, she is a certified trainer and travels to different locations to help establish new scribe programs in hospitals all over the country. So far she has had the pleasure of traveling to St. Joseph, MO, Leesburg, FL, and Duluth, MN, all expenses paid! This job has allowed her to build connections with many different physicians and physician assistants, while improving her knowledge of medicine tremendously. Linnea found being exposed to many different socioeconomic and geographic locations both eye-opening and enjoyable. Her work as a medical scribe has been an invaluable experience while applying to graduate programs. Linnea believes that Truman’s Health Science program prepared her well for working in the real world, in additional to making her a competitive applicant for graduate school.

Advanced Sport Management class works with Kirksville Parks & Recreation and participates in the Interview Project

Seventeen undergraduate Exercise Science and graduate Leadership program students are enrolled in ES 506 Advanced Sport Management class this semester with Liz Jorn, Instructor in HES.  Students are participating in the interview project where they practice their interview skills with members of the Truman and Kirksville community including Luke Callaghan, Program Coordinator at the YMCA and Sue Limestall, Director of the Student Recreation Center.  Students from the class have also worked with the local group “People for Better Parks” to educate the community about the ½ cent sales tax for parks and recreation.  Upcoming community events include Week of the Young Child, Family Fishing and Kids Track Meet.

New for Spring 2017-Liz Jorn, Instructor in HES and Faculty Athletics Representative and Mike Bazemore, Associate Athletic Director are teaching ES 199 Athletic Leadership.  The focus of the class is to help student athletes with professional development-students have taken the DISC personality inventory with the NCAA, worked on resumes, job shadowing and have even been put through their paces with the US Marine Corps and Captain Vazquez as they worked on leadership development and team building.