Fall 2007 President’s Cabinet Awards recipients honored
By Kristen Hensley
During a reception at Levin Hall, several UTMB faculty, staff members and students received President’s Cabinet Awards to fund programs that will benefit the greater Galveston area.
The UTMB President’s Cabinet is an organization dedicated to helping advance UTMB’s mission. Membership is composed of alumni, faculty, staff, university friends and community and business leaders. Annual contributions from President’s Cabinet members—at least $1,000 for individuals and $5,000 for corporations, foundations and other organizations—fund the award-winning programs.
Since its inception in 1993, the President’s Cabinet has granted more than $3.4 million in awards to a variety of programs that advance and enhance UTMB’s historic mission and enrich the lives in the communities UTMB serves.
For information about the UTMB President’s Cabinet, visit the web site.
2007 President’s Cabinet Awards Recipients
- Carolyn Utsey, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, Janis Matthews, child life specialist, and Dan Marullo, child psychologist, for “Creating Connections with Kids.”
This collaborative project involves health-sciences students, community volunteers and a community-based environment with children who have special needs. As the number of health care students who participate and volunteer as camp counselors for the Rainbow Connection Camp has greatly increased, a need has developed for training modules to help them understand key issues as they care for these special-needs children during the weeklong summer camp. UTMB health care providers who facilitate the Rainbow Connection Camp will travel to Chicago to attend training at the Children’s Oncology Camps Association. From this training, orientation modules pertaining to the emotional, spiritual, medical and physical aspects of campers will be developed. Additionally, this project provides for the implementation of a pre-camp weekend to introduce counselor volunteers to the specialized summer camp environment, which serves children and adolescents who have been treated for cancer and blood disorders at UTMB Children’s Hospital.
- Dr. Judith L. Rowen, associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, and Dr. Hans M. von Marensdorff, medical director in the Department of Internal Medicine, for “Practice of Medicine Year 3 Expanded Pilot Project.”
The Practice of Medicine Year 3 course has been in existence since the 2006-07 academic year. This project supports an expansion of the course and provides third-year medical students with a “safe” place to reflect and grow as professionals. This course is designed to provide a venue for presenting “orphan topics,” such as understanding how patients pay for health care, how a patient’s culture influences medical decision-making and how to address the issues of patient safety. Faculty will be solicited to serve as facilitators/mentors who will assign advanced readings and reflective essays as well as ensure that major topics are covered in each session. The project will include two Austin-based groups and seven Galveston-based groups that will meet monthly in a longitudinal small group format. Classes will be held in the evenings, with dinner, to avoid conflict with daytime clinical activities.
- Jessica Allen and Kyler Elwell, both students in the School of Medicine, for “SCHIP and Children’s Medicaid Enrollment Project.”
With a majority of Galveston’s public school children qualifying for the State Children Health Insurance Program or Children’s Medicaid, there is a substantial demand for children’s health care coverage in our area. However, low enrollment in these programs results from many factors: inaccessible bureaucracies, intricate forms, detailed documentation, extended time lapses between application and enrollment, and rapid expiration of coverage. Recognizing the importance of this growing problem, Allen and Elwell created this project to organize countywide outreach efforts utilizing UTMB students, faculty and staff to work individually with families to help them complete complicated applications and educate them on the enrollment process and policy maintenance. This two-year project will coordinate three countywide outreach visits per year, develop a working-relationship with the Galveston Independent School District to train district employees and disseminate information to families, and establish a Web site to facilitate access to information on state and federal health insurance and related resources.
- John F. (Fred) Thomas, program director and analyst/consultant in Community Health Services, for “School-based Depression Education, Screening and Treatment Program.”
The overlying goal of this project is to improve adolescent mental health in the Galveston community through psycho-education, screening and provision of culturally sensitive, evidence-based services. Three prevention strategies will be incorporated into a single program and will be implemented on a racially mixed and economically diverse sample of Ball High School students. Students will learn how to recognize signs of depression in themselves and others and be taught the impact of not having it treated. Additionally, students will be screened to assess depressive symptoms; those with clinically significant scores will be encouraged to utilize the services available through the Teen Health Centers located at Ball High School and Central Middle School. Participants will also be directed to a project-based Web site that will be monitored by an experienced clinician who will review all responses made on a brief questionnaire and write a detailed, personalized assessment. This assessment will be e-mailed to the student and will offer him or her the option of talking anonymously with a licensed clinician regarding “feelings-related” issues. Questionnaire responses that suggest significant problems will be addressed by urging students to seek immediate assistance at one of the two Teen Health Centers.
- Dr. Gayle Olson-Koutrouvelis, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Mary Claire Haver, assistant professor, Barbara Ferrell and Patricia Morgan, for “Improving Patient Outcomes in Obstetric Emergencies Utilizing Frequent Unannounced Simulation Drills Supplemented with Interactive Web-based Education.”
This year’s President’s Cabinet funds will assist in the creation of a unique simulation suite, which will allow hands-on training and provide simulation scenarios for difficult obstetric emergencies — without risk to patients — for all medical students, residents and nurses in obstetrics and gynecology. This suite, which will be located next to the labor and delivery unit, will be equipped with high-fidelity simulation mannequins and complemented by an interactive Web-based program called “Design A Case.” This program is a unique series of interactive study cases that will be linked to each simulation emergency. Periodic, unplanned obstetric drills will focus on the following areas: maneuvers for vaginal breech delivery, managing and controlling postpartum hemorrhaging, eclamptic seizures, shoulder dystocia and CPR during pregnancy. Each resident will have an opportunity to participate in these drills approximately six times per year.
- Mary Wainwright, deputy director for the East Texas Area Health Education Center and Leslie Hargrove, for “AHEC Community Health Worker Training Program.”
The Area Health Education Center headquartered at UTMB will train community members to educate and support people in their own neighborhoods about healthier lifestyles in a culturally and linguistically competent manner. This cadre of community health workers can help clients throughout Galveston County navigate the health care system. President’s Cabinet funds will support the training component, as well as the purchase of outreach kits to community-based interventions and education programs. Kits will contain of a stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, glucose monitor, general supplies and educational aids. It is anticipated that having a well-trained CHW workforce to call upon will greatly assist organizations in Galveston County that seek to improve access to care for the underserved and that partnerships between CHWs and case managers will expand the region’s capacity to deliver care and follow-up with patients. Neighbors will be able to help neighbors, thereby creating a caring and healing environment in their own homes and neighborhoods.
- David Wise, associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, students Eric Gully, Ryan Collins and James Chaney, and Carolyn Utsey, assistant professor, for “A Heart for Service.”
This project will help address the health needs of a significant population of people who do not have access to medical services by establishing free physical therapy services through the volunteer efforts of UTMB students and clinicians. President’s Cabinet funds will allow for the establishment of a student-run physical therapy program under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist at the St. Vincent’s clinic. Free, competent physical therapy services will be provided to the underserved population of Galveston while also providing students the ability to gain hands-on experience with diagnoses, equipment and treatment techniques. Funds will be used to purchase physical therapy equipment that will be used exclusively for this project.
- Cheryl L. Kaplan, director of Theater Outreach and Education, and Marie Schwartz, Galveston Resource and Crisis Center, for “Breaking the Silence.”
In an attempt to give domestic violence a voice, Kaplan created “Breaking the Silence,” a traveling production that brings together art, music, theater and intellectual discussion to engage audiences in the truth and consequences of domestic violence. A total of 10, 90-minute performances will be held throughout Galveston County to dispel myths, provide information and empower people to learn how to get out of a dangerous situation. The traveling production will strive to reduce the incidence of domestic violence at the local level by educating audience members about free resources as well as providing information on the legal and social necessities to return to an independent life. The production will culminate with the donation of a “comment wall” to the Galveston Resource and Crisis Center for educational use and to perpetuate the important messages shared by audience members during these 10 productions.