Abilities United Betty Wright Swim Center’s Managing
Director, Rho Henry Olaisen, will share the findings and lessons learned from a
2012 post-stroke training course held at the Betty Wright Swim Center, at the Society of Public Health Education’s 64th annual
meeting “The Magic of Health Education: Vision, Imagination &
Transformation”. Held in Orlando, Florida, the conference caters to more
than 400 of the nation’s leading community health leaders from business,
industry, and academia.
Rho
Henry Olaisen, M.P., who also teaches Healthcare Organization and
Administration, and Health Promotion, Planning and Evaluation at San Jose State
University’s Department of Health Sciences, will present “Transforming and
Strengthening Health Promotion via Interdisciplinary Educational Collaborative:
Lessons Learned from a Pilot Program.” The Pilot Program intervention,
sponsored by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, recruited 20 aquatic
practitioners, most of them employees of Abilities United, and trained them in core
principles of stroke health promotion guidelines and techniques during a
four-day course. Focus of the program was to expand knowledge and understanding
of the underlying condition, refine skills for communicating with post-stroke
patients, address safety concerns, learn precautionary protocols for working
with post-stroke survivors and gain awareness of environmental factors – such
as healthcare costs, transportation, caregiver support– affecting clinical
outcomes and progress. The course was led by an interprofessional faculty with
backgrounds in nursing as well as physical, occupational, speech and
recreational therapy. This group of experts delivered education in both
traditional and non-traditional formats, including lectures, problem-based
learning, integrated reflection, and teamwork.
Contributing
to the success of the program were community collaborators-- Pacific Stroke Association,
El Camino Hospital, Hydro Institute, and REACH Fitnee—and patients and their
caregivers, who actively participated in every in-water session.
“The level
of community-based collaboration, from its infancy through successful
completion, that this project embraced illustrates the vast potential of this
approach with regard to a new model of delivery of care to those recovering
from stroke," commented Alissa Shaw, project collaborator with the Peninsula
Stroke Association.
Patient
volunteers were instrumental in conveying to the
student practitioners their needs and desired outcomes for an interactive and
dynamic aquatic program. They helped enlighten students on the value and
importance of working collaboratively with patients and participants for the
most holistic long-term health outcomes.
According
to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke[1] in the United States more than 700,000 people have a stroke each year, and approximately two-thirds of these
individuals survive and require rehabilitation. Typical rehabilitation goals
include regaining independence and achieving long-term quality of life. These
goals can be attained by relearning skills such as leg movement, coordination,
and ability to complete complex tasks. Practicing skills repetition in a
comfortable environment such as warm water, with the guidance of trained
therapists, is a critical step on the path to recovering function and
independence.
To
reach the goal of being a “National Health & Wellness Aquatic Therapy
Leader by 2014”, the Betty Wright Swim Center at Abilities United delivers an
ongoing program of evidence-based aquatic therapy trainings for health and
fitness professionals.
In
January 2013 the Betty Wright Swim Center delivered a second intervention,
building upon lessons learned in the 2012 course, during a week-long training
program in Adapted Aquatics for children with disabilities. In August 2013, the
center–again in collaboration with
community alliances and partners–will offer a four-day interprofessional
workshop about advancing competency in working effectively with patients who
have Parkinson’s disease.
