WVU Health Professions provides assistive technology evaluations and recommendations to West Virginia families
The West Virginia University School of Medicine hosted an event to offer free pediatric evaluations by faculty members in physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology for West Virginia families.
WVU Health Professions partnered with Wheeling University and local assistive technology professionals to host RISE, or Rehabilitation and Integrative Services for Enablement.
During the pilot event, WVU students and faculty were able to evaluate and aid four families, working to provide children with independence in movement and speech through assistive technology equipment such as toys with adapted switches, gait trainers, augmentative communication devices, standing frames with activity tables, powered wheelchairs, and specialized seating and positioning devices.
“This is an excellent opportunity for the parents to overcome logistical barriers and for children to receive all of these specialized services in one place at the same time. Families can learn about what supports are out there and are available through WVU and the WVU networks that can help them meet individual needs on a case-by-case basis,” said Breanna Adkins, EdD, OTR/L, an assistant professor in the Division of Occupational Therapy.
The goal of the event was twofold. First, to provide assistive technologies to children with multiple disabilities who would benefit from such technology to move, learn and communicate. Second, to provide an interprofessional learning experience for physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology students to see all the different areas of assessment for the children.
“Our students were able to see the complexity of real-life cases we can only talk about in class,” said Mary Beth Mandich, Ph.D., PT, vice dean of Health Professions. “Immersive, hands-on experiences like this are essential to our students, helping them to become well-rounded professionals and providers who can work across interdisciplinary teams to get results for patients.”
In addition to gaining experience seeing an interprofessional team working together to provide the best patient care, students from WVU and Wheeling University were also able to interact with local assistive technology vendors to learn the realities of the funding mechanisms for equipment.
The Health Professions team also worked closely with the Center for Excellence in Disabilities at WVU to help families access the recommended equipment after the evaluations.
Doctor of Physical Therapy student Autumn Pennington was grateful to have this learning opportunity since her goal is to find a career in pediatric physical therapy.
“WVU provides several great opportunities for students to get practical experience within the community,” said Pennington. “Participating in RISE allowed me to not only work with students in other health care programs and observe experienced professionals interact with one another, but I was also able to be involved in patient care. During the event, I saw a young patient fitted for a walking frame, which allowed her to walk with the potential to eventually use the frame on her own. I also observed another patient move for the first time on her own in a power wheelchair. It was an amazing experience.”
To learn more about the Health Professions programs at WVU, visit medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/students/professional-and-undergraduate-programs/.