an e-newsletter for alumni and friends SPRING 2008

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NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Distinguished Alumna is also a Hall of Famer
On March 12, Sandra Jacobson Lerner, OT ’68, was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Lerner is founder, president and CEO of Comprehensive Therapeutics, a rehabilitation management, consultation and staffing company. She began the company as a home-based business in 1975 and now serves Illinois with more than 300 employees.

Despite the challenges of her active business, Lerner finds time to serve on the boards of two Chicago-area nonprofit organizations: Special Gifts Theater, a program where children with disabilities enjoy creative theater experiences, and Gilda’s Club Chicago, supporting people with cancer and their loved ones. She also served as president of the College of Applied Health Sciences Alumni Board for three years.

Lerner has been selected as the college’s 2008 Distinguished Alumnus. “Her commitment and passion know no boundaries,” says Dean Toby Tate, “and she energizes anyone lucky enough to be in her presence.”

The Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame was established at UIC in 1985 to honor the entrepreneurial spirit by recognizing leaders who have founded and/or grown Chicago-area businesses and who serve as role models for UIC students. Lerner joins the likes of Robert Abt of Abt Electronics; Robert Galvin of Motorola; Gordon Segal of Crate & Barrel; and Charlie Trotter of Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant.

Study by OT and PT faculty predicts shortages of professionals in both fields
Gail Fisher and Mary Keehn, clinical associate professors in occupational therapy and physical therapy, respectively, have concluded an important research study examining recent employment trends and the future job outlook for occupational and physical therapists. Their critical finding is that increased demand and a reduced number of new graduates in the fields have resulted in shortages in all geographic regions and practice settings. They also found that future opportunities for OTs and PTs will be focused on older adults, children/youth, and prevention and wellness.

American Occupational Therapy Association lobbyists cited the study extensively in recent testimony to Congress on future healthcare workforce needs.

“We are looking everywhere for new practitioners to help us keep up with demand,” says Penny Moyers Cleveland, president of the AOTA.

With this study as an informative first step, Fisher notes, “More research is needed to learn about how the shortage affects patient/client outcomes, why some job areas are growing and others are shrinking, and how to expand the number of qualified practitioners.”

Fisher and Keehn designed and implemented the study as faculty in the Midwest Center for Health Workforce Studies, a grant-funded center (with additional funding from Dean Toby Tate) aiming to improve health workforce policy and planning in the region.

The study was highlighted in a news story distributed by PR Newswire and run by Reuters, Yahoo! News and Forbes.com, among other outlets.

DHD professor aids Mexican town in transforming itself
In March, Fabricio Balcazar, researcher and professor of disability and human development, spent four days in the community of Juanacatlan in Jalisco, Mexico, to begin a process that will help local leaders promote social and economic development, with a larger goal of making emigration a personal choice, rather than a necessity, for residents.

During his visit, Balcazar and local collaborators—including government representatives, businessespeople, youth, seniors, women, clergy and farmers—began to assemble a survey that will gauge the community’s needs and expectations for economic and social improvement. Now nearly finalized, the survey will be distributed in mid-May.

Once data are collected, Balcazar will train community leaders to host town hall meetings, where residents will be invited to join action groups addressing identified needs. The process is transformative for this community because, for the first time, residents will tell the government, not vice versa, what type and amount of help they require to address their own identified needs. The Jalisco government has pledged to provide resources and technical assistance as needed.

AHS’ involvement in the project stems from Balcazar’s professional association with a Chicago-based club of emigrants from Juanacatlan. The club organized in order to ensure they can support their hometown, where they already fund a church, a care facility for seniors and people with disabilities, and an institution for delinquent or adjudicated youth.

A dinner/dance fundraiser for the Club Pro-Obras Juanacatlan will be held May 17 at Melrose Park (IL) Sports & Fitness Club, 1000 N. 25th Ave. Tickets are $45 at the door, and include open bar and a live Mexican band. To learn more, contact Sergio Suarez at (708) 681-1222.

OT professor wins huge grant for mentorship program
Marcia Finlayson, associate professor of occupational therapy, has been awarded a $416,000 grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to mentor MS rehabilitation researchers, showing them how to develop, implement and evaluate self-management programs that enhance the ability of people living with MS to participate fully in everyday life.