Skip to main content

Upstate AHEC to Offer “If You Can’t Breathe, You Can’t Function”

Upstate AHEC will sponsor "If You Can’t Breathe, You Can’t Function: Integrating Cardiopulmonary and Postural Control Strategies in the Pediatric and Adult Populations” on March 3-5, 2016 in Greenville. Mary Massery, PT, DPT, DSc, will provide instruction for the three-day course, which will challenge practitioners to make a paradigm shift: acknowledging the importance of the cardiopulmonary system as an integral component of postural control. The emphasis of the presentation will be on developing and applying practical quick clinical solutions that are applicable for both pediatric and adult patients in all practice settings.

The course will present a model of postural control (Soda Pop Can Model) that demonstrates how breathing mechanics are linked to motor and physiologic behaviors.  This is the cornerstone for the Dr. Massery’s multi-system clinical approach to the evaluation and treatment of trunk and/or respiratory impairments.  She will demonstrate how to integrate the cardiovascular, pulmonary, musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, integumentary and internal organ systems into every evaluation and intervention, as well as how to recognize physiologic causes or consequences that may accompany these motor dysfunctions.  Participants will learn how to effectively pair ventilatory strategies with specific movements in order to establish the pulmonary system as an asset rather than a liability.  Neuromotor breathing retraining techniques and manual assistive cough techniques will be highlighted in labs as well as other manual interventions.

Mary Massery, PT, DPT, DSc, received her Bachelor of Science in physical therapy from Northwestern University in 1977, her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of the Pacific in 2004 and her doctorate in science from Rocky Mountain University in 2011. Her publications and interests focus on linking motor behaviors to breathing and/or postural mechanics in both pediatric and adult patient populations.  Dr. Massery has been invited to give over 800 professional presentations in 49 US states, nine Canadian provinces and 15 countries worldwide.  Mary has delivered addresses on topics such as cystic fibrosis and posture, neuropulmonary deficits, pectus excavatum (chest deformities), and connections between posture & breathing for the Royal Society of Medicine in London; the Australian & New Zealand Spinal Cord Injury Conference in Australia; the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists Meeting in Galway; the International Seating Symposium in Vancouver; and the Conference on Posture and Mobility in England; as well as more than 100 presentations at the American Physical Therapy Association’s (APTA) conferences across the U.S.  She continues to maintain a private practice in Chicago, specializing in ventilation and postural dysfunction.

Physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, speech language pathologists, and respiratory therapists and others are invited to attend. For more information, please visit the Upstate AHEC Website www.upstateahec.org or call Bennie Pettit at 864-349-1162.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lowcountry AHEC Helps School Nurse Orientation Pivot Online during Pandemic

For many years, orientation for school nurses in South Carolina has been an in-person event; however, due to COVID-19, this orientation, like so many other in-person events, was cancelled this past year. Yet the need to orient South Carolina's school nurses remains critical. Recognizing this need, a team consisting of Lowcountry AHEC staff, South Carolina Association of School Nurse President Dawn MacAdams and South Carolina Department of Education State School Nurse Consultant Vicky Ladd developed a plan to deliver the orientation as an online, self-paced course. The instructors supported the format change, working to convert their in-person sessions to online content, and Lowcountry AHEC will provide nursing credit for the series over the next two years. The orientation went live in the fall of 2020 and is available at no cost to South Carolina school nurses on the new and improved South Carolina AHEC Learning Portal. To find out more and register, visit the Foundations of School

SC AHEC Excellence Awards: Gateway Award

The South Carolina AHEC Gateway Award recognizes individuals who are committed to furthering the development of future health professionals and are distinguished in their service to students in the health careers pipeline. This year’s Gateway Award recipient is Angelica Ellman Christie, Ed.D.  Dr. Christie is currently the vice president of academic affairs at Denmark Technical College. Previously, she served in the South Carolina AHEC system for numerous years: She started her career in 1998 as the Health Careers Program (HCP) coordinator for Greenville AHEC and advanced as the HCP director in the South Carolina AHEC program office in 2000. In the fall of 2018, Dr. Christie left South Carolina AHEC for her position at Denmark Tech. Throughout her career, Dr. Christie exhibited her passionate dedication to advancing the mission of South Carolina AHEC. She enthusiastically went above and beyond to research, develop, and successfully undertake new projects and programming to streng

Lowcountry AHEC’s Strong Partnerships Serve School Nurses Statewide

For over three decades, Lowcountry AHEC has been proud to support school nurses across South Carolina in their professional development through statewide conferences and meetings. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and in-person events came to a halt, Lowcountry AHEC along with their partners, were able to pivot to alternate methods to continue providing training opportunities for school nurses. One such way Lowcountry AHEC was able to adapt was implementing online modules so that school nurses could continue to receive the same professional development and learning opportunities in a virtual setting. The first course, Foundations of School Nursing , included nine modules and was uploaded to the South Carolina AHEC Learning Portal (ALP) by August 2020 . With over 1,600 registrations to this day, Foundations of School Nursing is the most popular course currently on ALP. “We began to do some work with them on online modules,” said Lowcountry AHEC Center Director Diane Mathews. “All new schoo