Danny Pettry's Book Project

I recently heard from an IU alum (M.S. in TR) , Danny Pettry. Danny works as a rec therapist in a children's psych hospital in West Virginia. He is attempting to do a book for children that promotes character.

He sent me this message (below) that contains a link to see a video that describes the book and requests a donation that will go toward publishing the book.

I took a look at the video and was impressed. Hope you'll take a look as well. Here is Danny's message:

I’m working on a picture book for children. It promotes character education.

Teaching social skills and empathy awareness are two of my responsibilities as a recreational therapist for children at a psych hospital. I use a lot of teambuilding activities opposed to competitive games, too, because these children are verbally and physically aggressive.

There is a video link for my upcoming picture book. You can share this link with people on your blog or other places.

Here is the link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/DannyPettry/announcing-an-amazing-picture-book-that-teaches-ch

Yours truly,

Danny

Allied Health Education Summit in Chicago

I just saw another announcement that on September 22 and 23, 2010, that the conference titled "Educating the Allied Health Workforce of the 21st Century" will be held in Chicago. The conference is sponsored by the Health Professions Network (HPN).

I've sent ATRA leaders several "heads up" messages regarding this conference -- but I'm not sure that ATRA or our profession will be represented. It seems to me that it will be a shame if RT does not participate in the conference.

Over 1,100 Posts on the RT Blog

There have been more than 1,100 posts made on the RT Blog -- and they are all archived so all posts are available to readers.

New Book Now Available

I was really pleased to see that one of my former students, Professor Robin Kunstler of Lehman College in New York, has co-authored a new textbook titled Therapeutic Recreation Leadership and Programming. The book is published by Human Kinetics and is co-authored by Professor Frances Daly of Kean University.

Happy 20th Birthday to the ADA!

ADA's 20th Anniversary is Monday

The 20th anniversary of ADA will be Monday, July 26th.

Disabiity.gov published the words of Guest Blogger Dick Thornburgh, Attorney General for President George H.W Bush. Here is part of Thornburgh's message:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) afforded me a unique opportunity to merge my personal and official agendas. As the proud parent of my son, Peter, who has both intellectual and physical disabilities, I had a personal interest in seeing this important advance in disability rights enacted into law. As Attorney General of the United States, I had also been assigned by President George H. W. Bush to be the point person for the administration’s efforts to secure passage of this groundbreaking law.

None of us who were present for the signing of the ADA on July 26, 1990, will ever forget that day. Under a blazing summer sun, some 3,000 persons, with and without disabilities, gathered on the South Lawn of the White House and cheered and cheered as President Bush issued his stirring challenge “to let the shameful walls of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”

Happy 20th Birthday to the Americans with Disabilities Act!

People Who Spend Leisure Sitting Die Soonest

A friend sent me an article from WebMD. The title of the article was : "Study: People Who Spend Most Leisure Time Sitting Die Soonest." I thought I'd share it on the RT Blog.

It seems that people who spend at least 6 hours of their daily leisure time sitting died sooner than people who sat less than 3 hours.

And those who both sit a great deal and don't exercise much ran even higher risks of death.

RTs might want to share this information with clients who may need to be motivated to get up and to exercise.

The study, by A.V. Patel, appeared in the July early online edition of the American Journal of Epiemiology.

Salaries of CTRSs, MTs, OTs

The July 2010 issue of Health-Care Careers e-Letter provides an extensive listing of salaries of health-care professionals.

The average salary for CTRSs was listed at $46,500. For music therapists the average was almost the same, at $46,417. It was the occupational therapists who made the highest salaries. The average salary of an OT was $66,400.

And we wonder why students leave our profession to go into OT? The reason seems clear to me!

Reminder of Glossary Available at No Cost

In a recent post, I provided a reminder on how to access the RTV videos. I thought I'd also send this reminder about gaining access to a glossary made available by the Indiana University Library.

The Glossary of Recreation Therapy and Occupational Therapy, authored by David Austin, has been made available from the Indiana University Library.

For no cost access to the Glossary go to: http://hdl.handle.net/2022/6474

A number of universities have students use the Glossary throughout their academic careers to look up words that are new to them. Several universities also use the Glossary in helping students prep for the NCTRC exam.

Of course, the Glossary may be useful to practitioners every day in the field.

And it is free!

How to Stream RTV Videos

With some faculty beginning to organize for fall classes, I thought I should repeat the procedures followed in order to view an RTV video.

So below I've provided the easy steps in order to view a video:

1. Go to the website address: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/3378
2. Up will come a page from the IU Scholar Works that reads Recreation Therapy Videos
3. Below Recreation Therapy Videos is a list of the 23 RTV videos
4. To view one of the videos, just click on the title and information on the video will appear
5. Simply click on the address (that appears following the word Location) and the video will come up
6. Just click on the arrow in the center of the black screen to start the video.

It is so simple that even I can do it! ;-) So try a few of the RTV videos yourself if you haven't done so. I think you'll like them.

Top Hospitals with RT

I recently posted that the US News announced its ranking of the top hospitals in the United States -- but I wasn’t aware of which hospital offered recreational therapy services.

An internet search revealed the following (in bold print) had RT:

1 Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore (has RT)
2 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. (has RT)
3 Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
4 Cleveland Clinic (has RT)
5 Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
6 New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
7 University of California, San Francisco Medical Center
8 Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis (has RT)
9 Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
10 Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. (has RT)
11 Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
12 University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle
13 UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
14 University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, Ann Arbor

It was interesting to note that three of the top four hospitals had RT. It was also of interest that the NIH and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center recreation therapy departments often came up on the searches, eventhough their hsopitals didn't appear on the US News list.

Of course, my search may have missed a hospital with RT. If you know of any that I may have missed, please comment.

Physical Activity, Mental Health, & RT

A couple of days ago, I had a post on physical activity and obesity. Today’s post is on physical activity and mental health.

In the June 2010 issue of the Monitor on Psychology there is an article titled, “Another Reason to Break a Sweat.” The subtitle reads: “In addition to boosting your brain power, exercise may fend off and even alleviate cognitive ills, including Alzheimer’s disease, research suggests.”

As have other research reviews, this article suggests that inactivity may lead to mental illnesses, such as depression, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, an unhealthy body leads to an unhealthy mind.

I have had several posts on the RT Blog on the importance of RTs providing physical activities for clients. The research cited in the Monitor article once again points to the need for RTs to provide physical activities as interventions for clients.

For a more detailed literature review on physical activity and health, see Austin’s (2009) book Therapeutic Recreation Processes and Techniques.

Rankings of Top Hospitals...Which have RT?

US News just announced its ranking of the top hospitals in the United States. Here is their ranking:

1 Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
2 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
3 Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
4 Cleveland Clinic
5 Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
6 New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
7 University of California, San Francisco Medical Center
8 Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis
9 Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
10 Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
11 Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
12 University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle
13 UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
14 University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, Ann Arbor

I wonder how many of these top hospitals have recreational therapy? I know that the Mayo Clinic and Duke University Medical Center have RTs but I'm not sure beyond those. Do you know?

It might be worth checking out which of these hospitals have RT and who the RTs are at these top hospitals.

RTs and a Fat America

Did you see,in this morning's news,the results of a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health? The report revealed that two-thirds of Americans are either overwight or obese.

Reading this report made me wonder just how involved recreational therapists are in helping clients to become more fit and less fat. I've seen little to indicate RTs are really concerned about thier clients weight and fitness.

Shouldn't more attention be drawn to this area by RTs? Shouldn't RTs be discussing what they can do to stem this obesity epidemic?

Reminder Regarding TRJ

From Terry Long of Northwest Missouri State University came the following announcement via the ATRAnet Listserv:

Hi folks,

I would like to remind all of you that the Therapeutic Recreation
Journal accepts manuscript submissions year round and publishes on a quarterly basis. If you have ideas or questions about how to submit, please let me know.

I'd also like to let you all know that the restructuring of NRPA will have NO effect on the TRJ, we'll still continue to publish as always. As long as I am Co-Editor,I will promote an openness to a diverse set of topics across various settings. So, if you think we aren't interested in your topic,think again :).

______________________________________

I hope this announcement makes you happy. I was very pleased to be reassured that TRJ will be continuing. TRJ is our longest running scholarly journal and continues to provide the profession with an outstanding outlet for scholarly publications.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the Americans with Disabilities Act turns 20 years old on July 26th? It hardly seems possible that 20 years have past since (the first) President Bush signed the ADA legislation in rhe Rose Garden of the White House. I think all would agree that the ADA has had a significant impact.

AJRT Issues Call for Papers

Call for Papers issued by AJRT:

American Journal of Recreation Therapy , an independent double-blind peer-reviewed print and online journal, welcomes original research manuscripts that contribute to the field of therapeutic and recreational therapies in the management of rehabilitation and quality of life for disabled persons of all ages. The journal also receives and publishes original papers regarding all uses of recreation therapy, as well as articles on the legal and regulatory issues surrounding this important field.

Manuscripts are accepted for review as original clinical or basic science research, case reports, clinical reviews, literature reviews, practical application, inservice updates and letters to the editor. Manuscript submission is handled electronically. To submit a manuscript, please follow this link to http://ajrt.allentrack2.net . For additional author guidelines and instructions please visit the journal's webpage , www.recreationtherapy.org

American Journal of Recreation Therapy is the journal of record in the field and features a distinguished Editorial Review Board led by Editor-In-Chief, Professor Linda Buettner, PhD, LRT, CTRS. Dr. Buettner has a long standing reputation as one of the country's most respected leaders in the challenging field of recreation therapy.

As Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Buettner guides the journal's leadership role at a time when the spotlight has been switched on to the rising problem of abuse and poor quality of care for the disabled and long term care patients. We are actively seeking papers dealing with all aspects of recreation therapy.

Educators & Practitioners Note: Glossary Available at No Cost

The Glossary of Recreation Therapy and Occupational Therapy, authored by David Austin, has been made available from the Indiana University Library.

For no cost access to the Glossary go to: http://hdl.handle.net/2022/6474

A number of universities have students use the Glossary throughout their academic careers to look up words that are new to them. Several universities also use the Glossary in helping students prep for the NCTRC exam.

Of course, the Glossary may be useful to practitioners every day in the field.

And it is free!

The Thought for the Day

The thought of the day, passed along to me by a friend:

"Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does."

Indenpendence Day

From the RT Blog, a happy and safe Independence Day to all RTs everywhere!

Streaming the RTV Videos

The RT Blog received a comment as to exactly what procedures are followed in order to view an RTV video.

So below I've provided the easy steps in order to view a video:

1. Go to the website address: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/3378
2. Up will come a page from the IU Scholar Works that reads Recreation Therapy Videos
3. Below Recreation Therapy Videos is a list of the 23 RTV videos
4. To view one of the videos, just click on the title and information on the video will appear
5. Simply click on the address (that appears following the word Location) and the video will come up
6. Just click on the arrow in the center of the black screen to start the video.

It is so simple that even I can easily do it! Ha. So try a few of the RTV videos yourself if you haven't done so. I think you'll like them.