E12 - Research Opportunities: Inside the Nebraska Foundation for Physical Therapy

The Nebraska Foundation for Physical Therapy promotes research and advancement of the physical therapy profession throughout the state through strategic funding and support programs. Rashelle Hoffman, Foundation President and Creighton University assistant professor, explains how the Foundation's mission directly impacts Nebraska's PT community.

• Foundation structured around four committees: fundraising, finance, awards, and research
• Scientific Dissemination Award provides $1,500 for presenting research at conferences (rolling applications)
• George Blanton Research Grant offers up to $10,000 for two-year research projects (deadline: October 1st)
• Current Blanton grant project explores implementing lifestyle medicine assessments in outpatient PT
• PT students Tanner Ruda and Janae Pope share their experiences presenting research at CSM with Foundation support
• Fundraising initiatives include an auction at April 10-11 state meeting at UNMC's Truhlson Events Center
• Wayne Purdue Fellowship recognizes cumulative donations starting at $500 level
• New research funding opportunities being developed for the coming year

Visit the APTA Nebraska website for application materials and contact information. The Foundation welcomes new fundraising ideas and encourages applications for the October 1st Blanton Grant deadline.

Episode Links:

• https://aptanebraska.org/NE_Foundation_For_PT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the APTA Nebraska podcast, where we dive
into the stories, challenges andinnovations shaping physical
therapy in our state.
We're here to advance, promoteand protect the practice of
physical therapy, optimizing thehealth and quality of life for
all Nebraskans.
Join us as we connect withexperts, share insights and

(00:22):
build communities throughout ourprofession.
Connect with experts, shareinsights and build communities
throughout our profession.
Welcome back to the APTANebraska podcast.
I'm Brad Dexter and today we'regoing to be talking about the
Nebraska Foundation for PhysicalTherapy, so my guest is
Rochelle Hoffman.
Rochelle, how are you?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Doing well.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Good.
Rochelle, you're becoming afrequent flyer on the podcast
now.
This is take number two for you, but you're wearing a different
hat today and in a differentrole as the president for the
Nebraska Foundation for PhysicalTherapy.
So for our listeners, can youshare a little bit about
yourself and, beyond what you dowith the NFPT, maybe what else

(01:04):
you do?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Sure, so I'm an assistant professor at Creighton
University in the Department ofPhysical Therapy and I am
faculty within our geriatricresidency program as well as I
teach neuroscience within ourentry-level doctorate program.
But really a bulk of my time isspent doing research and that
really relates to my role as thepresident of the foundation.

(01:28):
So I do a lot of research inthe area of geriatrics, kind of
on a spectrum of doing a lot ofhigh-intensity interval training
how can we maximize mobilitywith older adults, and then also
have research in the space ofmore lower-level activity.
How do we get people startedthat are not being active at all
?
And a lot of that research ismore so rooted in behavior

(01:49):
change techniques and how do wejust move the needle a little
bit, and most of that is focusedon walking programs that can be
done in the community.
So get to spend a lot of timewith students that are involved
with that, as that kind ofrelates to the other podcast we
did with a student that had aaward, but then also relates to

(02:09):
the foundation, as we try tosupport students too with their
dissemination of research.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
I love it.
So you basically just likeshoved a lot of things that you
do in like a minute and a halfelevator speech, right.
So there, you have a lot goingon.
You're doing some really greatwork.
I'm wondering now can you tellus a little bit about what the
Nebraska Foundation for PhysicalTherapy is, maybe who's

(02:40):
involved, how it functions?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
and I'll ask you a few more questions as we go
along who's involved, how itfunctions, and I'll ask you a
few more questions as we goalong.
Yeah, so the foundation, themission of it, is to really
foster and promote theadvancement of the physical
therapy profession, and thetitle of it is Nebraska, so
we're very locally focused inNebraska.
How can we make an impact here?
And so our focus is onpromoting research to enhance

(03:06):
both physical therapists butalso physical therapy assistants
, who deliver services spanningprevention, diagnosis, as well
as treatment of movementdysfunction and what our group
involves.
So we have a board, and we havea board of eight members, and
we have folks that are more onthe academic side, like myself,
but then also clinicians thatare, you know, full-time

(03:27):
practicing in the clinic everyday, and so we usually meet at
least a couple times a year.
As, of late, we've had a lot ofgreat ideas.
We've been meeting quite a bitmore often than that Kind of, I
would say, collaborating andcoming up with new ideas that
I'm excited to share with youtoday, as we are starting some
fun stuff.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I love it.
So I heard in the missionstatement there that a part of
what the foundation is trying todo is advancing PT practice
within our state, promotingresearch.
Can you talk about then howthat actually happens, like what
are kind of the arms of thefoundation to make those things

(04:12):
go?

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, the foundation is made up of four subcommittees
, and so we have fundraising.
We can't really do anything orsupport anyone if we don't have
funds coming in, so fundraisingis a huge part of the foundation
and how we can support ourphysical therapists or physical
therapy assistants that areapplying for funds.
We have our finance committeethat is in charge of all the

(04:38):
dollars, making sure that wehave everything in order.
Our awards committee.
This is focused onacknowledging our donors that
are donating funds to us.
And then, lastly, our researchsubcommittee, and these are the
folks that are then reviewingapplications for our various
research awards and determiningwhich ones to award those funds

(05:02):
to.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Excellent, so let's maybe go through each one of
those areas.
Then Rochelle so maybe let'stalk about the research aspect
first here.
This is in your wheelhouse, sothe intent is to be able to give
awards to people, and researchcommittee is reviewing some of

(05:26):
the applications that come in.
What, what are the potentialawards that could go out that
you would be reviewing thoseapplications for?

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, I would say our most popular one is the
scientific dissemination award.
This is an award that often isawarded to a student that may be
presenting some research thatthey have done either with a
faculty member or maybe with aclinician out in the community.
It's not exclusive to juststudents, though.

(05:55):
Faculty or clinicians that arepresenting their findings at a
conference can also apply forthose awards, can also apply for
those awards, but this is a$1,500 award that can help
support, you know, going to CSMor some other conference that
may be.
you know right up your alleywith your specialty area.
Excellent, and do you want meto keep going with some of the

(06:16):
other ones.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, keep going.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
So that's the most popular one.
The Scientific DisseminationAward.
Some of our other award optionsthat we have are going to be
our George Blanton ResearchGrant, and I really want to
spend some time talking aboutthis one, because we do have
applications due October 1st,and maybe before I do that, I'll
clarify for the ScientificDissemination Award, that's on a

(06:38):
rolling basis, so there's nodeadline associated with that
one, you know on an annual basis, just apply, as you are going
to be going to conferences andwe'll review your application.
But going back to the GeorgeBlanton Research Grant, this is
a grant that you can apply forone time during the year, so
deadline is October 1st.
You can be awarded up to$10,000 for a project that can

(07:03):
span up to two years, and reallyit's just a project, then, that
is focused on advancing thephysical therapy profession.
That goes along with themission statement of the
foundation and with this awardtoo, there's the expectation
that you'll hopefully presentthe findings at the Nebraska
State meeting, and I'll go intothe.

(07:24):
I actually have one of thesecurrently, so I could give you
an idea of what a project couldlook like for the Blanton, and
I'm hopeful that we'll bepresenting this either at this
state meeting in April or thefollowing.
But we're looking at a lifestylemedicine battery of tests in
outpatient physical therapy andcan we expand some of our

(07:47):
practices in outpatient physicaltherapy.
Physical therapists have a lotof the skills to be able to
assess some of these lifestylemedicine pillars and we're
seeing if this short batterythat takes less than 10 minutes
when a patient is originallycoming in for their eval is that
something that's achievable?
And then, where we have outcomesrelated to what do patients

(08:07):
think about being askedquestions, you know, about their
sleep health, their nutrition,their stress, substance use,
social support and physicalactivity, and if they think that
that makes sense to be askedthat in an outpatient PT setting
.
And then we have other outcomeswith the project that are more
on the physical therapist side,where we ask did you feel

(08:29):
prepared to take thisinformation and implement it in
your plan of care?
Maybe some therapists feel moreprepared than others to answer
questions about sleep health,for example, versus nutrition,
and how can we really get theconversation started?
Because there are ways thateither we can make an impact in
our plan of care or, whenappropriate, have a referral out

(08:49):
to providers that have more ofa specialization in those areas.
So we're still analyzing thedata.
No results to share yet today,but excited to share some of
those in the near future.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
I love that.
That's a really great exampleof how the Blanton grant is
being used currently.
I do want to take a momentbecause we have a couple guests
with us student guests who havehad, or who have received the
Scientific Dissemination Awardhere in the past year, and so I
want to just introduce theaudience to Tanner Arruda and

(09:24):
Janae Pope.
Guys, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
Thank you, thanks for having us on.
Yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
So again.
Tanner Arruda, Janae Pope, youguys are each well, you're PT3
students.
Now You're in your third yearof PT school at UNMC.
At UNMC, and, as I mentioned,you guys both were awarded the
Scientific Dissemination Awardsthrough the Nebraska Foundation
for Physical Therapy.

(09:51):
Can you tell our audience alittle bit about, I guess, how
you found out about those andhow you use them?

Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah, so I can go ahead and start.
So after the first year ofphysical therapy school at UNMC
we have the opportunity to gothrough a special topics
elective course during thesummer where you can do research
with a faculty member, getone-on-one mentorship and kind
of help out as little or as muchas you want during that time on
a project that you want tostart up or one that they

(10:18):
already have going.
And so I hopped on with Dr MikeRosenthal and we started a
research project over theeffects of walking with blood
flow restriction and thespatio-temporal gait parameter
changes.
And once we finished thatresearch, got all the data
collection, we decided to go toCSM and present an abstract and

(10:40):
poster.
And that's where he told meabout the dissemination fund and
how to apply for it so that Icould help get funds for the
trip.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Excellent.
How about you, Janae?

Speaker 4 (10:50):
Similar story here.
I actually did not go throughthe elective Dr Betsy Becker.
She is the director of our PTprogram here at UNMC and she was
looking for a student worker tohelp her out with a project
that was already in existencefor the position and ended up

(11:18):
getting it.
Our project was about Medicaidin Nebraska and we were
basically looking throughMedicaid claims data to see
basically overarching themes ofwhat people were coming in for,
what they were using physicaltherapy for and how specifically
how long, they were in physicaltherapy, and our goal was to
come up with an optimal numberof PT visits that Medicaid
should approve before priorauthorization is required.

(11:41):
So basically my job was toconduct a literature review to
see if that answer was alreadyout in the world, which it's not
.
It's different, but it's notnecessarily defined across the
literature.
And then we went and wepresented our findings at CSM.

(12:01):
Dr Becker also informed meabout this award and I decided
to apply because you know anyhelp is great when you're
traveling to another state.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, so I assume ultimately the award was used
for travel, csm registration,those types of things.
Good, and so can you guys maybejust share, briefly, looking
back, what are some of thebiggest takeaways or lessons
that you guys gained from theexperience as a whole?

Speaker 4 (12:38):
I think one of the biggest ones that I learned from
the experience was people tellyou how big of a deal CSM is,
but until you're actually thereand you see how huge of an event
it is, you don't reallyunderstand.
So that was a big eye openerfor me and I definitely plan on
going back to CSM in the futurebecause I learned so much, was
able to attend a bunch ofeducational lectures and learned
a lot from that.

(12:58):
But then as far as the researchprocess itself, just what goes
into applying for CSM, applyingfor funding to go to CSM, and
just in research in general,what goes on behind the scenes
before you're even ready todisseminate on a topic?

Speaker 3 (13:14):
I can't echo that enough.
The biggest takeaway for me isgo to CSM.
Go to CSM, go to CSM.
It is one of the most amazingexperiences I've been a part of,
not only at UNMC but throughoutmy entire educational
experience as a student.
There's so many fantasticopportunities there.
You can network with differentpeople, you can go to different

(13:34):
events.
You can just learn so so muchduring your time there.
You get free resources.
There's a bunch of stands thatyou can go to to, you know, get
free items and just a ton ofstuff to do there and, like
Janae said, it's a huge event.
I think that there was overprobably 10,000 clinicians there
, if I had to guess.
So amazing experience.

(13:56):
And then, on the research sideof things, the biggest takeaway
there is just how much time andeffort actually goes into a
research project and how long ittakes for that research to
develop.
You often just you know you geton PubMed or whatever resource
you use or APTA PubMed orwhatever resource you use or

(14:18):
APTA.
You find these resources andyou know you can read them
quickly, but you don't reallyrealize that that was a three to
five to 10 year processsometimes.
So that was a big takeaway andit's.
Yeah, that was very, veryvaluable experience getting to
be involved in that process aswell.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
As you were actually presenting your posters,
disseminating that research.
Do you have like a favoriteconversation that you had with
someone?
What did you enjoy about someof those small conversations you
had as people walked throughthe posters?

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, I really enjoyed, honestly, every
conversation I had, and I'm notjust saying that to say I met so
many fantastic people.
I got asked some reallyfantastic questions and it was
just we had some really engagingconversations with everybody
that walked by, because there's,when you go there, there's, I
mean, hundreds of posters andhundreds of people presenting,

(15:03):
so when people walk by and ask,they truly do care about your
subject or want to learn more.
But one of my favoriteconversations I've had, I got to
meet a clinician who's beenpracticing for 20, 30 years out
of San Diego and he him and Italked about BFR training and
his different experiences thathe's had and we really just kind

(15:25):
of bounced off of each otherand now I have a great
connection that I can kind ofconnect with, hopefully in
future practice.

Speaker 4 (15:30):
Same.
I had a lot of really greatconversations with people.
It was just exciting to be ableto present what I'd been
working on to Medicaid, and oneof the most memorable
conversations for me was there'sa physical therapist that came

(15:58):
up from a different state whoseMedicaid is not as it doesn't
cover nearly as much as NebraskaMedicaid does, and when he
found out that Nebraska Medicaidwas actually it was UHC that
approached us and asked us tolook into this.
He was baffled.
He's like we can't get Medicaidto pay for anything in our

(16:22):
state.
So the fact that they let youdo this first of all and are
receptive to what you found hewas just.
He was blown away and got a lotof thank yous from a lot of
people saying thank you forlooking into this, thank you for
advocating for our patients.
We actually ended up getting aribbon.
It wasn't like a blue ribbon wewon anything, but lots of

(16:45):
people got this ribbon but itwas actually from the APTA
Academy of Leadership andInnovation and it was a ribbon
that we got to hang on ourposter for recognition of work
and promotion of socialresponsibility.
So that was kind of a.
That was a neat little thing tosay that you know we got
recognized for our work inadvocating for our patients, so
yeah, no, that's great.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
It sounds like it was a phenomenal experience all
around and really appreciate youguys taking the time to just
share how you're able to use thedissemination award from the
Nebraska Foundation for PhysicalTherapy.
So thanks again for joining us,thank you.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yeah, thanks for having us on.
We appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
So, rochelle, let's maybe turn our attention now
just back to those branches ofthe foundation.
So I think we covered theawards that we typically give.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthe fundraising aspect, because
none of this goes without thefundraising right.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah, so the fundraising is where we spend a
lot of our time as a board andspecifically the subcommittee
members of that fundraisingcommittee really identifying
what are some ways that we canengage our membership or folks
that are in the community toprovide funds for the foundation

(18:03):
so we can continue to supportstudents and folks that are
wanting to do research that canimpact the profession.
So we are looking at every year,I will say, looks a little
different.
Currently our brainstormedideas are to do a silent auction
coming up at the state meetingand for those of you that

(18:25):
haven't marked your calendarsyet, for the state meeting,
that's going to be April 10thand 11th in Omaha, nebraska, at
UNMC's Trulson Events Center.
So make sure that you try toopen up that weekend if you can
to come join for some excellentprogramming and hopefully a fun
silent auction to raise somefunds for our foundation.

(18:45):
And in the past also we've donesome things like fun runs, like
we did a turkey trot last yearwhere you could virtually run a
5k to help raise funds.
There's been other ways of just, you know, individually
contacting people that havedonated in the past to see if
they're donating or want todonate again, and other

(19:06):
individual approaches that we'vegone about too, so, as I said,
every year is a little bitdifferent.
If anyone has any funfundraising ideas, though, we
would love to hear your ideas ifyou want to reach out.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
One of the fun things I guessthat I've been learning about is
the Wayne Purdue Fellowship.
So I know it's a way ofrecognizing donors that have
given over time to thefoundation.
My first question was who isWayne Purdue?
I don't know who that is, soit's kind of nice because the

(19:41):
foundation website has a link tolearn a little bit more about
Wayne.
It has a link to learn a littlebit more about Wayne, his life,
his contributions to physicaltherapy.

(20:03):
But he was a physical therapistin some of the early days of
physical therapy who was highlyengaged with our state
organization but also thenational organization.
So he was representing physicaltherapy at both of those levels
and he was a great supporter ofsome of the physical therapy
programs in the area, worked atthe Methodist Hospital in their
rehabilitation programs thereand provided amazing learning
opportunities for students.

(20:24):
So it's really I thought it waskind of a fun read to learn a
little bit of his history and Ithink the Wayne Purdue
Fellowship is a great way tokind of honor that legacy.
But I wonder if you can't helpour listeners understand just a
little bit more of you know whatare those?
What does that recognition looklike?
How do we go about?

(20:47):
You know, I guess, makingpeople aware of those awards.
Yeah, let's start there.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, so to put a dollar amount with that
fellowship.
So the Wayne Purdue Fellowshipis a recognition for a donor
that has given $500 to thefoundation and some of our other
tiers.
So that's the tier that someonebe recognized for first.
You know, as they proceed todonate higher amounts, the next
tier that we have is the bronzeaward at $1,500, the silver

(21:17):
award at $2,500, followed by thegold award at $5,000.
And lastly, our top recognitionis the corporate, or what we
also call the friend of thefoundation, which is a
recognition for donating $10,000to the foundation.
And we let people know wherethey're at on their donations,

(21:37):
especially if they're close toone of those tiers.
If they have an interest indonating a little bit more to
get to that next tier, they getrecognition, a letter from us
and hopefully they're able toattend the annual state meeting
where then we formally recognizethem during the business
meeting and give them a pin forassociated with the level that

(21:57):
they're being recognized for.
So there are some in-personformal recognition opportunities
as well.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, and to be clear , when you say each of those
levels, it's not a one-time giftat that level, it's kind of an
accumulation of donations overtime, correct?

Speaker 2 (22:14):
Correct Yep, we keep a nice spreadsheet and keep
those cumulative totals goingand, yes, it's accumulation over
the time.
So you don't need to give a$10,000 gift in one check to be
able to be a friend of thefoundation.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Fantastic.
So I guess maybe I'll just askyou know we've gone through some
of the different arms of thefoundation.
The work that we're doingObviously can't make these
things go without generousdonors as well, but what are any
new things that might be in theworks with the foundation?
Do you have anything to commenton there?

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Yeah, I would say keep your ear to the ground for
some new award opportunities forresearch funding and the next
year.
We've had some excitingconversations in our board
meetings about possibly offeringtwo new awards.
I won't disclose those yet aswe're still working out the
details and the naming of those,but we do have some additional

(23:12):
opportunities that likely willbe coming in the following year.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Excellent, rochelle.
Thank you, I think this isreally helpful.
I'll be honest, I haven'talways known throughout my
career what the NebraskaFoundation for Physical Therapy
does.
That's on me, I hadn't done theresearch before, but I hope
this is a nice way to helpothers understand what we're
doing.
This is maybe to be clear thefoundation has interaction with

(23:41):
our state organization, aptaNebraska, and in fact you can
find information about thefoundation on APTA Nebraska's
webpage.
But they're also kind of twoseparate entities, is that
correct?

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yes, they are two separate entities, but we are
joined with our message andwe're both present at the state
meeting where we have boosts andshare communication that way
and I did want to acknowledgeBrad, you as well as the
treasurer of the foundation,where you also serve at the
state level, but then also onthe foundation too.
So we have connections andunique individuals that are

(24:18):
serving in leadership roles onboth sides.
So thank you again for yourtime and volunteering that time
on both ends there.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Absolutely, I was not fishing for that at all.
But thank you.
So maybe just to recap, we havethe Blanton Award.
That's a $10,000 award.
The deadline for yourapplication is October 1st,
correct?

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yes, and all the application materials can be
found on the website, and feelfree to reach out to me if you
have any questions.
There's an email on there toask those questions.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
So happy to help anyone along, so that they can
meet that deadline, so you canapply at any point throughout
the year.
You should be hearing moreinformation on fundraising from
us.
Again, keep your ear to theground.
We'll probably find a way inour update with our president to

(25:20):
even highlight some of thosethings in future podcasts to
make our membership aware of it.
And, beyond that, I'll makesure that I have links to the
Nebraska Foundation in the shownotes for the podcast, with
contact information and anythingelse that we talked about in
this show today.
So, rochelle, thank you foryour time, thank you for the

(25:40):
work that you're doing with thefoundation, and we'll look
forward to hearing the results,uh, from the Blanton grant that
you're doing with lifestylemedicine too.
That'll be exciting.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Awesome.
Thanks for having me on thepodcast today.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yep, Uh, listeners, uh, thank you for tuning in and
we'll look forward to doing thisagain in the future.
Thanks for tuning into the APTANebraska podcast.
Stay connected with us for moreconversations that elevate our
profession and improve the livesof Nebraskans.
Don't forget to subscribe,share and join the discussion,
because together we're drivingthe future of physical therapy

(26:17):
forward.