Local & Global Outreach

The department partners with professional colleagues to increase both our local and global outreach. Below are highlights from our growing effort to expand the benefits of rehabilitation medicine and education. With your support, we can help many others experience better quality of life. We also continue to participate in a local program that benefits patients globally, through our involvement with MEDWorld.

Community Outreach

Our outreach to the community benefits patients at different milestones on the journey to recovery. We publish an outreach newsletter, the Rehabilitation Reader, three times a year for the benefit of patients and caregivers. Additionally, the following support groups meet regularly:

Brain Injury Support Group

The UNC Brain Injury Support Group's mission is to provide support, education and advocacy for survivors of brain injury as well as for their families, friends and caregivers. This group meets on the third Wednesday of each month.

Upcoming meetings:

December 17, 2008: 3rd Annual Holiday Open House & Social, 1:00-3:00 PM at the UNC Healthcare Rehabilitation Center, 7th Floor Memorial Hospital. Food will be provided, but feel free to bring a dish to share. For more information, call 919.966.9501.

Stroke Support Group

This group, which meets the second Wednesday of each month, hosts speakers to address various topics in stroke recovery for survivors, family, friends, and caregivers.

Meeting Place and Time: UNC Wellness Center, Meadowmont, 1:00-2:00 PM

Upcoming meetings at the Wellness Center:

December 10, 2008: Maura Silverman English, SLP: "Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA)"

Download Meeting Notes:

• March 2008 meeting on home health for seniors recovering from stroke

• May 2008 meeting on new medical options for prevention and treatment of stroke
• July 2008 meeting on spasticity after stroke
• August 2008 meeting on the benefits of music therapy
• November 2008 meeting on high blood pressure management
  

For more information, email Antje Thiessen or call 919.966.8044.

Stroke Mentors

In addition, our department benefits from Stroke Mentors. These volunteers motivate patients during their healing process in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Center. Read their words of wisdom on our extended resources page, our web addition to our stroke issue of the Rehabilitation Reader.

Statewide Outreach

A wonderful example of our statewide outreach is TelAbility, which provides telemedicine consultation to patients across North Carolina, in their own communities. The program, which uses internet-based video conferencing, enhances communication, care coordination and professional education for parents and care providers of young children with special needs.

The WATCH Project, an initiative of TelAbility, recently received $45,000 to upgrade two videoconference systems to large screen units, thereby allowing more people to participate and providing a higher quality viewing experience. The funding was provided by Wake County Smart Start upon recognition of the WATCH Project's success in strengthening the early intervention network in Wake County. WATCH Project activities such as videoclinics (which improve care coordination among a child's care team) and professional development sessions (which have improved and enhanced the leadership development and professional competency of early intervention professionals) help to meet Wake County Smart Start goals to increase identification and connection to early intervention services for children with special needs and increase the knowledge base of early intervention service providers. Congratulations to TelAbility for receiving this unsolicited grant!

National Presentations & Honors

Our faculty regularly present at national conferences, and have been recognized with national awards and fellowships. We encourage you to browse our faculty pages as well as news and features columns (on the right) for highlights. 

International Visiting Scholars Program

The department hosts visiting faculty from around the world. In past years we have hosted visiting faculty from Slovenia, Colombia, Brazil, Japan and Korea. Current visiting scholars include the following:

Eunshin Lee, MD
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Gyeongsang National University, South Korea
Interests: observation, education and research in pain, pediatric rehabilitation, general rehabilitation

Kyu Hoon Lee, MD, PhD
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Hanyang University, South Korea
Interests: observation, education, research

For more information about the International Visiting Scholars Program, email Steven Tomaro or call 919.966.0966.