February 2023 Newsletter

Clinic Director, Bryan Belcher

The clinic has been very busy pairing support of our usual clinic operations with expanding our footprint around Aging Support and Aging Well.   Amber Chapman led a group of staff and students to provide balance pre-assessments to 7 different community groups across 4 counties to support our Fall Prevention Classes including Tai Chi and A Matter of Balance.  Mary Strong and her team of social work interns are offering a weekly support group around caregiving, including support for the care recipient at the support groups, a monthly support group for those affected by stroke and traumatic brain injury, and a 9 week educational course to provide skills and education around managing mental and physical ailments. 

Upcoming: A Matter of Balance Class

Developed by healthcare professionals, A Matter of Balance is an eight session program that is designed to give you practical strategies to reduce the risk and fear of falls. This program does include gentle exercises that have been proven to increase balance and flexibility. Each participant will receive a balance assessment at the beginning and end of the series. 

Beginning Date

March 7th, 2023

*repeats every Tuesday for 8 weeks*

Time

10:00AM - 12:00PM 

Location

University Hall, 400 University Drive Boone NC 28607

Parking Available

To register contact: Amber Chapman,

 chapmanat1@appstate.edu

Natalie Thulien, Exercise Science grad student, with McKenzie Hellman, and Amber Chapman at the Traphill Branch Library, one of many Tai Chi class sites. 

Director, Mary Sheryl Horine

Program Coordinator, Heidi Tait

Spring 2023 is off to a tremendous start within the Outreach and Education division of IHHS. Girls on the Run of the High Country is excited to offer programming at 8 school based sites this season, reaching over 90 girls and their teachers as coaches. The program is also looking for community members to join in our GOTR 5K, an end of season celebration to be held on May 7, at Leon Levine Hall- Greenway Trail, Boone, NC. 

Camp Crinkleroot Spring '23

Camp Crinkleroot, a free day camp for youth on the Autism Spectrum is scheduled for March 24, 25, and 26 at the Old Cove Creek School. Spring camp offers a typical camp experience for children in the community and includes activities such as camp songs and skits, group interactive games, treasure hunts and lots of free play.

On April 29, one of the most beautiful competitive running races in North Carolina will return. The Cub 7-miler will start at 8am in Valle Crucis. Awards in 9 age categories, in addition to 12 overall awards will be presented following the race. Sign up now for discounted registration now!

Research

IHHS Research Faculty are working on amazing projects with collaborators not only throughout our region but across the country. Here are a few recently funded projects we wanted to share.

Dr. Shenghui Wu, IHHS Research Fellow and Assistant Professor in Public Health and Exercise Science, has been awarded a $792,000 grant from the American Cancer Society to study lifestyle and biomarker predictors of bladder cancer survivorship. Bladder cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the U.S. Wu’s research will focus on the South Texas region, which has lower bladder cancer survival rates than the nation, and she will collaborate with the University of Texas Health San Antonio. The study plans to follow 350 patients who have bladder cancer diagnosis, and Wu also plans to evaluate potentially modifiable lifestyle and behavioral factors.  

Dr. Martie Thompson, IHHS Research Fellow and Professor in Public Health and Exercise Science, was awarded $356,800 as a subaward with Georgia State University from the National Science Foundation as part of her collaborative research on climate data on sexual misconduct. This Human Networks and Data Science Infrastructure project creates a data repository and public benchmarking dashboard for campus climate data, making it easy to store and analyze campus sexual misconduct climate data from US colleges.

Leah Hamilton, IHHS Research Fellow and Associate Professor in Social Work, is Co-Principal Investigator (2022-2025) on a grant titled Unconditional Cash Transfer Pilot Mixed-Methods Evaluation. This is funded by Project Community Connections, $138,000. Project Community Connections, Inc. (PCCI) is a non-profit serving individuals experiencing homelessness in the Atlanta, GA area. In this randomized controlled trial, 200 current clients will be randomly assigned to A) a treatment group receiving regular case management, housing assistance, and an unconditional $400 per month for twelve months and B) a control group receiving the same services without the additional cash assistance. This evaluation is a collaboration with the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis.

Director, Steff McDaniel

HPFS continues to show great growth in 2023 with our facility usage this new year as well as participation in our preventative screenings.  

Facility Usage

Our YTD attendance in our facilities combined for 2021 was 1044, compared to this year’s 1614 (570 more visits within a 6 week time period)! Several of our Group Exercise Classes (Yoga, Spin, Core & Whole Body) have also been filled to capacity with an additional waitlist of participants. 

Preventative Screenings

The last two mammography events are filled to capacity with zero no-shows. Additionally, our ARC Blood Drive on Friday, February 10th brought in three units “over goal”, with a whopping 28 units of donated blood! 

Upcoming Fitness Clinics

Education on Meal Planning as well as monthly health topics, like Heart Health Month (February) and Nutrition Month (Fuel for Your Future).

Stay tuned for more exciting developments as we help create a Culture of Wellness for our Faculty and Staff!

Donor and Phlebotomist at the ARC Blood Drive on February 10th.