UBC Master of Rehabilitation Science Blog

Heather Burrett (left) and Anne Leclerc, Master of Rehabilitation Science Fall 2011 grads

The tradition of holding a reception honouring the most recent graduates from the UBC Rehabilitation Science Graduate programs is well established now and serves as an opportunity for the graduates, the faculty, family, and the ever expanding rehabilitation community to celebrate their accomplishments.  On November 24, Sue Stanton, Director of the Master in Rehabilitation Science program and Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy (OS&OT) was the MC for the evening and began the formal speeches with the following:
“People with disabilities have it… Marathon runners have it… and graduates also have it — in spades. What is it? Persistence and determination to get a fix on a goal and work as hard as they know to reach that target. Tonight we are here to honour all of the graduates and to recognize the result of these important attributes.”

The Fall 2011 graduates include:  Rick Celebrini receiving his Doctor of Philosophy, Sandra Hale, Sarah Neil and Jeanie Zabukovec , their Master of Science, and Marjorie Berry, Heather Burrett, Delicia Jackson, Anne Leclerc and Elaine Widgett, their Master of Rehabilitation Science.

Also present at the reception were honoured guests from the UBC Faculty of Medicine: Dr. Peter Leung, Associate Dean for Graduate and Post Doctorate Education, Dr. Brenda Loveridge, Associate Dean of Health Professions, and Dr. Jayne Garland, Head of Department of Physical Therapy.

Dr. Leung offered a few words on behalf of the Dean of Medicine, who was unable to attend. He began by expressing how deeply honoured he was to be present and proud of the accomplishments of the graduates and the growing reputation of the programs as the best in North America and in the world. Dr. Leung described the grads as the best ambassadors for the programs, given they were leaders in rehabilitation science whether their studies advanced science, theory or found solutions to workplace problems. He suggested that their studies may be some of their most treasured memories of their professional lives, and that the relationships established will continue in the future helping to support and celebrate future accomplishments. Dr. Leung concluded with commendations of the graduates’ hard earned achievements and looked forward to their further contributions to the advancement of the science of rehabilitation and promotion of physical, mental and social well being among people of all levels of ability.

Dr. Lyn Jongbloed, who is also a member of the OS&OT Department and oversees the Phd and MSc programs, introduced Sandra Hale, who spoke on behalf of the MSc graduates. In addition to expressing the shared happiness of completing their degrees, Sandra paid special tribute to the research participants because, in Sandra’s words, “without them, we would not be able to do what we do.”

Rick Celebrini, who was the sole recipient of the Doctor of Philosophy degree, admitted that he had no idea of what he was getting into 7 years ago but can probably be described as not only a marathon runner but a tri-athlete. While completing his PhD, Rick recounted other dear and important mileposts. He became a husband, father of three kids, chief therapist for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic games, and dealt with the emotional impact of the death of his father. Rick notes that although these don’t act as credits in accomplishing a Phd., he credited and named many people who were part of his support team and who helped him balance family and career goals.

MC Sue Stanton concluded the formal speeches of the evening with four principles Rick Hansen offered in this book Going the Distance: Seven steps to personal change.
1.    Recognize that goals are both objective and subjective; objective in that you accomplished them and subjective in terms of how you feel about them;
2.    Take responsibility for your success – recognize that your actions actually created this end project;
3.    Celebrate your success [as we are doing this evening]; and
4.    Identify the ingredients of your success so can you apply the recipe to your next goal.

Many thanks to Andrea Walus and Sally Clark for a successful reception that was memorable for the graduates and all the members of their support teams.

Although Lori was not able to attend this Spring’s convocation, she takes a special place in the history of the program as our 30th graduate. Lori is a physical therapist on acute orthopaedics at the Ottawa Hospital – Civic Campus. Her reasons for taking a master’s were to be ready for new opportunities created by the expanding scope of physical therapy practice.

At the grad reception held on Tuesday, May 24, Lori’ s research supervisor Dr. Lesley Bainbridge read the following message sent by Lori who is currently on holidays in Ireland.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few words while I’m out of the country.

From my very first post in my first course, Evaluating Sources of Evidence, to sending off my final revision of my major project, this has been an amazing journey. As with any journey, there have been challenges, both academically and personally. Since the fall of 2007 when I started, deadlines have come and gone, and courses were completed, one by one. I have watched two children graduate from high school and one from college. I have said goodbye to my grandmother, a nephew and my father-in-law, and celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary. In addition to my very patient husband, the one constant throughout the four years has been my laptop. While not occupying half of our dining room table, it has traveled to England, France, and New York City. Now on its last legs, it has been replaced by a much lighter, cooler iPad.

In addition to all that I learned through the course of my degree, I learned a few truths.
1.    Don’t leave submissions until the last minute: the server may be down!
2.    Having tech support in the guise of teenagers is invaluable.
3.    Back everything up-twice! USB sticks do die!
And finally,
4.    What an amazing world we live in, where I can sit in my pajamas in my dining room in Ottawa and discuss common issues with a classmate in Hong Kong!

I would like to thank Lesley Bainbridge for her invaluable support and guidance over the past year while I completed my final project.

Thanks must also go to Sue Stanton who regularly checked in during the final course even when she was south of the equator and to Andrea Walus who answered questions no matter how silly they seemed. Finally, I would like to recognize all the learners and instructors I met, worked with and learned from during this degree.

It has been an amazing four years and I have highly recommended this program to my colleagues. One actually listened to me and began her own journey in the fall of 2010!

Lori’s research entitled Isolation and the Older Adult: Best Practices for Physiotherapy Interventions suggests that physiotherapy intervention should be frequent, aimed at preventing loss of function, and started early within a patient stay to prevent de-conditioning in older adults on isolation in acute care. For the full abstract, visit the program website.

Congratulations Lori – may you seize, as a master of rehabilitation science, the new opportunities that await you.

MRSc Grads: Clare Faulkner, Claudia Hernandez Riano, Jennifer Stephenson and Maureen Duggan. Unable to attend: Caroline Jones, Meg O'Brien and Peter Rowe

There was great debate at this year’s reception: which is harder to overcome — the horizontal sheets of rain that characterize November in Vancouver, or the 6 inches of snow and slush that covered Vancouver during Convocation week? For the graduates who had planned to attend the reception, and had slogged their way through master’s and doctoral programs, the weather was nothing in comparison. For the online Master of Rehabilitation Science graduates, the desire to meet their fellow learners face-to-face overcame any worry about the weather.

Instructors, faculty, family, friends, fellow students and alumni joined the graduates to celebrate their accomplishments. Sue Stanton welcomed everyone and began the formal presentations by suggesting to the graduates that their convocation become another anniversary, “to reflect on, to celebrate, and to recall upon in the future.” Dr. Ross MacGillivray the Vice-Dean, Academic Affairs, Faculty of Medicine brought greetings from the Dean of Medicine Dr. Gavin Stuart, and recalled his various graduations of the past while congratulating those who would cross the stage on Friday. Dr. Lyn Jongbloed recognized both the Doctors of Philosophy Allan Kozlowski and Marc Roig, and presented flowers to Master of Science graduate Rochelle Stokes who was able to attend. The Urban Poling Activator Award was presented by Mandy Shintani and Graham Watts to Sarah Neil. This new award recognizes students who are researching rehabilitation and cancer research.

MRSc Grads’ Speech
Four graduates Maureen Duggan, Clare Faulkner, Claudia Hernandez Riano and Jennifer Stephenson spoke about the online master’s and were also the voices for the graduates who were unable to attend, but of course, sent their messages online. They concluded their speech with:

On the logo of the Online Master of Rehabilitation Science learner’s guide three key concepts are highlighted: Connect – Learn – Succeed. The Fall MRSc 2010 Graduates have all travelled slightly different paths to get to this day but it can be honestly said “we’ve connected, learned and succeeded!”

Click here to listen to the entire speech.

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More information on the MRSc Winter 2010 graduates can be found on the MRSc program website.

Please join us in congratulating our latest graduates. A reception honouring them will be held on November 25, 2010, the evening before their convocation in Vancouver. For further information please contact us at info@mrsc.ubc.ca. Their full abstracts will be posted on the MRSc website by mid-November, under Research For You – Major Project Research.

Maureen Duggan from Burnaby, BC. Outcome Measurement in the Total Joint Arthroplasty Patient: Identifying Barriers and Facilitators of its Use.

Clare Faulkner from Sidney, BC. Comparison of the Norwich Regime to the Static Splinting Protocol for Extensor Tendon Injuries.

Claudia Hernandez from Toronto, ON. Pilot Project to Explore Clinicians’ Experiences and Lessons Learned Related to a Patient Safety Initiative: The SAFE Initiative at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.

Caroline Jones from Aurora, ON. Usefulness of the WOMAC and the MDHAQ Questionnaires in an Outpatient Osteoarthritis Clinic.

Meg O’Brien from Kanata, ON. Understanding Physiotherapists’ Experiences with Job Rotations

Peter Rowe from Ottawa, ON. The Recent Experiences and Challenges of Military Physiotherapists Deployed in Afghanistan.

Jennifer Stephenson, Kelowna, BC. Characteristics of Successful Intraprofessional Relationships between Occupational Therapists/Physical Therapists and Therapist Assistants.

Denise Sylvest, John Campbell, Nancy Littke, Janice Duivestein and Sue Stanton

This Spring’s Master of Rehabilitation Science graduating class chose to share some of their more humorous experiences of online learning as part of their joint valedictorian speech at the Spring 2010 Rehabilitation Science Graduate Programs Reception. Present learners, alumni and instructors will relate warmly to these anecdotes. For a ‘feel good’ break, listen to the speech.

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The graduates: Janice Duivestein from Vancouver, BC; Nancy Littke from Olds, Alberta; Denise Sylvest from Castlegar, BC and John Campbell from Chilliwack BC now join our growing alumni of 22. To read more about their research visit Graduate News on our program website.

New Doctors of Philosophy
Graduates from the doctorate and Master of Science program were also recognized. In her speech on behalf of the PhD grads, Jill Zwicker described their journey as similar to training for the Olympics or Paralympics, although rather than going downhill at great speed it was more of an uphill, slow and steady journey with a fair share of moguls to negotiate. Other PhD graduates include Michael Bodner and Marie Westby.

Master of Science Graduates
Alison McLean represented the Master of Science graduates with a special thank you to their supporters. She spoke of the many instructors, and family members who not only supported them, but according to Alison “downright put up with us” as their notes and laptops took over dining room tables, and family vacations became attending international conferences. Graduating with Alison were Joy Teo and Jeanne Yiu.

The reception was held on May 25 at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. These receptions are becoming a tradition in the Rehabilitation Science Graduate Programs at UBC. Family and friends, together with colleagues, instructors, and supervisors come together twice a year, in May and November to congratulate the most recent graduates and celebrate the growth of rehabilitation science and theory.

Lesley Bainbridge and Sue Stanton

MRSc Celebrates 5^th Anniversary
Following the congratulatory portion of the evening’s events, Lesley Bainbridge was asked to say a few words about Sue Stanton, who was described by this Spring’s graduating class as the ‘glue’ that holds the program together. Lesley described the various hurdles that had to be overcome and Sue’s capital T for tenacity that made it all possible. Listen to her kind words for more about the early challenges.

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Lois Nightingale, Mary Clark and Dr. Tony Bates

The evening ended with Sue’s recognition of the many people who make the program a success with special recognition to Dr. Tony Bates who was a special guest at this year’s anniversary celebrations. When the online programs first started Dr. Bates was the Director of Distance Education and Technology at UBC. Sue credits his vision of online learning at UBC for the program’s initial start and much appreciated his support in those early days and ever since.

To learn more visit the program website and or recently launched history Wiki .

Many thanks to Randy Singer for the great photos.

On November 26, 2009 over 65 people gathered at the Medical Student Alumni Centre in Vancouver to congratulate recent graduates in the Rehabilitation Science Graduate Programs. Ben Mortensen and Sharon Smith received their Doctor of Philosophy; Jenny Garden, Marylyn Horsman and Helia Sillem received their Master in Science; and Kathy Davidson, Karen Hurtubise, Kathy Hatchard, Twila Mills, Darlene Russell, and Ellie Wray received their Master of Rehabilitation Science.

From left to right: Marylyn Horsman, Ben Mortensen, Sharon Smith, Jenny Garden and Lyn Jongbloed. Missing: Helia Sillem

Susan Stanton, Coordinator of the Rehabilitation Science Online Programs was the master of ceremonies for the evening and introduced Dr. Tal Jarus who congratulated the graduates on behalf of the Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy (OS&OT) Department. She warmly reminded them that they weren’t to just hang their degree on the wall and rest. Rather, with their new knowledge and skills, they now had more responsibility. “With a new lense to see the world, you must think critically — ask lots of questions and encourage others to do so as well.”

Dr. Susan Harris congratulated the graduates on behalf of Dr. Jane Garland of the Department of Physical Therapy and highlighted the history of the graduate programs. Since 1993 when the Master of Science program started, the two departments have grown from 120 undergraduate students to 335 graduate students, with the PhD program starting in 2003 and the online Master of Rehabilitation Science program in 2005. Susan has watched the Rehabilitation Science Graduate Programs become enriched due to their interprofessional focus. She explained that learners come from a variety of backgrounds including people living with disability and their supervisors as well.

The present chair of the Rehabilitation Science Research Graduate Programs Dr. Lyn Jongbloed described the event as one which celebrates change and the arrival of new times for the graduates, as they celebrate their achievements and the culmination of academic journeys. She introduced the graduates who had an opportunity to thank their supervisors, many of who were able to attend the event, their families and colleagues. They also chose to say a few words about their journeys. There were common themes of personal growth and a desire to make significant changes to their practice community.

Online Graduates Complete the Evening
Karen Hurtubise delivered the joint valedictorian speech prepared collaboratively and of course, online. Listen to the speech.

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She described the gift of comradeship that emerged between the learners, the professors and the advisors, despite the online nature of their communication. “Unique challenges of building a relationship which relies solely on the written word. Despite initially longing to hear voices and see faces, we did establish wonderful relationships with our classmates and instructors. In fact, today, although many of us had not met face-to-face, we greeted each other as long lost friends.”

From left to right: Kathy Davidson, Karen Hurtubise, Ellie Wray, Kathy Hatchard, Sue Stanton and Twila Mills. Missing: Darlene Russell

The graduates were explicit in describing the ways in which they had grown while in the program. “We have become analysts and consumers of, and contributors to, the evidence that supports our practice… We have evolved into knowledge translators, skillful advocators, effective educators and evaluators, innovators, visionaries and leaders.”

Recognition and warm thanks were extended to their research supervisors, employers, agency sponsors, instructors and program staff who supported their research projects and academic journeys. “Thank you for believing in us and our ideas and commitment to bettering the services we deliver.”

Read the MRSc graduates’ research abstract on our program website.

Nancy Wellwood delivers message from November 2008 and May 2009 MRSc Grads

In November 2007, our first graduates delivered a joint valedictorian speech which has now become a tradition in the Master of Rehabilitation Science program. At this year’s graduate reception, Nancy Wellwood spoke on behalf of both the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 graduates. Their speech follows:

I’m privileged to be given this opportunity to say a few words on behalf of the MRSc graduates recognized here this evening. The graduates, Astrid St. Pierre, Alyssa Barrie, Deirdre Thornton, Colette Widmer Leu and myself held a little online collaboration of our own in anticipation of this evening, so what you are about to hear represents all of our heartfelt wishes and thanks to those who have supported us in our studies.

Before proceeding further the graduates have asked that I share with you a few words about our program, and the transformational ‘ah ha’ moments it has afforded us all. An ‘ah ha’ moment is defined as a brilliant jewel of an idea or insight or a moment of clarity so inspiring and mind altering that it makes the individual having this moment say ‘ah ha!’ Our program has transformed each of us with the following ‘ah ha’ moments:

Ah ha moment #1: I can understand this research paper, I can appraise the level of evidence and I can distill relevant messages and apply them to the current context of practice!

Ah ha moment #2: It is vitally important to include peers into a project as a means of enhancing acceptance!

Ah ha moment #3: I can navigate WebCT! I can contribute to and benefit from the virtual learning environment which brings a diversity of learners together from different geographical areas, disciplines, and areas of practice. This adds richness to many online discussions and generates many more ‘ah ha’ moments.

Ah ha moment #4: Research can be a complicated process, fraught with more loose ends than could ever be imagined! It takes perseverance to discern step-by-step each stage of the process and wrap- up these loose ends to achieve a comprehensive result.

Ah ha moment #5: A cautionary note for prospective graduate students, beware; that which you choose to study with the intent to change for the better will end up changing you for the better and in so many ways you never though possible.

On behalf of the MRSc graduates I’d like to thank each of our respective faculty advisors for their tireless dedication to our learning and academic development

Christine Carpenter
Liisa Holsti
Patricia Mortenson
Cheryl Beach
Sue Stanton

You have each served us as valuable examples, mentors, and coaches with wise sage advice that we will take with us where ever we go and apply in all that we do. Thank-you.

We would also like to thank each and every one of our respective employers, agency sponsors, managers, and professional practice leaders who have supported our research projects. Your dedication and commitment to us and to the people we serve is the inspiration for us to strive for better practices that change lives. Thank-you.

Finally, thank you to our families for supporting us and picking up the pieces at home while we endeavored to complete coursework, assignments and projects. Were it not for you all we could not have arrived at this day; in many ways, this is your graduation too. Thank-you.

To read more about our Fall 2008 and 2009 graduates, and the abstracts of their research projects visit our main program website