The University of Toledo Center for Health and Successful Living will provide free clinical breast exams from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 at the Toledo Pride Festival in downtown Toledo.

“We hope to reach women over the age of 40 who haven’t recently had an exam,” said Amy Thompson, health education professor and co-director of the Center for Health and Successful Living. “It is important that women be proactive and take the time for preventative health screenings.”

According to the National Cancer Society, breast cancers found during screening exams are more likely to be smaller and confined to the breast, and early detection is an important factor in the prognosis of someone diagnosed with the disease.

The exams are sponsored in cooperation with UT Health’s Eleanor N. Dana Cancer Center and will be given on a first come, first serve basis.

Media Coverage
WTOL 11 (August 26, 2016)

White coat ceremonies are a rite of passage for students entering the health-care profession and symbolize the beginning of a career in science and treating patients.

Twenty-eight first year students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program in The University of Toledo’s College of Health and Human Services will receive their traditional white coats during a formal ceremony 4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19 in Student Union Room 2582.

The keynote speaker for the ceremony is Tim Berta, former Bluffton Baseball team member and survivor of a 2007 bus accident that occurred while the team was traveling to Florida.

“Mr. Berta will share his remarkable story of recovery after the accident,” said Dr. Michelle Masterson, associate professor and director of the Physical Therapy Program. “His inspirational story helps students to not only see the huge impact that physical therapy can have on a patient’s life, but also what hard work and perseverance can accomplish.”

Physical therapists are experts in the evaluation, treatment and prevention of movement dysfunction, such as conditions arising from injury, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis or developmental disability. UT’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).

The University of Toledo Center for Health and Successful Living will hold an open house and orientation for breast cancer survivors enrolled in its new health coaching program from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 18 in the Health and Human Services Building Room 1100 on Main Campus.

The 30 breast cancer survivors enrolled in the six-month program sponsored by Susan G. Komen of Northwest Ohio will meet with credentialed health coaches once a month beginning in September and ending in March 2017.

Breast cancer survivors often struggle with long-lasting complications from treatment and find it difficult to maintain optimum health.

“The program is designed to equip survivors with the skills and resources to take control of their nutrition, fitness and mental health in order to live longer, happier lives,” said Amy Thompson, health education professor and co-director of the Center for Health and Successful Living.

Using the survivor’s life goals and priorities as a guide, the health coach and survivor will work together to identify specific health behavior changes that are needed to help her accomplish life goals and priorities.

UT’s Center for Health and Successful Living is a community hub of resources, education and supportive services for individuals living with chronic disease.

Media Coverage
13 ABC (August 19, 2016)

Researchers at The University of Toledo are working to be among the first to provide data on why so many Pokemon Go players are so dedicated to catching ‘em all.

In a survey of players of the incredibly popular Nintendo augmented reality smart phone game, doctoral students in UT’s health education program are working to add some quantitative data about those who spend hours and walk miles playing the game.

“You see the snapshots in the news about the good and the bad stories about individual people playing the game, but it is so new we don’t have data on the players,” said Victoria Wagner-Greene, the UT doctoral student who came up with the research project. “We’re working to be among the first to share who is playing this game and how it is impacting their lives.” 

To play Pokemon Go, players create an avatar that searches for and catches Pokemon characters out in the community using GPS on their mobile devices. PokeStops are landmarks where you can find characters and equipment, such as the Poke Balls you use to catch them, that are in popular public locations including several on UT’s campus, making it an ideal location to survey a large number of players.

It was seeing students on campus from the University of Michigan who had traveled to Toledo specifically to catch more characters here that inspired Wagner-Greene, who plays the game herself, to create this research project to learn more about that dedication.

Because she studies public health, of particular interest is how has playing Pokemon Go impacted the player’s physical activity. As players catch more characters and earn more steps, they move up through the levels of the game. Additional data on the safety concerns and social aspects of the game also will be gathered.

The survey asks players questions about how many hours per day they play the game, has it increased their physical activity, have they trespassed or run into people or objects while playing, do they play after dark and have they played with strangers. It also gathers demographic information, such as age, race, gender, marital status and education level.

“Right now the news about this game is anecdotal. We are working to get the data to back it up to be a reference for what is going on with Pokemon,” said Joseph Dake, chair of the UT School of Population Health, who also is a Pokemon player with his family often going on “Poke walks” as a group to catch characters together. “By quantifying with data, recommendations can be made on how to engage more young people in physical activity through the game or ways to ensure the safety of the players who, as the headlines have shown, get too focused in the game and ignore their surroundings.”

Wagner-Greene and her colleagues Amy Wotring and Tom Castor, also UT doctoral students in the health education program, began surveying players Tuesday night on the UT campus. They hope to get more than 500 players completing the paper survey and an additional insight from 1,000 more players contacted through online forums.

The UT researchers will survey players tonight (Thursday, July 28) at Wildwood Preserve Metropark near the Manor House from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.