Abolishing ageism is not only the mission of FOX Rehabilitation, on this week’s episode of the Live Better Longer podcast, we discover that The Pacemakers are all about shattering aging stereotypes, too. We chat with the Founder and Artistic Director of The Pacemakers—the self-proclaimed “groovy senior citizens dance team”—that has been seen spreading joy at athletic events, workshops, street fairs, and most recently at Dr. Tim Fox’s Carole B. Lewis Lecture at CSM 2024. Susan explains how she transitioned from journalist to dance team leader and how she turned a bout of cyberbullying into the spark that created The Pacemakers. Susan gives us the lowdown on what it takes to be part of this elite squad (who range in age from 60-85 years old), how they have inspired others to keep shaking their groove thing, and their plans for 2024 and beyond. If you listen to one podcast this week, you’d be foolish not to listen to the origin story of the greatest older adult dance team we’ve ever seen!

The Pacemakers

Live Better Longer: the podcast for clinicians made by clinicians. It’s brought to you by FOX Rehabilitation. Find out more at foxrehab.org. The purpose of our show is to have professional conversations about PT, OT, and SLP for older adults. (Tim Fox, PT, DPT, GCS-Emeritus, CCI | License #40QA00702100 | 7 Carnegie Plaza Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 | 877-407-3422)

Health & Fitness

To kick off National Speech-Language-Hearing Month, we speak with FOX Rehabilitation’s Senior Clinical Director of Quality Assurance Professional Development or QAPD, Jonross Neptune, MS, CCC-SLP. He takes us through his personal history of being a speech-language pathologist, what inspired him to work with older adults, and what led him to pursue leadership opportunities with FOX. Jonross tells us about one his favorite patient Success Stories, which illustrates his amazing ability to always empathize and connect with others, whether they are patients, caregivers, or colleagues. We close out the episode by talking about the newly named “National Speech-Language-Hearing" and what Jonross will be doing to celebrate.

Why SLP?

This week’s episode of FOX Rehabilitation’s Live Better Longer podcast features FOX’s Noah Pennypacker, OTD, OTR/L, ATC, who talks about older adult patients who have been diagnosed with “low vision.” He discusses how to treat someone with macular degeneration, a disease that affects a person’s central vision, and explains the importance of clinicians, patients, and caregivers leaning into technology. Noah also shares an incredible story about a patient who was able to rekindle a passion she thought was lost forever. If you’re in search of tips to help your patients with low vision, Noah delivers a bunch in this episode. We close out this week with another round of “The Acronym Challenge,” which Noah was brave enough to take. How will he do? Listen to find out!

Low Vision

This week on FOX Rehabilitation’s Live Better Longer podcast we welcome back Director of Lamp and Light Productions and stage actor, Matthew Moore, and his fellow cast mate and Lead Instructor of Boxland Academy, Krista Stauffer. Matt and Krista take us through their two-person play What I Didn’t Say: A Journey Through Parkinson’s, which—to shine a broader spotlight on Parkinson’s Awareness Month—will be performed in multiple cities in the next few weeks. Matt and Krista talk about how they met, the early workshopping of their play, and the incredible response they’ve received so far. Every performance is also followed by a talkback, where audience members are invited to ask questions and express opinions about the play with the actors, medical professionals, and individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. As someone with Parkinson’s, Matt expresses his hopes for what people take away from Parkinson’s Awareness month and explains how anyone else with the disease and their care partners can watch the play gratis. For those who want to help support What I Didn’t Say: A Journey Through Parkinson’s, you can donate via GoFundMe.

Parkinson’s Awareness Month

Who better to celebrate OT Month with than Satvika Garg, Ph.D, PTR/L, Chief Scientific Officer of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, and Joan Toglia, Ph.D, FAOTA, distinguished educator and preeminent OT expert on functional cognition? In a seminar-worthy edition of FOX Rehabilitation's Live Better Longer podcast, Dr. Garg explains the role of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, how they work in conjunction with the American Occupational Therapy Association, how resources are pulled together for funding, and how those actions are then turned into game-changing research that gets rolled out into everyday clinical practice. In addition, Dr. Toglia gives extraordinary insight into breakthroughs that have been made in the assessment of functional cognition and the importance of always treating and knowing each patient as an individual. Dr. Garg and Dr. Toglia answer some questions from FOX clinicians and let us know what they will be doing to celebrate Occupational Therapy Month.

AOTF & Functional Cognition

To celebrate the kickoff of Occupational Therapy Month, we decided to chat with FOX Rehabilitaion's Jaydra Smith, OTR/L, who discusses what initially got her interested in pursuing the discipline. As you’ll soon discover, it happened for her at a young age after an excited phone call from her great-grandfather. Jaydra began shadowing clinicians as far back as high school, and when she entered college, she hit the ground running. Like any great clinician will tell you, Jaydra’s first passion is having the skill and ability to change the lives of her patients, giving them back valuable function that they never thought they would see again. Jaydra talks about the importance of creativity in her profession, gives advice to anyone who wants to follow a similar career path, and ponders what she will do to celebrate OT Month.

The Pacemakers

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