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The STRIDE Study   |   Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders

Members of the STRIDE National Patient and Stakeholder Council

Leticia Anaya

Leticia Anaya
Patient/Caregiver Stakeholder
Healthcare Partners Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Leticia Anaya is a Healthcare Partners patient and a falls stakeholder. She is part of the STRIDE program because she has been the primary care giver for her 90-year-old mother, who fell and broke her hip a year ago. Her mother has recovered fully thanks to her good will and the help she received from the physical therapists after her fall. When they only came twice a week, which Leticia did not think it was enough, she learned the exercises and did them 7 days a week until her mother recovered and was released by her doctor, who was surprised as to how well her recovery went at her age. Leticia was motivated to do this by a comment made by one of the nurses right after her mother’s surgery stating that most people her age do not survive for more than 6 months after they fall.

Leticia also really enjoys helping people. Working together to educate both the patient and their caregivers/family members is something she believes will really make a difference in preventing falls in elderly people, the primary goal of STRIDE.

Helen Appelberg

Helen Appelberg, DMin
Chaplain
UTMB Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Anna Carrafelli

Anna Caffarelli, MHS
Special Projects Coordinator, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Mount Sinai Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Anna Caffarelli is a public health professional with more than 15 years of experience working for state and local health departments. Ms. Caffarelli has a special interest in injury prevention and has coordinated older adult falls prevention projects for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene since 2010.

Martie Carnie

Martie Carnie
Co-Chair NPSC
PHS Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Martie Carnie, a 24 year, three-time survivor of breast and melanoma cancers, is a founding member and past co-chair of Dana-Farber’s Adult Patient and Family Advisory Council. Currently she is a Patient Advocate, Senior Advisor and Co Chair of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Patient and Family advisory Council Steering Committee. She is active on numerous councils, committees and projects, including patient safety, patient rounding, JC, Ambulatory Care, Care Improvement Teams, and coordinating activities at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is a frequent spokesperson at conferences and seminars about patient-centered care, the patient experience, patient safety and the Voice of the Patient in Design and Health Care.

In her working career, Martie was a veteran professional of national white and yellow pages marketing, and has been a customer care/call center manager and trainer at Verizon.  She has broad skills as an advocate, resource counselor, writer, and customer care, marketing and educational program designer and trainer.

Edna Carter
Patient/Caregiver Stakeholder
Healthcare Partners Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Edna Carter worked for the Division of Disability Insurance for the Employment Development Department for the state of California for 28 years. Consequently, she is familiar with medical terms, ICD codes, diagnosis and prognosis dates. She is involved in STRIDE via Healthcare Partners because she is a senior, her mother and twin sisters are seniors and she wants to hear any way to help prevent them from falling at home – both for them and for her and her husband. Edna believes falls are a huge public health issue for seniors and a largely preventable injury that we can work to prevent through education at our Senior Citizen Centers. She has given talks at her local Senior Citizen Center to educate her peers on fall prevention.

Patti Ephrahim

Patti Ephraim, MPH
Research Associate Department of Epidemiology
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research
Johns Hopkins Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Patti Ephraim is a Research Associate in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD, and currently serves as the Site Coordinator for the STRIDE study. She has over 20 years of experience coordinating clinical trials and multi-institutional studies. Her research has focused on behavioral interventions aimed at improving the health of patients with chronic disease and disability, with particular emphasis on increasing knowledge and self-efficacy, reducing barriers to care, and improving shared-decision making. For the past 5 years, she has worked with patients with kidney disease and their family members to develop decision-aids to support shared-decision making in choosing a renal replacement therapy for end stage renal disease (kidney failure). Throughout her work, she has focused on engagement of key stakeholders such as patients, families, caregivers, clinical staff, healthcare providers, and policy makers, to ensure that interventions developed are patient centered and have the potential to improve the lives of patients and the families that support them.

Rebecca Galloway

Rebecca Galloway, PT, PhD, GCS

Certified Exercise Expert for Aging Adults Co-chair
UTMB Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Dr. Rebecca Galloway is a Physical Therapist with 13 years of experience involving clinical practice and academia. She became a Geriatric Certified Specialist through the American Board of Physical Therapist Specialties in 2006 and a Certified Exercise Expert for Aging Adults through the American Physical Therapy Association Section on Geriatrics in 2011. Rebecca is currently an Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Texas Medical Branch where she teaches courses in clinical education, professional issues, pharmacology, and geriatrics. She has faculty practice in acute care and supervises student physical therapists at St. Vincent’s House.

Rebecca has experience with fall risk assessments, interventions, and functional outcomes from the perspective of a Physical Therapist who values the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and patient/client goals. She participates in the hospital’s fall prevention work group and has presented on fall-related topics for East Texas Geriatric Education Center and Alzheimer Association Southeast Texas Chapter. She authored a continuing competence article for GeriNotes on medication-related fall risk factors. She co-authored a pilot research study that examined quantity and patterns of ambulatory activity for older adults who fell during acute care compared to case-matched patients who did not fall. Rebecca has the privilege of co-chairing the Local Patient and Stakeholder council at UTMB for the STRIDE study.

Maureen Fagan

Maureen Fagan, DNP, RN
Co-Chair NPSC
Executive Director Center For Patients and Families, Brigham & Women’s Hospital

As the leader of the Center for Patients and Families, she has focused her attention on creating and supporting Patient and Family Advisory Councils in large service lines, department or unit based care improvement councils and hospital-wide nursing meetings including the BWH Nursing Educational Literacy Council. Dr. Fagan introduced fourteen patient and family advisors to the Brigham Research Institute in 2012 to create strategic partnerships among scientific and clinical researchers to advance the caring science of patient and family-centered care.

Currently, there over ninety Patient/Family Advisors and seventeen Councils at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Fagan is a strong proponent of patient and family-centered care who believes that harnessing the expertise of families to reveal and represent their loved one in the hospital or in an ambulatory setting enables all hospital caregivers to tailor their care plans and care experience to each patient specifically.

Dr. Fagan received her RN from Memorial School of Nursing in Albany, NY, her NP from Albany Medical College, and both her Masters in Health Administration and her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Simmons College in Boston, MA.

Priscilla Gazarian

Priscilla Gazarian, RN, PhD
STRIDE Nursing Program Director
Associate Professor, School for Nursing and Health Science Simmons College

Dr. Priscilla Gazarian is the Nursing Program Director for STRIDE and an Associate Professor in the School for Nursing and Health Science at Simmons College. She leads a program of research on nurse decision-making and the prevention of adverse events. Dr. Gazarian is an expert in the use cognitive task analysis and qualitative research to describe nurses’ clinical decision-making. She was the PI on two projects that used cognitive task analysis to describe nurse decision making related to changes in patient condition.
She has received funding from the Association of Critical Care Nurses/Medtronic to investigate nurse decision-making in preventing in-hospital cardio-pulmonary arrests. She has also received funding from the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives to design and develop simulation scenarios centered on early recognition of patient deterioration.

Recently, Dr Gazarian has been a co-investigator on the PROSPECT (Promoting Respect and Ongoing Safety through Patient-engagement, Communication and Technology) project funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The PROSPECT project aimed to optimize the experience of patients and their care partners by promoting dignity/respect, addressing expectations, encouraging engagement, and improving care plan concordance.

Cathy Hanson

Cathy Hanson
Patient/Caregiver Stakeholder
University of Michigan Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Cathy Hanson is a member of the Outcomes and Assessment, Interventions, Self-Management, Clinical Training Sites, and Training committees of the STRIDE grant. In addition, she is the co-chair for the University of Michigan Local Patient and Stakeholder Council and is a member of the National Patient and Stakeholder Council. She initially became interested in fall risks while she was the primary caregiver for her grandmother and as a result falls experienced by other family members and friends. She has been a volunteer member of the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Center’s Institutional Falls Committee since 2013. As a member of STRIDE and the Falls Committee, Cathy has participated in several special projects focusing on patient education material. Prior to becoming a full-time caregiver for her grandmother, Cathy was an administrator in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan in the Divisions of Hematology/Oncology, Rheumatology, Allergy, and Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Kent Key

Kent KeyPatient/Caregiver Stakeholder

Cathy McCarty

Cathy McCarty, PhD, MPH

Principal Research Scientist, Essentia Institute of Rural Health
Essentia Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Cathy McCarty is a Principal Research Scientist at Essentia Institute of Rural Health in Duluth, Minnesota. She moved to Duluth in 2011 for her current position in part to be near her ageing parents who were struggling with health conditions. Her mother had fallen and broken her hip in the previous year. Cathy and her 16-year old son Sean are trained Matter of Balance facilitators and have taught the course several times in memory of their mother/grandmother.

Cathy has prior experience in patient engagement for genetic research and leads the Local Patient and Stakeholder Council for STRIDE at Essentia Health.

In her spare time, Cathy enjoys the many outdoor recreational opportunities that northern Minnesota has the offer: hiking, canoeing, biking and backpacking in the summer and cross country skiing in the winter.

Rebecca Oliva, PT
Director of Rehab Mercy Homecare & Hospice
University of Iowa Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Rebecca Oliva has been a physical therapist for 24 years working in a variety of settings: outpatient orthopedic/sports medicine clinic, skilled nursing facilities and home healthcare. She is currently the Director of Rehab for Mercy Homecare/Hospice in Des Moines, Iowa. Mercy has developed a Balance Carelink within our company to specifically identify patient who are at a higher for risk for falls. Rebecca has training in vestibular therapy, as well as physical therapist on my staff.

Rebecca is very excited to be involved in the STRIDE program because reducing falls, assisting people to succeed and remain in their homes is a very important part of what we do in homecare. She also finds it very rewarding to her as a healthcare provider.

Peggy Preusse, RN
Falls Care Manager Reliant Medical Group
Reliant Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Peggy Preusse has extensive experience across clinical settings. Her research focuses on working clinical knowledge and direct patient care with primarily older adults with chronic diseases such as COPD, CVD, Diabetes, Kidney disease, and significant DJD requiring hip and knee replacements. Her experience includes patient assessment and education, working with both the patient and family to improve understanding of disease process, and teaching steps to help patients and family become active in the management or control of their specific chronic disease.

Mijung Park

Mijung Park, RN, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing
University of Pittsburgh Local Patient and Stakeholder Council

Mijung Park is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and Okura Mental Health Leadership Foundation Fellow. Her research program focuses on improving health outcomes among economically and culturally diverse older adult populations and examining salient roles the family and informal caregivers play in successful chronic disease self-management.

She was recently awarded a National Institute of Health career development award to test a technology assisted family-centered care program for older adults with multiple chronic conditions in primary care. She is currently involved in several research and educational projects funded by NIH, Human Resources and Services Administration, and PCORI. Dr. Park is a founding member of the International Family Nursing Association.

Dr. Park completed her PhD in Nursing from University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and her post-doctoral training in Geriatric Mental Health Services Research at the University of Washington, Seattle. She also holds a MPH in health services with policy analyses concentration.

In her free time, Dr. Park enjoys travel, hiking, taking photos of birds, and cooking. As an avid indoor gardener, she has successfully grown several varieties of tomatoes in her apartment.

Ellen Schneider

Ellen Schneider, MBA
Research Scientist, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Ellen Schneider is a Research Scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Her areas of focus include falls prevention, healthy aging, and evidence-based health promotion. She is a consultant with the National Council on Aging (NCOA)’s National Falls Prevention Resource Center, which is funded by the U.S. Administration for Community Living. She also co-leads the National Falls Free® Initiative and facilitates the national Falls Prevention Awareness and Advocacy Committee. Ellen has worked extensively with State Health Departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the aging services network to build infrastructure to advance falls prevention, implement falls prevention policy and programming, and address older adult behavioral health needs.

On the state level, she is a founder of the North Carolina Falls Prevention Coalition and the North Carolina Mental Health, Substance Use, and Aging Coalition. Ellen received her undergraduate degree and MBA from Penn State University and graduate-level Certificate in Aging from UNC-Chapel Hill.

She is passionate about preventing older adult falls, and is honored to work on the STRIDE study!

Betty Scull

Betty J. Scull, MPA, MA
Patient Caregiver Stakeholder
Retired Human Resources Management Professional
Local Pastor
PCORI Ambassador 

Betty J. Scull is a retired public administration professional who specializes in human resources management, program planning and administration.  She is also a retired local pastor.  Betty currently serves as sole proprietor of her technical writing consulting small business, preacher, and public speaker.  As a writer, she has the following publication credits:  grant applications for Accademia dell’Arte, Redfield United Methodist Church, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (Little Rock Alumnae Chapter Foundation); news articles for the Arkansas Democrat Newspaper, 1968-1969, (samples are available); an internship paper, “The Nature of Evaluation Research Examined: Implication of the Arkansas Land and Water Conversation Fund Program,” (1980); television appearance on “After the Diagnosis: Living with Breast Cancer”, a segment on Good Morning America, ABC National Television, August 13, 2007; thesis, “Assessing Workplace Writing on the Job: Toward Development of a Workplace Writing Curriculum,” (2013) (academic research, primary investigator).

She has more than 45 years of public sector and community service, and caregivers’ experience.  She assisted her elderly mother (a faller) and father, both now deceased, for more than 25 years as caregiver and advocate.  Her current community service includes: a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Ambassador; member, The Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop confidence in Elders (STRIDE) National Patient and Stakeholders Council, community advisory member of the Claude Pepper Older American Independence Center, Reynolds Institute on Aging, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Her education includes: the Master of Public Administration Degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the Master of Arts Degree in Professional and Technical Writing from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) and the Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Arkansas Agricultural Mechanical & Normal (A. M. & N.) College at Pine Bluff.  She attended the Course of Study School for Part-time Local Pastors, The United Methodist Church located at Hendrix College, an affiliate of Perkins Seminary at Dallas, Texas.  She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Little Rock Alumnae Chapter.

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