National AgrAbility Project News

AgrAbility Webinar Series: Small Farm Guide to Selecting and Purchasing Equipment,Tuesday, June 9, 2015, 3:00 p.m. EDT. More

The NAP Advisory Team met in Indianapolis on May 13-14 for discussion of the project's activities and feedback on future endeavors. Represented advisory organizations included RESNA, APRIL, FFA, and Extension, in addition to NAP partners.

Chuck Baldwin enjoyed his role as videographer at AgrAbility's 2015 NTW in Rochester, and he thanks everyone who was willing to share what AgrAbility means to them on video. Having the tour bus he was on get stuck at a winery wasn't all bad either!

Mark your calendars! August 24-27 in Knoxville, Tennessee, is the
ARTHRITIS/AGRABILITY CONFERENCE! More

The NAP sponsored an exhibit at the 2015 AOTA Conference in Nashville. Special thanks to Tennessee AgrAbility for staffing this display and conducting great outreach.

Amber Wolfe organized a fun and informative photo shoot with 12 Indian Creek FFA members on April 24 to be used in the Rural Arthritis Curriculum Resource. More

Click here for the schedule of upcoming Community of Interest and Standing Committee call information.

State and Regional AgrAbility Project News

California

Several CalAgrAbility farmers received assistance from ATs, including an air conditioner, glasses, and a "nut & fruit gatherer." More

CalAgrAbility's 76 year-old orchid farmer offers solutions for farming with wet macular degeneration (MD). More

Each year, Migrant Centers open in the spring, welcoming dozens of migrant families, some of whom have been migrating for 20 years. CalAgrAbility attended events at Davis, Madison, and Dixon to conduct mini-health workshops on tractor safety, hearing, arthritis and diabetes in Spanish for over 100 families. More

CalAgrAbility Staff served 92 families at the Public Health and Awareness Fair in Woodland, CA. Many families asked about arthritis. CalAgrAbility introduced them to resources addressing weather-related causes, cracking knuckles and the repetitive nature of the job.

CalAgrAbility led the "Health is Wealth: Management of Diabetes" workshop for over 40 rural/migrant families at the Dixon Migrant Center and the Native American Health Clinic in Woodland who work and/or have worked in agriculture, packing and greenhouses, hoeing in fields, harvesting olives and/or driving tractors. More

VR, CalAgrAbility and Ability Tools met to prepare for a collaborative webinar to promote how they can work together to enable farmers and farmworkers to achieve farming and living safely. CalAgrA partner, Ability Tools, also hosted "Staying in your Home: AT for Seniors,"... More

CalAgrAbility is collaborating with Community Medical Centers (CMC) and the Farm to Mouth Project in Yolo County. More

CalAgrAbility director, Fadi Fathallah, interviewed with Maureen Jerrett of The Northern California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) Bridges, due out mid-June. More

Representatives of FREED (ILC) and the Arthritis Foundation contacted Martha C. Stiles, former director of CalAgrAbility and now a consultant. Martha referred the regional manager at the Central Coast Arthritis Foundation to staff to develop educational programs for arthritis prevention and management among agricultural workers. More

CalAgrAbility wrote a promo for services to be included in D'Primera Mano (First Hand) a Spanish Magazine with a distribution of 30,000 in Sacramento, Yolo, Marin, Colusa, Napa, Yuba and San Joaquin counties.

CalAgrAbility thanks their AT Tools partner, Rosemarie Punzalan, for representing California at the 2015 NTW in New York. More

CalAgrAbility staff attended the Georgia AgrAbility webinar and shared Assistive Technology Solutions in Minutes II: Ordinary Items, Extraordinary Solutions by Therese Willkomm with partner, Ability Tools.

CalAgrAbility mass mailed a Research News Letter on prostheses that was forwarded.

This year the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at UC Davis is celebrating 100 years! CalAgrAbility joined the department and staffed a booth at Picnic Day to celebrate this important milestone.

CalAgrAbility continues to Tweet. Follow us at https://twitter.com/calagrability                       

Colorado

April was a busy and productive month for Colorado AgrAbility. The entire staff as well as two of their clients attended the NTW in Rochester. Two of the staff were presenters.

Colorado AgrAbility conducted an in-service training for the recreational therapists at Craig Hospital which included both Colorado's and some neighboring states' clients. The states represented were Utah, Nebraska, and New Mexico.

A news story in a local media led Colorado AgrAbility to reach out to Agribotix of Boulder CO. They were given a tour of the shop. This state-of-the-art, cutting-edge manufacturer offers drones for agriculture. More

CO AgrAbility's own Candy Leathers has been asked to sit on the Advisory Council of the Colorado state AT Coalition. More

Candy and Jim attended the Colorado State Office of Rural Health annual conference. More

Jim attended a veterans appreciation breakfast at the Wings Over the Rockies museum. This was a great event and fed nearly 400 vets. Jim had a display table and talked with most of the vets there, spreading the word about AgrAbility.

As a member of the United Veterans Committee of Colorado, Jim attended the UVC annual banquet, as did nearly 900 other vets and families. Sloan Gibson, the Deputy Secretary of the VA was guest of honor. More

Each year the members of the Colorado National Guard, both Air and Army sides, get together for a conference. Jim attended the conference and spoke with many guardsmen and women. Colorado AgrAbility was presented with a certificate of cooperation for their efforts in reaching out to the Guard. More

Indiana

Linda Tarr, southern Indiana coordinator, learned a lot at the National Training Workshop. She enjoyed helping host the farmer luncheon.

Linda also participated in the Community of Interest conference call for arthritis and met with two new clients.

Amber Wolfe has been busy presenting workshops for the Morgan County Master Gardeners (April 2), Bartholomew County Flower Lane Garden Club (April 21), Purdue Extension-Brown County (April 21), and the Cornerstone Church Community Gardeners (April 23).

Kentucky

KY AgrAbility is back on the road talking to clients and attending conferences. More

The new accessible garden project at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Center is ready for planting now. It allows for many different types of disabilities to utilize the garden area. Click here to see its beauty.

The 12th Annual AT Conference and KY Spinal Cord Congress will be held at the Griffin Gate Marriott in Lexington, KY on June 17th and 18th. More

John, Carol and Maryfrances will be attending and presenting at the Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists (ADED) Conference in Louisville, July 31st through August 2nd, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The title of the presentation is "The Role of a Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist in Farm Assessments".

September 1 -3, 2015, is the Kentucky Rehabilitation Association Conference at the Galt House in Louisville, KY. John, along with Carol and Maryfrances, will be attending, as will the OVR case workers that work with AgrAbility clients.

KY AgrAbility will be participating in the Arthritis and AgrAbility Training in Knoxville late this summer.

Maine

Maine AgrAbility staff was busy preparing for, driving to, and presenting at, the NTW in Rochester this month. What a great event in which to share and learn so much!

Michigan

Michigan AgrAbility was promoted during a series of state-wide agricultural safety and health trainings funded by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) Consultation, Education, and Training (CET) Division. More

Michigan's Clinton County Farm Bureau celebrated a successful membership drive last month, giving the event an unusual twist. Instead of the usual high-fives for a job well done, the group chose to conduct the event as a fund raiser and selected Michigan AgrAbility as a beneficiary. More

Missouri

Dr. Kelly Cochran, PharmD, BCPS, presented to over 40 pharmacy students about resources, services, and the mission of the Missouri AgrAbility Project. More

Kelly Cochran and Karen Funkenbusch presented a poster at the National Training Workshop titled: Outreach and Education Provided to AgrAbility Clients with Disabilities through Innovative Collaboration between Pharm to Farm and Missouri AgrAbility Project.

North Carolina

The North Carolina AgrAbility Partnership was proud to have representatives from all its project partners as well as four farm families in attendance at this year's National AgrAbility Training Workshop in Rochester, New York. More

Project Coordinator Michele Proctor was the guest presenter April 23, 2015, for the eastern regional training for the "Let's Talk About Arthritis/Hablemos Sobre Artritis" train-the-trainer at the NC Agromedicine Institute at East Carolina University. More

The NC AgrAbility Partnership extended its Peer Farmer Lunch series to the western part of the state April 28th in Hickory, NC. More

Nebraska

An AgrAbility Awareness dinner was held April 4th, as a project in marketing for two University of Nebraska - Kearney students. More

"Rehabilitating Farmers and Ranchers with Disabilities" was presented April 23rd in Kearney for health care professionals, with eight attendees and four networkers. More

Emily Freudenburg, Rural Rehab Specialist, attended the April 30th Easter Seals Nebraska "Celebration of Dreams: A Tribute to the Stars and Stripes", for ESN staff and veterans. More

Four Nebraska AgrAbility team members attended NTW in Rochester, NY, networking with other project staff members, farmers and ranchers and specialists. Displays from vendors, state projects and the NAP were excellent for idea-sharing and conversations on new educational activities and available AT.

Ohio

Ohio AgrAbility Project's peer-to-peer program was in full swing again when a member and his friend were able to help a younger member with a diagnosis of ADHD. More

Ohio AgrAbility Project completed another year of working with University of Dayton first year engineering students on a project to develop assistive technology tools or equipment to help farmers with disabilities. More

Tennessee

Thank you from TN veteran farmer Trost who attended the NTW on an AgrAbility scholarship. He is excited about FVC and connecting with more farmer veterans and resources.

TN AgrAbility assisted with Progressive Agriculture Foundation Safety Days and several scheduled for summer months.

Tennessee State University, TN AgrAbility partner, began a second class of New Farmer Academy. Farmers commit to six months of training for new farmers and returning veterans to develop successful farming skills.

TN AgrAbility staff Joetta T. White and TN volunteer and OT Steven Penick manned the National AgrAbility booth at the NAOTA in Nashville, TN, where over 9,000 OTs attended. More

TN AgrAbility presented AgrAbility services to the Cattleman's Association.

TN AgrAbility staff Eileen Legault, Tim Prather and Finis Stribling attended the National AgrAbility Conference in New York.

Utah

AgrAbility of Utah sponsored booths at the Arizona/Utah Range Livestock Workshop April 7 in Hurricane, Utah, and April 8 in Orderville, Utah. The exhibit included an AgrAbility tabletop display and outreach materials.

Utah State University Extension released AgrAbility of Utah's new fact sheet, Farming in the Heat with Chronic Health Conditions. More

Wisconsin

AgrAbility of Wisconsin staff took students and staff from the La Crosse Technical School occupational therapy assistant class on a visit to a client's farm early in April. More

AgrAbility of Wisconsin hosted a neighbor-to-neighbor meeting for clients in the Soldiers Grove area. More

West Virginia

WV AgrAbility was well represented at the 2015 AgrAbility National Training Workshop held in Rochester, NY. Representatives from all four funded partner organizations were present. More

Four Sessions Presented by WV AgrAbility Staff at the NTW in Rochester, NY More

WV AgrAbility personnel met with staff from the CED TBI (WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities Traumatic Brain Injury) project to discuss and brainstorm options for service and funding resources for an individual who wants to begin gardening. More

WV AgrAbility staff participated in the April meeting of FACES, a disability networking and support group. More

WV AgrAbility staff attended the 2015 WV Beef Expo and Stockman's Contest held April 9 through 11, 2015. More

WV AgrAbility staff participated in the 2015 meeting of the West Virginia Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Spring Conference at Twin Falls State Park. More

Staff Changes

Maine

Congratulations to one of our Advisory Council members for earning her ATP this winter - Kelley McTague, COTA/L, ATP, Program Manager of Assistive Technology Services Goodwill Industries of Northern New England.

North Carolina

The NC AgrAbility Partnership bids farewell to project coordinator Michele Proctor. Michele served the North Carolina AgrAbility Partnership since September, 2010, as part of the grant planning committee, and as the project coordinator since 2011. Michele has been a dedicated member of the AgrAbility community with direct experience both in production agriculture on her family's multi-commodity farm as well as in serving individuals with disabilities through previous job experience.

Michele was honored with the support of NC AgrAbility project clients, and was awarded for her work as the recipient of the 2014 Breaking New Ground Achievement Award presented by the National AgrAbility Project. She also received the 2014 Stephen E. Sallee Assistive Technology Award of Excellence presented by the Grant Advisory Council of the NC Assistive Technology Program. Through collaboration with NC AgrAbility and other SRAP partners, work that Michele directly contributed to has been published every year at the national, state, and local level. Michele would like to thank the Project partners, NC AgrAbility clients, and AgrAbility colleagues across the country for their support and the opportunity to serve the AgrAbility community.

AgrAbility in the News

Click here for news stories featuring AgrAbility projects.

• Farm tours offered at free beginning veteran farmer workshop, April 27 in Rolla
• Third Graders Participate in Farm Safety Day
• Rehabilitating Disabled Farmers and Ranchers: A Priority in Rural Nebraska
• Coming to his aid
• Wear and tear of farm work
• Michigan youth create service projects to benefit Michigan AgrAbility
• Youth service project benefits AgrAbility
• VT AgrAbility Project
• How your eating habits can help create a healthier environment!
• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Videos tagged “AGRAbility”

Other News

Click here for other news of interest to AgrAbility staff members.

• Veterans Find Refuge In Farming
• Kids With Special Needs Become Superheroes In Mom's Awesome Photo Series
• The Color of Food: Building Autonomy as African American Farmers
• Irish Farmers’ New Sheepdog Is A Flying Robot
• Women in ag survey results
• How can we stop farmer suicides?
• Urban Agriculture An Alternative To Industrial Food Production
• Forests are 'key feature' of food security landscape

Upcoming Events

Click here for professional development events related to AgrAbility.

Problems? Contact Clifford Racz, National AgrAbility Project, racz@purdue.edu