Tennessee AgrAbility was proud to co-host the Arthritis, AgrAbility, and Rural Health Conference in August. Special thank-you to the NAP Staff planning committee, Amber Wolfe, Tess McKeel, JoBeth Rath and Steve Swain. There was lots of networking between the 10 AgrAbility states represented. BIG THANK YOU to all the excellent speakers! Much was learned about arthritis, agriculture, assistive technology; working with older farmers from a favorite Ag Nurse, Dr. Deborah Reed, from the UK College of Nursing; heard an OT perspective from Robin Stroud with KY AgrAbility; small farm training for beginner farmers at Tennessee State University and the New Farmer Academy from Finis Stribling ; horticulture therapy and accessible gardening. Toured the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture ongoing research at the UT Vet School, such as horse rehab, hydrotherapy, cow prosthesis, small and large animals; learned about protecting athletes' joints with new synthetic grasses with an informative tour of UT Turfgrass Research from Dr. Adam Thoms; and toured UT Gardens where Derrick Stowell talked about horticulture therapy and accessible gardening programs. Finished the conference with KY farmer veteran Mike Lewis talking about Growing Warriors and learned about "A Warrior's Garden" from Malachias Gaskin, a TN farmer veteran, who shared their stories. Thank you to ALL who made the conference a success. See everyone in Colorado in April!
Submitted by Joetta Turbeville White