APTA Nebraska Podcast
The APTA Nebraska Podcast dives into the stories, challenges, and innovations shaping physical therapy in our state. We’re here to advance, promote, and protect the practice of physical therapy, build our community, and optimize the health and quality of life for all Nebraskans.
APTA Nebraska Podcast
E9 - Insider's Guide to APTA Nebraska's Education Committee
Amber Herrington and Jen Bruursema share their journeys as physical therapists and their work with APTA Nebraska's Education Committee, working to unite Nebraska's PT community through continuing education and professional development.
• Amber owns a mobile physical therapy practice, bringing care directly to patients after 14 years in outpatient neuro rehab
• Jen specializes in geriatric PT at Innovate Rehab and Wellness, working across multiple settings to combat ageism and promote vitality in older adults
• Both co-chair the APTA Nebraska Education Committee, organizing the annual spring conference
• The committee has shifted to a "CSM model" featuring diverse two-hour sessions instead of single daylong workshops
• Speaker and poster submissions for the April 10-11, 2025 conference at UNMC's Trulson Center are due September 14, 2024
• Volunteer opportunities range from one-time conference day help to ongoing committee involvement
• Committee participation typically requires minimal time commitment—approximately one hour every other month
To get involved with the Education Committee, reach out directly to Amber or Jen through the APTA Nebraska website.
Episode Links:
Nebraska Physical Therapy Association - Education Committee
Nebraska Physical Therapy Association - Public Announcements
American Physical Therapy Association
Welcome to the APTA Nebraska podcast, where we dive into the stories, challenges and innovations shaping physical therapy in our state. We're here to advance, promote and protect the practice of physical therapy, optimizing the health and quality of life for all Nebraskans. Join us as we connect with experts, share insights and build communities throughout our profession.
Speaker 2:connect with experts, share insights and build communities throughout our profession. Welcome back to the APTA Nebraska podcast. I have Amber Harrington and Jen Bersama with me today. Hi ladies, how are you? Good? Good Thanks for joining.
Speaker 2:So we have been trying to focus our time and our conversations in a few different areas on this podcast. We've tried to highlight some of our membership. People that are physical therapists throughout Nebraska just try to hear about what their practice has been like, where they're at, what their communities are like. We've got to hear from people that are on different committees within our organization and just the good work they're doing. And then we're trying to hear about what's going on from an advocacy or practice perspective, especially as Nick has given us some of those updates along the way. And today we're focusing our time with Amber and Jen on the work of the Education Committee, and we'll get into some of that specific work here in a little bit, but before we do so, we'd just love to hear a little bit about each of you. Where are you currently working and can you just tell our audience a little bit more about yourselves, amber, why don't you go first?
Speaker 3:Yeah, my name is Amber Harrington. I currently own my own mobile physical therapy practice. Currently own my own mobile physical therapy practice. I worked in an outpatient neuro rehab setting for about 14 years and then COVID kind of hit and we saw a lot of people that wouldn't come into the clinic, maybe for health reasons or didn't feel comfortable with it, and even in my time prior there was a lot of patients that had a lot of difficulty getting into the clinic, and as part of my work I also took people out into the community for some of the groups that we offered there, and that was some of my favorite things being able to work with them kind of in the natural setting instead of in the clinic and so I decided to open a mobile practice where I go to the patient, and so I've been doing that now for about four years.
Speaker 2:Excellent.
Speaker 4:Thank you, jen. How about you? So I'm Jen Brissima. I work at Innovate Rehab and Wellness, which is in all of the Hillcrest Health systems, as well as some contract locations. My primary locations are out in Blair, nebraska, where I get to see some rural settings, working at an assisted living, working at long-term care, working in a SNF, and then I also work down at Shadow Lake area in Papillion and Bellevue I help out. So I'm kind of all over the place, primarily working with just the older adults and helping them, just kind of age on.
Speaker 2:And Jen, how long have you been practicing?
Speaker 4:So I have been a PT now for 15 years, but I've been with Innovate for just over 10.
Speaker 2:Okay, excellent. I'm always curious what led you guys into physical therapy in the first place, and maybe can you just talk about what do you enjoy about it?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I always kind of wanted to do something in the medical field and I think I was always involved in sports and so originally I kind of thought of like orthopedic surgeon, you know something along those lines, where I was involved with that, exposed a little bit more to PT when I had an injury in high school and just kind of saw the benefits of with PT kind of having a little bit more set schedule and being able to spend more time with the patients to really develop those connections and kind of see them through the long journey versus just a short period of time. And you know, I always like I just kind of find the human body and mind fascinating and PT was kind of a good meld of, you know, anatomy and physiology and psychology all together and so that's kind of what drew me into the PT profession.
Speaker 2:Did you recognize that the psychology piece of that was so big early on, or did it take some time into your career to recognize the value?
Speaker 3:I mean, I think I kind of saw it, you know, viewed it from kind of like a motivational and maybe like just coping with some of the stuff being with some of the stuff. You know, I think, like I said, originally I thought sports, but when I started doing some of my observations before going to PT school, I kind of fell in love with the neuro realm, which is where I landed, and so definitely, I mean, either way, you see a lot of people trying to cope and manage, and so I do. I did get an undergrad degree in psychology as well as biology.
Speaker 2:For that reason, so you kind of had that psychology hat on, you know real early. Yeah, that's good. And why do you still enjoy being a PT?
Speaker 3:Again, I think it's just that getting to interact with people and help them through that journey, that getting to interact with people and help them through that journey, um, you know I, you know, sometimes they make big improvements and get better and sometimes they don't and just being able to be with them through that process, um, I think is probably the thing that I enjoy the most.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Love it Jen. How about you?
Speaker 4:So I think that my first exposure to PT was was my mom. She had polio as a kid and post polio syndrome since then and just her rehab and recoveries and total shoulders and helping with that and and then having my own injury. I think that's why all PTs have some exposure is really our own injuries throughout life and then just kind of getting interested in that. I initially was going to do pharmacology and was just too much sciencey math for me. I was more into the wellness aspect.
Speaker 2:Excellent, and what are you still? Why do you still enjoy PT? What do you enjoy about?
Speaker 4:it, yeah. So for me, specializing in geriatrics and the older adult has really been very meaningful to me to kind of combat ageism from as young as we can and just fighting older adults' ageistness against themselves and trying to encourage them to be you know, yes, you can. You know you can do that you can lift heavy, you can, you know, recover. Just because you haven't been able to do it for so many years doesn't mean you can't do it, and so that's really what kind of drives me is just kind of fighting those things, and which is why I'm going to volunteer at the national senior games here in Des Moines to do some safe testing. And then, um, I know that APT Nebraska is also volunteering for safe uh stuff in Kearney, coming up here in August too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's excellent. There is information about that on the APTA Nebraska website if anyone is interested in volunteering for that. I love that idea of just you know kind of whether it's neuro. You know, amber, you're coming from this neuro background, jen, you're coming more from that geriatric maybe realm. But, you know, helping people live their fullest life in a lot of ways, right? So not not allowing them to just see what they can't do, but what they, what they can do some age old proverb there, probably Absolutely, yeah, no, I, I, just, I really appreciate that it's. It's helping helping people think beyond what their current capacity is and living with more vitality too. So really cool.
Speaker 2:Well, both of you, as we mentioned before, are involved in the education committee within our organization at APTA Nebraska. I understand that, not. I guess being involved in something kind of extracurricular is not for everyone. People are busy, there's a lot going on in life and everyone has a different season of life or life phases that they go through. That maybe pulls them toward different things, right, maybe it's organizations, it's kids, it's community activity. It's a number of different things that can influence what we're doing. But why did you guys get involved with APTA Nebraska and how long have you been involved?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you make a good point, brad. You know, I was always like attended the APTA things but wasn't always necessarily involved, I think early on, because, like you said, I was having kids and starting leadership roles in the place. I was working and just didn't know if I had the time to commit to it. So then, once some of those things kind of cleared up a little bit, then I did. I ended up deciding to um run for a position and so I ran for the nominating committee it's probably been six or seven years ago, cause it was right before COVID, I think and um was nominated or elected to be on the nominating committee. Um, and then after my term on that was over, I had been kind of starting my practice. And so then another couple of years, as I got that going and then reached back out to the education committee to see if there was a need for me to be involved there, and so now I've been helping on the education committee and serve as a co-chair on that. But you know I just want to encourage people, serve as a co-chair on that, but you know, I just want to encourage people.
Speaker 3:I think sometimes you may be thinking. You know they may be thinking they really don't have a chance to get involved if they try to run for something. But you know you think there's more experienced people or whatever. But I'll tell you we are always looking for more people to run for positions and there's people that enter you along the way. So don't be afraid to put your name in there. And you know there is some time commitment for some of those things, but I don't think it's outrageous and if you really want to get involved, you can find ways. We'll, we'll find ways that you can get involved that matches what you have available. So and you know some other ways that I was able to get involved too was I signed up to be a mentor for the early professionals, and that time you know that can be variable, how much time that you say you have available for that sometimes also and then just registering on that APTA Engage as well, because then you kind of can choose some opportunities to get involved there as well.
Speaker 2:Thanks, amber Jen. How about you?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So I think that when I first got pulled in it was by the prior president, grace Knott.
Speaker 4:So she was a co-worker and she just really encouraged me to get involved and I've just kind of been with it for the past six or so years, just really fell in love with it and I feel like the time commitment isn't as intense as some, you know, one might think.
Speaker 4:I think that in general the education committee meets maybe an hour every other month. We sometimes it requires a little bit extra time, sometimes not as much on certain months and then, but we are welcome, you know, we welcome volunteers who can only offer the day of the conference, you know, to offer their time for that day. We also have a new thing that we're trying to build is a sub committee of the education committee called the sponsorship committee. So just people looking to, you know, find sponsors, exhibitors, get the name out there for the conference and just kind of even do email blasts or one on one communications with the sponsors. So you don't even have to be an extrovert to be involved, you can be an introvert behind that computer, just type in those emails just at your leisure. So there's all different levels of involvement that we welcome.
Speaker 2:I love it. So thanks for sharing some of that information too, jen, I think those are really. You kind of told us a little bit about how you got involved, how you got pulled in, and you know, I think that's another good point. You know, amber, maybe your story is a little different of, hey, I noticed I had some space that was freeing up and I it's just been a part of who you are, your professional development, that you want to kind of dive into service. And Jen, on your end of things, maybe it was a mentor, someone that you worked with in Grace Knott, that said, hey, you'd be good at this and you'd be able to give back in this way, and so that was an encouragement.
Speaker 2:Obviously, there's a number of different ways to get involved in different organizations in those ways, but you know, jen, you started kind of diving into just some specific needs of the education committee or opportunities to get involved. Can you also maybe start to talk to us a little bit about what the Education Committee does? You know, is it just education? Is there anything different and what does the education look like?
Speaker 4:So primarily the Education Committee it's our main, sole purpose is to put on the spring conference every year.
Speaker 4:And you know the preparation for that starts right after the one happens. So in February of this year we put on, or not. February, march of this year we put on the conference and then we have already started putting out for the or preparing for the next conference, you know, looking at the surveys, results or comments from our attendees and taking all of that into effect and then we will have you'll have seen the email blasts for speakers, for posters, that have just gone out a couple weeks ago and calling for next year. And so we're starting that preparation. And so once we get all of those in, then the education committee goes over. You know, make sure it's evidence-based practice for the applicants, based practice for the applicants, and we make sure that we kind of stagger the topics so that it's not all in one area. So we make selections in that and then we, you know, start organizing the locations, the food, the. You know we meet with the exec committee about budget and what we have to run with for this conference.
Speaker 2:And that's like a really, really fast bullet pointed list. But I imagine that there's a lot. There is a lot of time that goes into that and a lot of thought that goes into that for you guys to. You know, you've said it's not a ton of time, but it does take adequate amounts of time for you guys to do some of that planning. Thank you for the work that you're doing in that space too. Do you guys come up with specific topics or themes for the conference, or how do you kind of plan around some of that? You know, I guess, if I'm listening and I'm interested in maybe you know, presenting on something, how should I, how should I gear that?
Speaker 4:I don't really think that we have themes, but I definitely think that we like to broaden the availability. So you know we're not all ortho, all neuro, all peds, all cardio. You know we'd love to hear on all the things that are going on in evidence and um yeah everything. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I assume you mentioned you're looking through the responses, response surveys after a conference and there's probably suggestions of things, or you gauge what interest levels are on different topics in those ways too, right.
Speaker 4:We do. The hardest thing is that because we switched to this kind of CSM model of speakers come to us and apply. We can't necessarily seek out speakers. However, we do try to. If they say, oh, we'd love to hear more on this, we do try to pull those topics for acceptance for the following year.
Speaker 2:Okay, and you know, I guess, since you brought that up, jen, you've been on this committee for six years. Amber, you said about about a year now, right. So, jen, one of the big changes has been hey, we've gone away from bringing a speaker in for like an eight hour course in a day and we've gone to more of this CSM model where we have two hour blocks with a variety of different topics and subjects. How do you guys feel like that's been going? What's the feedback that you've gotten on that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think we've had some good feedback on that. People kind of enjoy that and I think it gives them an opportunity to kind of hear what are the emerging things coming out, what is the new best practice and current knowledge, and then you know, having that awareness, you can start to dive deeper into some of those topic areas too if you want. But yeah, I think people like having the variety of topics versus you know we have when we bring in eight hour speakers we have kind of are limited in the topics we can choose, so this way that we can have a large variety that can appeal to a wide audience too.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, that's great. Um, I know that you just mentioned, uh, you know, a couple of weeks ago, the um, the call went out for abstracts and for presentations for speakers. Can you kind of just maybe walk us through the timeline of when are those due? When do you review them and notify some of those people when? When are when's their content due, those types of things? And, by the way, we'll have a link to all of this information. So if you miss it in conversation, there'll be a link, because Jen and Amber are just going to repeat what they already have sent out too, so why don't you share that with our audience?
Speaker 4:So the speakers and the posters are due September 14th and we will start notifying. We'll go through all of them and gather all that and to notify potential speakers and posters that are accepted by October in October and then, once they've accepted, we get some contracts out to them at the end of October. So it's about a one week turnaround from when you're notified that you're accepted to getting those agreements posted and then registration should be open beginning of 2026. So it's usually the end of the year to the beginning of the year where we open for the conference where we open for the conference.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and the conference this year. I don't know if we talked about it, but the conference that sure will be April 10th and 11th at the Trulson Center at UNMC.
Speaker 2:Excellent, we had not talked about that, but thank you for dropping that news in here too. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2:You bet Okay. So I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. I feel like we've shared quite a bit of information about what you guys do from an education committee standpoint. Jen, you shared just some really maybe easy ways to get engaged with education committee as well. If there's any level of interest, I guess I might ask if people are interested in getting engaged, is it best to just reach out to one of you guys or to use APTA Engage? What would you guys suggest?
Speaker 3:I think right now the best way would probably be to just reach out to us and, like Jen said, looking for people to help with some of the sponsorships. And then at the conference we're always looking for people also to help with helping the exhibitors get set up, helping us register people as they come in for the conference and helping be kind of like a speaker liaison that can kind of introduce the speaker and make announcements and then help work with it the IT people if there's any issues with some of the AB stuff and I think that's a really great networking opportunity to get involved with some of that too, because you'll get to meet a lot of people as they're coming in for the conference and so that's a great way to get involved.
Speaker 2:Jen. Anything else you want to add, Amber, come on.
Speaker 4:If you do need to email us, our emails are linked on the Education Committee website.
Speaker 2:I'll link that in the show notes too, just so it's an easy place for people to go to. Well, I think that kind of rounds out our discussion for the day. I appreciate you guys just kind of giving us a little insight into what you're doing from an education committee standpoint, how people can get engaged, and even just kind of sharing the general timeline, especially over the next couple months. If people are interested in submitting, I would just say you know, amber, I was in a similar position to you where, you know, first maybe decade of my career was spent growing in leadership within the company that I was in and getting engaged in some other organizations.
Speaker 2:But, you know, as those timelines kind of ran out, I found my way into APTA Nebraska too, and I've just, you know, even in the last several years I've enjoyed getting to reconnect with people that I hadn't seen in a while. I think that's one of the things that I've enjoyed about the membership committee too, is you just have ways to connect with people that you don't know, or to reconnect with people that you knew 10, 15 years ago as well. That's been really fun. It's a great way to network throughout our state, to build community within our profession, and there's been really great content too, so you guys are doing a phenomenal job.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Brad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks again for joining the conversation. Audience, as mentioned, take a look at those links in the show notes and look forward to getting to see the fruition of this conversation in April April 10th and 11th. So mark that on your calendars too. Thanks again, you guys and audience, look forward to sharing our next conversation with you as well.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to the APTA Nebraska podcast. Stay connected with us for more conversations that elevate our profession and improve the lives of Nebraskans. Don't forget to subscribe, share and join the discussion, because together we're driving the future of physical therapy forward.
