Jan. 13, 2009 issue
I was chair of the education committee at
the University of Michigan's Orthotic-Prosthetic Center
(UMOPC) when Eastern Michigan Professor Douglas Briggs
approached me about starting an O&P
program at EMU. We worked for 13 years — and through many
permutations — to get the program
started. In its current form, it's a joint venture pairing
EMU's academic resources with UMOPC's technical and clinical
resources.
The O&P program admitted its first class in 2003, with Dr. Briggs
as the program director. In 2004, I retired from UMOPC,
thinking that I would teach a few classes at EMU and a
few at Washtenaw Community College, and otherwise take
it easy. But our accreditation requirements said we had to
have someone on staff full-time whom the American Board
for Certification in Orthotics and Prosthetics accredited.
Since I qualified, I applied and got the position.
When Dr Briggs left several years later, I was named director — a
turn of events I certainly never would have imagined when
I retired from UMOPC.
The great thing about the field of O&P is that it's never boring.
There's always something new — new pathologies, new componentry,
new procedures. There's always that something, and there
are so many different ways you have to look at things when
you're in clinical practice.
I have been involved in O&P education in one way or another since
my first faculty position at Northwestern in 1976. I enjoy
teaching and almost everything that goes with it, from
course preparation to research. One of the things I have
really enjoyed, recently, is working with students on independent
study. I like seeing them think and plan and work through
a problem. When I'm in class, I think more in terms
of, "this
is the information you've got to learn." When they're doing
independent studies, there's much more fluidity. You see
how the students are thinking and how they deal with problems.
Hopefully, in this role, I'm more of a guide than an autocrat.
Eastern
is one of the best work environments I've ever been in.
That's not to say there aren't stresses and strains, but
I work with great people; people who excel in their respective
fields and who are committed to their students. I think
that our program has excellent support from the university
and from its administration, as well as from our professional
community. Eastern can be challenging, but it also is a
really comfortable, pleasant place to work. — Contributed
by Amy E. Whitesall
