Toronto’s Blue Jay Marcus Stroman returns to baseball thanks in part to rehab at Duke University

Written by Robert Butler and Abigail Carpenter.

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman celebrates after his 8-0 complete game against the Chicago Cubs in Toronto on Monday, September 8, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman celebrates after his 8-0 complete game against the Chicago Cubs in Toronto on Monday, September 8, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

As the Toronto Blue Jays continue their run in the AL Division Series, the performance of pitcher Marcus Stroman is garnering much attention, as his unexpected return in September astonished the sports world. After suffering a ruptured ACL during spring training in early March, Stroman was told he would be out for the entire season. 2015 looked to be Stroman’s breakout season as he was projected to be the opening day starter for the Blue Jays. Although Stroman could have stayed with the team following surgery to complete rehabilitation, he decided to make the most of a bad situation by returning to Duke to complete his bachelor’s degree while simultaneously undergoing personalized rehabilitation and performance training with Nikki Huffman, DPT, ATC, SCS, and Jason Shutt, DPT under the direction of Robert Butler, PT, PhD.

While Stroman attended a full schedule of classes each week, he also completed a rigorous rehabilitation schedule including 11 training session per week. Mornings began with physical therapy under the direction of Nikki Huffman. After a short break and attending afternoon classes Stroman spent the early evening in the Michael W. Krzyzewski Human Performance Lab with Jason Shutt. Dr. Butler’s team relied on technology to guide the process and elucidate the best opportunities for progress each day. This allowed for a personalized progression timeline specific to Stroman that could be adapted based on his functional gains. Stroman thrived in this environment and by the time he completed his course work in mid-August he had also completed an extensive amount of his rehab checklist and was in line to begin sport specific progressions. Following two minor league rehab starts in Lansing and Buffalo Stroman rejoined the Blue Jays in September where he posted a 1.67 ERA (2nd best in organization history for the month of September) in four crucial starts as the Blue Jays were locked in a tight battle with the New York Yankees for the top seat in the division. With the addition of Stroman to the roster the Blue Jays prevailed as AL East Champions.

This story has been picked up across Canada and in USA Today. In the Discovery channel Stroman specifically thanks his team at Duke for getting him back to the mound so soon.

http://www.discovery.ca/video?vid=722847

 

Leonard White appointed to Bass Connection

Doctor Leonard White

Durham, N.C– Doctor Leonard White an Associate Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery was recently appointed as Co-Director by the Vice Provost of Interdisciplinary Studies. Doctor White is looking to grow this section of Brain & Society.

“Bass Connections in Brain & Society engages undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty from different programs and majors in an immersive curriculum that combines research and coursework into a common program of scholarship in multidisciplinary project teams. Curricular and project elements build connections between basic research in neuroscience (and related biological sciences) and socially challenging questions in medicine, the humanities, public policy, economics, ethics and law, to understand issues such as physical and social responses to transformative events; the workings of the brain in rhetoric and the arts; memory in legal testimony; and the role of decision processes in shaping our institutions and public policies. Each Brain & Society team tackles a current issue relating to the brain and its link to society as a whole.”

If you are interested in finding more information on Brain and Society click here.

Congratulations Dr Robert Zura, Principal Investigator for the FLOW study at Duke University

Robert ZuraAt 411 pm Pacific time on 10/08/2015, the New England Journal of Medicine released the results of the FLOW study. (Best method to treat open fractures) The release was done simultaneous with the symposium presentation at the OTA Annual meeting.

Dr Zura and his Research Coordinator, Maria Manson, have been working on this research protocol for the past 6 years. Forty-one institutions collaborated to the success of this multicenter study with a total of 2551 patient randomized.

You can read the article: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1512287

This study would not have been possible without the support of many Duke University Medical Center Orthopaedic Surgeons –
Steven Olson, Robert Zura, Rachel Reilly, Prerana Patel, Claude T Moorman, Fraser Leversedge, Chard Harbour, Brian Brigman, David Ruch, Nikoletta Leontaritis, Michael Bolognesi, Shalini Ramasunder, Alison Toth, Allen Diane, Grant Garrigues, Dean Taylor, Richard C. Mather III, Kristoff Reid, Robert Lark, Samuel Adams.

Protocol and Collaborators

http://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMoa1508502/suppl_file/nejmoa1508502_appendix.pdf

Week of 5-Oct – Orthopaedic Departmental Web Site Update

The go-live date for the new Orthopaedic Website is quickly approaching. The project team continues to focus on content with the two largest sections being Research and Education and Training. As stated in earlier blogs, we realize all content will not be completed by go-live. However, the website will be dynamic with the ability to update content on-demand. This is a benefit of the Drupal 7 content management system – ease of use in updating content. WYSIWYG (which stands for “What you see is what you get”) is the editing interface that we use for the body field of our pages.

Earlier this week the project team met with Duke’s DHTS platform services group. We have everything lined up for a smooth transition from development to production. Next week we will start to finalize pictures to incorporate into our content with a mix of Ortho and Duke Photography.

Thanks, again, for all involved in providing content as we realize you are completing with important priorities.

ACTION REQUIRED: Duke Dependent Eligibility Verification Initiative

Duke Orthopaedics Department,

I want to bring an important action that is required by all Duke employees and will have a negative impact on your benefits if not completed in the timeframe provided. By now you should have received a Dependent Verification Packet at your home address on file. The verification process is simple.  The packet shows which dependents you’ll need to verify and what information you’ll need to submit.  You can submit your documentation through Duke@Work and the whole process should take less than 5 minutes or you can mail in the Verification Form and required documentation.

The purpose of this exercise is to control the rising costs of health care by ensuring the Duke benefits plan is not paying claims for ineligible dependents. The Dependent Eligibility Verification process began the end of August and will run through late November.

A couple of key points:

  • If you haven’t received your packet by Monday, 10/12, please check your address on Duke@Work (work.duke.edu).  Click on the “My Info” tab and then the “My Profile” link.  If your address is incorrect, please update it.  The update will be sent to the Xerox (the company handling the verification process) and they will automatically send you a new packet.  Please note: you DO NOT need a packet to complete this process.  It can be done through Duke@Work -> “My Info” -> “My Benefits” -> “Dependent Verification”.
  • The “snapshot” date for this mailing was July 17th.  If you signed up for medical coverage after 7/17, you will not receive a packet.
  • The verification process is only for dependents on medical coverage.  If you don’t have dependents on your medical coverage, you will not receive a packet.  Dental and Vision is not included in the audit.
  • You must complete the verification process by November 6th or your dependents, eligible or not, will be dropped as of 12/31/2015.
  • This is a completely separate process from Open Enrollment which will be October 26th to November 6th.   Open Enrollment is when you can change your benefit plans and re-elect reimbursement account amounts.  The Dependent Verification process is an audit to make sure that the dependents you are covering on your medical plan are eligible to be covered.

PLEASE do not put this off.  Once you gather the required documentation, the verification process will take you very little time.  However, if you miss the deadline, there will not be any exceptions made.

Key Timelines:

September 3rd – Formal eligibility verification packet mailed to homes, employees have 60 days to respond

December 31st – Coverage cancelled for ineligible dependents and non-respondents (Other health insurance for 2016 may include healthcare exchange or NC Health Choice Plan for Children)

Duke Human Resources has partnered with Xerox HR Solutions in conducting this initiative. If you have any questions about the process or eligibility, please contact the Xerox Helpline at 1-844-863-8561 (Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. or Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. (EST).

Envelope - Duke Dependent Eligibility Verification Initiative

REMINDER: Flu Vaccination Schedules: Staff and Faculty

October 6, 2015

To:          School of Medicine HR Managers and Business Managers

From:    Billy Newton, Vice Dean for Finance, Duke University School of Medicine Betsy Hames, Chief Human Resources Officer, Duke University School of Medicine

Re:         REMINDER:  Flu Vaccination Requirements

According to the School of Medicine (SoM) flu vaccination policy, all SoM regular and non-regular rank faculty (with the exception of Consulting, Adjunct, and Emeritus) with primary faculty appointments in Clinical Departments and all staff whose positions are in the organizational units of a Clinical Department or the following SoM Institutes, Centers, Programs and Offices are required to be compliant:

    • Duke Cancer Institute
    • Duke Clinical Research Institute
    • Duke Translational Research Institute
    • Clinical and Translational Science Award
    • Duke Clinical Research Unit
    • CT2
    • Duke Translational Medicine Institute
    • Brain Imaging and Analysis Center
    • Heart Center
    • Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development
    • Medical Physics Program
  • Duke Office of Clinical Research

Those employees required to be vaccinated must be compliant by November 3, 2015. For those staff required to be vaccinated, compliance is a condition of employment. For faculty required to be vaccinated, non-compliance could result in denied access to Duke Medicine EMR and clinical facilities and/or an impact on performance evaluations.

Managers should continually monitor OESO Reports and encourage non-compliant employees to be vaccinated. As indicated in the policy, those individuals who are not compliant by November 3, 2015, will be given 3 days to be compliant before additional consequences may be enacted, including termination. Managers are required to track new employees to ensure compliance within the 2-week period after the employee’s start date.

Vaccinations for employees are available for free at locations listed online at http://duke.edu/flu/shots/. (see dates and locations below)

Flu vaccination is strongly encouraged but remains voluntary for SoM Consulting, Adjunct, and Emeritus faculty, all post-doctoral researchers (associates and scholars), and all faculty and staff in the Basic Science departments and all other SoM institutes and centers not listed above. House staff should adhere to the Duke University Health System flu vaccination policy. Faculty and staff leased in any amount to the PDC should adhere to the PDC’s vaccination policy. Students in the School of Medicine should adhere to the flu vaccination policy specific to students.

Employees may request a medical or religious exemption from vaccination. Exemption forms and instructions for completing the forms are available at https://medschool.duke.edu/fluvaccinepolicy.  In order to ensure timely processing of the exemption request, medical or religious exemption requests should be submitted by October 12, 2015.

Faculty and staff can visit Employee Occupational Health & Wellness or attend a clinic for flu shots. No appointment is necessary.

Please see the schedule below for dates and locations.

Date Time Location
September 21 – November 3
Every Monday-Friday
7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
(closed Wednesdays from 12 to 2 p.m. starting Sept 28th)
Duke Clinic
Employee Occupational Health & Wellness
Red Zone, Basement Level
September 17 – 25 7:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Duke Hospital
Front entrance of Atrium cafeteria
September 28 – November 3
Every Monday-Friday
7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
(closed Wednesdays from 12 to 2 p.m.)
Duke Regional Hospital
Employee Occupational Health & Wellness
2nd level hallway between Hospital and Watts Building
September 30 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. MSRB II
Research Drive, Room #3090
October 6 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. HR
705 Broad St, Conf. Room 03
October 7 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Smith Warehouse
177 Bay 6 — 1st floor
October 8 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Erwin Square
October 8 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. University Development
614 West Main Street, Conference Room Honeysuckle. Access on Fuller St – room behind reception desk, first room on right.
October 9 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Perkins Library
Room 218
October 12 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. North Pavilion
Lower lecture Room
October 14 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. American Tobacco
334 Blackwell St., Strickland Bld, Trinity Rm – 1st floor behind reception area.
October 15 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Durham Center (Downtown)
300 West Morgan Street, Management Office Conference Room (across from plaza lobby)
October 20 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lilly Library
Staff Room 04, Basement
From front desk take elevator to basement. Room 04 is on other end of basement floor.
October 27 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Fuqua Business
Jenkins A&B

Letter from Dr. Michel Landry – Update from Nepal…looking forward to being back home soon

Dear DPT faculty, staff, students and friends,  

I know that I’ve have not been in touch with any updates, so I thought that maybe I should send a little update a few weeks before I’m back at Duke (by the way, my first day back is Monday Oct 26).

Before leaving Durham I was really well intentioned to be sending you periodic updates, but to be honest, it has been a hard assignment here for many reasons.  Life can be  very, very difficult here in Nepal, and the spring earthquakes were follow by months of worrisome aftershocks and heavy monsoon rains. The rain and the quakes seem to have stopped for the moment, but the geological predictions is that the the earthquakes from 6-months ago are really just a precursor and that the build-up of pressure beneath Nepal will unleash again soon.  It seems that we are always on edge, and any little tremor sends shock waves…it only happened a few times that building were evacuated while trembling…and that was plenty for me.   

Anyhow, even beyond the after-shocks, there has been a lot of political activity while I have been here…the country passed a new constitution recently (there was an interim constitution since 2009 when the 10-year civil war needed), but there are about 100 ethnic groups here in Nepal (such as the famed Sherpa’s who live mostly around Everest) and not all were pleased with the outcome.  So, lots of bloodshed along the southern border with India known as the Terai, for about 2 months.  This placed severe restriction on our ability to move about the country (UN vehicles are often targeted in these types of circumstances), and then more recently there has been a blockade at the border with India preventing all types of fuel (petrol, diesel, kerosene, etc…) from entering the country.  On a normal day 300 fuel trucks enter from India.  Over the last month, about 300 trucks in total have entered…and so we now live under acute fuel crisis, and people are stockpiling.  I realize that I am giving you a bit of a ‘bleak’ picture here…but this is reality for me, and all of us here in Nepal at the moment.  Life is often a hard grind, but the Nepali pride and spirit is something to behold.  I am looking forward to my talk on November 2nd that Chad Cook and the DPT executive have arranged: I have some stories, pictures and videos that I am anxious to share with you all.  I’ll warn you…and I may have mentioned this before to some of you, but there are many story from my travels (including here in Nepal) that I will share, but there are some stories and experiences which are so deeply moving, personal, and haunting that I have difficulty sharing.  I save these only for my wife, usually late at night over a shockingly strong gin & tonic.

My early days here in Nepal (July and August) were filled mostly by rounding on injured patients in hospital or field sites.  Rehabilitation capacity here is growing, but gaps remain…especially in terms of follow up with people post surgery, removal of external fixators, etc… I was also heavily involved in delivering medical camp kits (MCKs) by UN helicopters to remote villages above 6,000 meters, and distributing rehabilitation equipment that were donated to Nepal.  I’ll be honest, these first few months took me back to my younger years as a humanitarian aid worker and physio in different parts of the Former Yugoslavia, and Guatemala.  However, overtime my activities and responsibilities transitioned more toward policy work with the Nepal Ministry of Health and Population and developing a national strategy on what will be called “National Plan on Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation.”   Given the political conflict and crisis that has occurred in the last month, our plans are delayed, and we’ll not achieve our outcomes by next week….so even when I return home I will likely be involved (in some capacity) with WHO in Nepal. 

I am so excited that this coming Monday.  I will be speaking on behalf of WHO at the opening of a ‘step down facility’ where we collaborated with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a village called Chautara.  A step down facility here is a temporary in-patinet facility for people injured by the quake who are medically stable enough to be discharged from hospital, but do not have the factional capacity/ability to go back home (if their home is still standing).  There will be a heavy focus on rehabilitation and functional restoration, and we’ve developed standardized protocols and will be using standardized outcomes measures (like the WHODAS 2.0) to measure and evaluate progress, but to trigger rapid patient discharge so that we can treat the maximum number of people in the shortest possible time frame .  I’m also very proud to say that we have recruited one of the alumni of the Duke-Bergen (Norway) summer institute initiative to come to Nepal and lead the clinical service delivery of the step-down facility, and we know that he’ll do a wonderful job (actually he will be the first PT that IOM has ever hired..they are not a rehabilitation NGO, but have recognized the need to address the needs of people with disabilities I disaster settings as part of their core work).  At the step-down facility, we will set the standard on how to do a ‘step-down’ facility well, and this process will become part ofWHO’s basic package of disaster relief for the future.

Nepal - M. LandryAnyhow, just a quick update, and to wish you all well from here in Kathmandu.  I took a photo on my way back from WHO office this evening (see attached).  Now that the monsoon season is over… the sky has turned from all shades of grey, to beautiful shades of blue.  In the photo you will see In the distance, way in the distance, a glimpse of the world’s highest peak – Mt. Everest (called Sagarmatha in Nepali).  It is an absolutely awesome and majestic view, one that no picture or video can truly capture.  As I took this picture, it was as though the ‘Sun went down looking like the eye of God’ …and for me, after more than 3 months here, that was a very good thing.

Bye for now, and looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Mike

 

 

 

Welcome Dr. Jeffrey Hoder, PT, DPT, NCS to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

hoder2 (2)Please join me in welcoming Dr. Jeffrey Hoder to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.  Dr. Hoder joins the Doctor of Physical Therapy faculty here at Duke, where his primary responsibilities will be to oversee the teaching of the adult neurologic rehabilitation content throughout the curriculum. He received both his DPT and MS degrees in Physical Therapy from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)/ now a part of Rutgers University.  Additionally, he received his clinical specialist board certification in Neurology through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties in 2003 and was recertified in 2013.  Dr. Hoder has significant experience in neuro-rehabilitation that he obtained while working as a Neurologic Clinical Specialist at the Rusk Institute of New York University Medical Center, organizing their comprehensive stroke program, and at the Kessler Institute in New Jersey, where he supervised the traumatic brain injury program.  From 2006 to 2012, he was on faculty at Emory University within the Division of Physical Therapy in Atlanta teaching adult neuro-rehabilitation to their entry-level doctor of physical therapy students.  From 2012 through this year, he has been on the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University as an Assistant Professor within the Department of Neurology. While at VCU, he acted as the Program Director of Rehabilitation and Wellness within the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center, where he was involved in the creation of the multidisciplinary center’s program from its inception.  His research interests lie in the evaluation and management of gait and balance issues for individuals with movement disorders. He is extremely excited to have the opportunity to be amongst such an esteemed faculty and to have the opportunity to return to his passion for teaching.

Week of 28-Sept – Orthopaedic Departmental Web Site Update

During the week of 28-Sept, the Ortho web redesign team continued to focus on completing the content for research. The clinical faculty will receive a request from me this week inquiring if there is an interest in providing a paragraph on their research activities. No concern if you cannot provide an update now, we can always update your information even after the new site go-live.

Additionally, our content writers began to work with the GME office, Wendy Thompson and Vice Chair of Education, Dr. Fraser Leversedge on Education and Training. The focus is on the following:

  • Residency Content
    • Orthopaedic Surgery Residency
    • Apply
    • Residency Details
    • Curriculum for Orthopaedic Residency
    • Benefits
    • Faculty
    • Ortho Surgery Residents
  • Fellowship Programs
    • Fellowship Details
    • Apply for a Fellowship
    • Current Fellows
    • Adult Reconstruction
    • Adult Spinal
    • Foot and Ankle
    • Hand Surgery
    • Hip Preservation
    • Orthopaedic Trauma
    • Pediatric Orthopaedics
    • Sports Medicine
    • Primary Care Sports
  • Visiting Medical Student Subinternship
    • Apply for Visiting Medical Student Subinternship
    • Curriculum
    • Facilities
    • Conferences

Ensuring we have identified the appropriate content helps drive our site map (list of pages of our web site).

This week we will focus on completing all content in preparation for updates to the new site. We will also begin to engage DHTS as it relates to the production environment in preparation of go-live.

Clinical Research Appreciation day, October 6th, 2015

REMINDER: the Clinical Research Appreciate day is Tuesday, October 6 from 11:00 a.m. t0 2:00 p.m. at Trent Semans Center for Health Education – Great Hall.  The theme of this years event is “It Takes a Team!”.  This is a drop in event open to all faculty and staff who participate in clinical research at Duke.  This year’s baseball themed event will include information tables, raffle prizes, and food and beverages.

See you there!

For more information, click on the link below:

https://www.dtmi.duke.edu/news/events/clinical-research-appreciation-day-oct-6-2015