Highlanders in the News: Week of Jan. 24
Every week, our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. Here, we’ll highlight some notable mentions from local, regional, national and international news media. Whether our students, alumni, faculty and staff are featured as subject matter experts in high-profile stories or simply helping make the world a better place, we’ll feature their stories.
COSD grad joins Ashe Memorial staff
A Highlander will undertake the challenges of restoring and clarifying the voices of patients who suffer difficulty speaking.
Hannah Copeland Osborne, M.S. ’16, has joined the rehabilitation services department at Ashe Memorial Hospital in North Carolina as a speech language pathologist.
Osborne, who earned her master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders at Radford University, specializes in working with those who have suffered strokes, traumatic brain injuries, degrees of cognitive impairment following surgery and other ailments that affect speech, according to a Dec. 27 article in the Ashe Post & Times.
She utilizes VitalStim Therapy, which uses neuromuscular electrical stimulation to treat dysphagia, the story said.
“Osborne is able to help the muscles unfreeze while increasing speech intelligence and regenerating a patient’s ability to swallow,” said the Post & Times.
“No two cases are the same, so it’s important to balance [patients’] wishes while medically giving them what they need,” Osborne told the newspaper. “I really enjoy helping people and increasing people’s quality of life.”
Osborne previously served as the program director for Westwood Hills Nursing and Rehabilitation in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Warning signs
Following recent events that underscored the dangers of residential fires, a Radford criminal justice professor who specializes in emergency management – Stephen Owen, Ph.D. – has contributed his expertise to the potentially tragic subject.
A Jan. 20 story on the website for The Great Courses Daily was posted within days of separate blazes at dwellings in Philadelphia and New York City that claimed the lives of 29 people. The article draws on material from Owen’s multi-part Wondrium video series, “When Everything Fails: Surviving Any Disaster.”
In “Deadly Blazes in Cities Prompt Look at Residential Fire Trends, Prevention,” Owen looks at some of the causes of conflagrations, and ways they might be prevented.
He also discusses two particularly dangerous elements of structure fires: flashover (when superheated gases from a fire build up in unvented rooms) and backdraft (the sudden introduction of oxygen that causes a fire that would seem to be dying to reignite).
Further, Owen introduces what he says is the number one rule of fire prevention.
“If there is a fire, even if it looks like a small fire, call the fire department,” he advises.
Owen is currently conducting research on active shooter events. “When Everything Fails” also covers those types of attacks, first responders, disaster recovery and other similar topics. The programs are streamable via Wondrium through a free trial or can be bought on DVD.