Updates from a report given to members at OCAF’s Annual Membership meeting June 9, 2023 in Charlotte, NC
Kim Ha Wadsworth, D.O.
Scholarship award from the Ilene M.
Spector D.O., FCA Endowment
From Scholarship Recipient Dr. Kim Ha Wadsworth
I am so grateful for the scholarship! As I mentioned in my application, there would have been no way for me to attend the cranial course if I had not received this scholarship!!
The OCA cranial intro course was AMAZING! It was packed with embryology, neuroanatomy, and physiology, but the faculty made the information relevant, approachable, and less anxiety-producing (haha, flashback to my med-school days). Lectures by Drs. Goldman, Timoshkin, and Hulse were particularly exceptional, but the entire faculty was so knowledgeable and highly skilled.
There were plenty of opportunities during lab to apply what we learned and fine-tune our manual skills, under the direction of our faculty members (it was cool to have a different table trainer each day). I felt that I intuitively knew some of these concepts prior to this course, but this intro provided a solid framework for me to gain deeper insight into cranial osteopathy so that I can continue to improve my skills for better patient care and outcomes. Overall, your faculty showed camaraderie and mutual respect, which brought positive energy to our five days of intense learning.
I will go online and submit information for a monthly donation – something small that I can afford at this stage in my early practice, having started my own solo private practice straight out of residency. Again, I am so grateful for the scholarship provided by OCAF and the supportive learning environment to improve my knowledge and skills during this intro course.
Warm regards,
Dr. Kim
F.O.R.C.E. FUND FOLLOW-UP
VISIBILITY AT THE AAO CONFERENCE
As part of OCAF’s sponsorship of the Louisa Burns Osteopathic Research Committee (LBORC) Poster Presentation, Research Proposal and Mentorship Grand Rounds at the AAO Convocation, AAO generously included an exhibit booth. This created great visibility for OCAF and stimulated many quality conversations with doctors and students where we had the opportunity to educate people about our scholarship and research grant programs.
Our booth was next to the Osteopathic Cranial Academy’s, and they sent curious people to our booth, and we sent those who started at our booth to theirs. That greatly helped solidify our mutual missions for people, many of whom never fully understood what our two organizations offer.
We also had great success with our silent auction. The FORCE fund netted over $1,300.00 from winning bids for a disarticulated skull and temporal bone. And OCAF netted over $650.00 from a raffle for gift cards and from winning bids for donated books (thank you, Dr. Sorrel!).
If you have any Cranial Osteopathy-related items you would like to donate for future auctions, please contact Gretchen Weinzimer in the office at osteopathicCAF@gmail.com or call 818-796-6750. We appreciate donations of all types!
LBORC-NUFA
POSTER PRESENTATION AWARDS
Each year the Louisa Burns Osteopathic Research Committee (LBORC) and the National Undergraduate Fellows Association (NUFA) hold a research poster presentation session during the AAO’s annual Convocation. The LBORC-NUFA Research Poster Presentation is open to osteopathic medical students, interns, residents, researchers, and practicing physicians.
IN THE WORDS OF OUR SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
“I highly recommend the OCA introductory cranial course. I attended as an OMS-3 OMM Scholar to learn and hone my palpation skills and develop my understanding of cranial as a modality. I was incredibly impressed with the curriculum and how intense the labs were. I have now had about a month to use the skills that were taught in the course. There are things I notice now that I never noticed before. The course woke up another sense in my body, so now I can pick up on extra cues from my patients and use those cues to help treat them more effectively. I look forward to future courses! Thank you, Jacqueline Maxwell”
– Awarded from the Scholarship Restricted Fund comprised of the many Donations made to the Foundation
“OCMM [Osteopathic Cranial Manipulative Medicine] is what first drew me to osteopathic medicine. During my first shadowing experience, I witnessed a patient’s chronic migraines resolve over the course of a few treatments. In medical school, I continued to seek out mentorship from talented DOs who have helped patients regain functioning through the use of OCMM after they were told by their allopathic physicians they would not recover. I have been consistently amazed and humbled by the self-healing outcomes of OMT when incorporating OCMM.”
– Mary Hyland, D.O., awarded from the Melvin R. Friedman, D.O. Endowment
“Thank you for making my participation in the Osteopathy Cranial Field course possible! With your generous support, I had the amazing opportunity of deepening my perception skills in cranial diagnosis and treatment. This experience was very powerful and special to me! I am excited to use my hands to bring healing among pediatric and obstetric environments as well as with Spanish speaking communities.”
– Joshua Hernandez, awarded from an Anonymous Donation
“I could not be more appreciative to have had the opportunity to participate in the Cranial Course offered by the Osteopathic Cranial Academy Foundation. Engaging with osteopathy in a setting that was encouraging and not as strictly regimented as university teachings was irreplaceable. My joy and curiosity for osteopathy were reignited amidst my third year of medical school during clinical rotations.
I was able to receive information from the body that I hadn’t been able to prior to this experience. It was incredible to feel what the body was telling me once I was able to open myself to listen to it.
The table trainers and lecturers at the course were impressively knowledgeable and able to explain challenging concepts in a way that clicked for each student individually. It was fascinating to learn about the wisdom of the great osteopaths (i.e., AT Still, Sutherland, etc.) and how they came to the conclusions that they did about how the cranium moves and interacts with the rest of the body and space around it. Additionally, it was striking to observe and feel the profound emotional responses that were had during the course. It drove home the concept of the mind, body, and spirit connection that we all have.
I am beyond grateful to the donors because I would not have been able to attend this course otherwise.”
~ Caroline Jaeger, awarded from an Anonymous Donation