Thank you for joining the APTA Geriatrics Forum! We’re excited to have you participate in conversations with fellow geriatrics section members! Please introduce yourself to the group with the following information:
Hello everyone!
My name is Jennifer Vincenzo.
I am an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I am a full-time researcher on falls prevention in community dwelling older adults so I practice while I am doing my research. I also teach Integumentary Disorders (am a CWS).
I chose geriatrics because I just fell in love with working with older adults during my clinicals a looonnnggg time ago.
I am hoping to connect with other PTs who are passionate about working with older adults on this forum as well as to ask questions and share resources.
jlvincenzo@uams.edu
Welcome Jennifer! Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself!
Hi Everyone,
My name is Aliya Decates-Miller.
I own Thrive Aging and Wellness in Cleveland, Ohio. I also guest teach for Cleveland State University for their DPT program and assist my husband with his business as well.
I initially thought that I would work with Dancers as I came from an all Arts College where I was studying dance. However, during each of my clinical experiences, I lived with my grandmother in her retirement community and between living there and working in settings such as Acute Rehab, Acute Care and with an Amputee population, I fell in love with working with older adults instead.
I am hoping that this online community will allow us open and frequent communication where we can share ideas and encourage one another!
-Aliya
Welcome Aliya! So happy to have representation from our State Advocates on our forum!
Hey team!
My name is Phil J. Kilmer, PT, DPT, GCS. I currently work full-time in academia as an Assistant Professor in a DPT program in Kansas, and am pursuing my PhD in Leadership: Health and Human Performance. I also serve as the PR chair and a Delegate for APTA Kansas, as my university ambassador for PT Moves Me, and I am the Geriatric State Advocate for Kansas.
I am very passionate about evidence-based exercise and nutritional prescriptions for the prevention and management of sarcopenia and anabolic resistance.
I hope to gain increased access to evidence-based practice patterns for the geriatric population, as well as networking and learning from other passionate clinicians regarding their interventions in their communities.
Thanks!
Welcome Phil!
Hi!
I’m Katie Landier from Henderson, Nevada. I own a small practice within the Pilates studio I teach at, both of which aim to help older adults stay strong and active.
I also am a part-time instructor for UNLV PT, where I co-teach professional development with Jen Nash.
I really fell in love with working with older adults when I started my career in inpatient rehab and I realized that they are often an overlooked, underestimated population, and I wanted to help change that.
From this forum I’m hoping to gain and share insights on how to have a greater impact on the older adult population in Nevada
Hello All-
My name is Swathi Balantrapu, a home health PT and researcher at Stanford and Veteran Affairs in Palo Alto, CA. I am a certified Tai Chi instructor and love working with older adults. I primarily started PT career in home health setting, developed special interest to learn more and advance knowledge in this field of geriatrics given the statistics on aging nation and strong need/emphasis on ‘aging in place’.
I want to connect with other liked minded individuals to learn/share knowledge, all in the best interest of serving this population. Thank you APTA team for providing me the opportunity to present bio here.
Thanks Dana for all of the work you’ve put into the Forum! I’m glad to see an increase in communication on here!
I’m Beth Castellini, PT, GCS. I am the Inpatient PT at the VA hospital in Grand Junction, CO which includes the CLC (VA SNF) unit. My first job out of PT school in Jan of 1989 was at a small hospital in Seattle, WA that was trying to find it’s niche in health care. Little did I know they decided to open a TCU/SNF unit in order to compete with the bigger hospitals. None of us knew what that even was back then! I learned quickly through that experience how amazing working with older adults could be. I enjoy hearing about what other passionate geriatric PT’s are doing in their communities. I hope to be able to connect with like minded PT’s to bring best evidenced based practice to my patients as well as to my local community. I’ve been a Colorado State Advocate since 2018, became the Mid Region Coordinator for the State Advocate program in 2021 and am currently the Secretary for the Balance and Falls SIG for APTA Geri. (Just found out I’m slated to run again for this role in October!) Looking forward to using this Forum to connect with others.
Hello everyone! My name is Jennifer Nash and I am an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I am a full-time clinical faculty that teaches neuro rehab, vestibular rehab and acute care and cardiopulmonary rehab as well as professional development. I also co-developed a new course for AGPT titled Credentialed Balance and Falls Professional. I have been a neuro specialist specializing in older adults with neurologic disorders and fall prevention, thus my love for geriatrics. Prior to transitioning to faculty, I led the Neuro Rehab Clinic at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. I am hoping to connect with other PTs who are passionate about working with older adults on this forum as well as to ask questions and share resources.
Hello all! My name is Nola Peacock. I practice at St. John’s Health in Jackson, Wyoming. St. John’s is a small, rural, community health system. I love working with the community dwelling, aging adults in my town and within the region. I am certain I learn more from them than they learn from me. 
I primarily treat chronic, lifestyle related cardiovascular, pulmonary, and musculoskeletal conditions. I am also a board-certified health coach and manage the Lifestyle Medicine program. I am looking forward to connecting with and learning from others who have similar interests.
Hi Everyone,
My name is Michele Stanley,PT, DPT from near Madison WI. I’m recently retired from a medium acute care system but still doing private consults and fill-ins! I’m also the GeriNotes editor and a coordinator of the Journal Club team. I’d love to have you tell your PT business/consulting story in GN to give others an idea AND especially to hear about your client success stories. Have an approach or novel use of equipment to share – we’re all ears!
gerinoteseditor@gmail.com
Hi Folks,
I’m Evan Prost (he, him).
I’m an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia Missouri. We conduct service learning programs at a local nursing home where DPT students provide balance training and leg strengthening for residents.
Interests: mitigation of age bias in DPT students; anti-racism and health equity in the DPT curriculum; the use of walking poles for persons with back pain; music, rhythm and dance as therapy with accommodation for participation.
Cheers!
Hi everyone,
I am in Illinois, currently an adjunct at Midwestern University PT program, and have practiced in skilled nursing and home health primarily. I sort of fell into geriatrics initially, but I have really enjoyed it and have my GCS. I hope this forum can provide some good discussion and interaction. Always love to hear from others about ideas and practice issues.
Such a bunch of accomplished leaders and clinicians and faculty.
I am Sharon Kimble. Current hats include Director of the Geriatric Residency at the University of Minnesota, Minnesota Co-state advocate, adjunct St Kate’s University PTA program, clinician and program development at M-Health Fairview Inpatient Acute Rehab, DPT faculty @ University of Minnesota, and active studier for GCS and NCS renewals. I would like to see more clinicians involved in what we are doing on the forum. How do we better engage the people who are in the clinic all day?
Welcome @kimb0048!
Hello everyone. My name is Lisa Meyer and I am with EmpowerMe Wellness. We started the company in St. Louis, MO almost 6 years ago to focus on providing therapy services to seniors in Assisted Living, Independent Living and Memory Care Communities. My desire to start our company was to focus on keeping older adults living in senior living the ability to stay independent and to never need to move to a higher level of care. It’s been so fun building an organization of therapists who share my passion for geriatrics. Thanks for creating this forum so we can share ideas about how we can improve the services we all provide to seniors!
Welcome @lmeyer! Happy to have you here!
Hi all
My name is Alex Booher I am the owner of iMove PT Metro East IL just across the river from St. Louis MO. We are a mobile therapy practice providing outpatient therapy services in the location of a patient’s choosing. I transitioned to this setting after being in a typical outpatient orthopedics clinic and this has provided me an opportunity to treat each patient individually with less constraints for insurance providers. I’ve gained a great appreciation from treating the geriatric community as that is a large percentage of who we see. I’m hoping to gain more insight from others in the group and help improve how aging individuals are treated and expand our knowledge base.