Carole Schwartz M.S., Gerontology, OTRis President of the Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education. Schwartz wasADHCE.orgVice President from 2022-July/2024 & Board Member (since 2021).
Schwartz currently contributes to a variety of professional healthcare education, advocacy and quality improvement projects. Schwartz continues to coauthor publications related to disability and healthcare gaps for persons with disabilities; as well as topics related to healthcare quality measures. This includes interventions that consider environmental factors to maximize care quality and address inequitable disability health care, particularly for persons with all cause impairments of cognition and communication. The gaps in clinicians’ curriculum in assessing and care planning for this population was exemplified and personal when caring for her late non-speaking/non-signing stepdaughter with profound disabilities.
Schwartz has over 30 years of combined experience as a professional clinical occupational therapist (acute and post-acute care rehabilitation populations) and in work with disability healthcare advocacy organizations and healthcare professional education. Her former research experience includes Research Public Health Analyst work at Research Triangle Institute, International and Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (at Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago/Shirley Ryan Ability Lab). Schwartz’s work as a Senior Policy Advisor at IL Dept. on Aging included work in healthcare and disability long-term service support (LTSS)/home-and-community-based-services’ (HCBS) impact on post-acute care populations within State Medicaid and Federal Medicare policy. Schwartz’s work experience also included master’s level teaching in Public Policy and Aging, and educating Occupational Therapy Doctoral level students (co-advising on research and manuscript writing for publication).
Recent (since 2022) publications include:
Bathje, M., Schwartz, C. et al., (2024) Occupational Therapy’s Role in Supporting Persons with Cognitive and Communication Impairment within Acute Hospital Settings. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (In Press).
Sanford, A. M., VanPuymbrouck, L. H., Schwartz, C. (2024) Physiological and Neurological System Changes with Aging and Related Occupational Therapy Interventions. In K. F. Barney, & M. A. Perkinson (Eds.), Occupational therapy with aging adults: Enhancing quality of life through collaborative practice. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier. (In Press, second edition)
Toth, M., Palmer, L., Marino, M. E., Smith, A., Schwartz, C., Deutsch, A., & McMullen, T. (2023). Validation of the standardized function data elements among Medicare skilled nursing facility residents. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association; J Am Med Dir Assoc, 24(3), 307-313.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2022.12.014
Deutsch, A., Palmer, L., McMullen, T., Le, T., Toth, M., Marino, M., Vaughan, M., Schwartz, C., & Edwards, A. (2022). A post-acute care function process quality measure for the collection of standardized self-care and mobility data: Development, implementation, and quality measure scores. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2022.01.148
Deutsch, A., Palmer, L., Vaughan, M., Schwartz, C., & McMullen, T. (2022). Inpatient rehabilitation facility patients’ functional abilities and validity testing of the standardized self-care and mobility data elements. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2022.01.147
rebecca n. weston, edd, msn, rn, cne
Vice President
Dr. Rebecca Weston is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing with a focus on Maternal, Child, and Family Education, and a Doctor of Education in Developmental Education specializing in Curriculum and Instruction Design. She is a Certified Nurse Educator and on the Alliance for Disability in Healthcare Education Board of Trustees. She was the recipient of the 2016 Northwestern State University's Nurse Educator of the Year award, the 2016 Shreveport District Nurses Association Nurse of the Year award, and the 2022 University of Maryland School of Nursing’s Excellence in Teaching award for undergraduate nursing.
Dr. Weston's unique teaching strategies for adult learners include seamlessly integrating advanced technology throughout her courses and teaching nursing students using real-world strategies, games, technology and humor, both synchronously and asynchronously. Dr. Weston has presented at conferences throughout the United States speaking on topics related to increasing student engagement, effectively utilizing technology in the nursing classroom, interprofessional collaboration, and improving disability care and advocacy among healthcare students.
Ellen Bannister is the mother of two sons with developmental disabilities. She is Academic Programs Coordinator of the Center for Learning and Leadership/ Oklahoma’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). Her formal training was in the humanities, but her life experience of caring for children with developmental disabilities has inspired her current work: improving access to high-quality health care for people with developmental disabilities.
Ellen acts as liaison for the UCEDD’s academic partners and coordinates the Oklahoma UCEDD/LEND Consumer Advisory Committee. She is a member of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences (OUHS) Interprofessional Educators and Practitioners Association (IEPA). Ellen coordinates the SAME/FAME (Self-Advocates/Family Advocates as Medical Educators) simulation training for interdisciplinary health profession learners at the OUHS.
Dr Symons is President of the NYS Academy of Family Physicians. He states "I am a family physician at UBMD Family Medicine where I provide comprehensive care for children and adults. Health maintenance is a cornerstone of my practice, at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, together with a team of resident physicians, I care for adult patients who require hospitalization. I maintain excellent relationships with subspecialists and can coordinate consultation with them when my patients need specialized care. My research is focused on medical education, particularly as it relates to determinants of student choice to pursue careers in primary care.
I serve as the vice chair for medical student education in the Department of Family Medicine and have a special interest in teaching students about the central role of family medicine in providing high quality, cost-effective health care. I direct the first-year clinical skills course in the medical school and routinely lecture in that course on the fundamentals of performing a patient interview and physical exam. I developed and implemented a curriculum to teach students to care for patients with disabilities. In addition, medical students participating in their family medicine clerkship and clinical skills course accompany me as I see patients, to deepen their understanding of patient care.
I also supervise residents at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital. Teaching students and residents keeps me sharp: it informs my practice of medicine, while my practice of medicine assures that I remain relevant as a teacher.
The Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education, Inc. (ADHCE), is a “501 (c) (3) Public Charity” organization of healthcare educators and professionals who are working to integrate disability-related content and experiences into healthcare education and training programs.
CAROLE SCHWARTZ MS GERONTOLOGY, OTR
ANDREW SYMONS, MD