UM Course Gives Students New Perspective on Health
By Kyle Spurr, UM News Service
MISSOULA – A new course at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ gave Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ real-world experience helping stroke survivors while exploring the intersection of human, wildlife and environmental health.
The course, “Wild Health,” was offered this spring to undergraduate Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ through the Davidson Honors College and was co-instructed by wildlife biology professor Dr. Victoria Dreitz and Cathy Off, professor and chair of the School of Speech, Language, Hearing and Occupational Sciences.
The course featured a service-learning project where the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ connected with five stroke survivors with aphasia, a language disorder that makes it difficult to communicate. Students worked in groups to brainstorm ways recreation and conservation could be more accessible to the aphasia patients.
“It was incredibly powerful,” said Dylan Harms, a sophomore wildlife biology student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “I had never been a part of anything like that. As a wildlife biology major, I’m not usually working with any sort of patients with disabilities. There was such a human connection.”
Harms’ group researched physical and communication accessibility issues in Missoula’s Greenough Park. The group visited the park and walked the entire path.
“We noticed in theory it’s a one-mile paved path that sounds super accessible,” Harms said. “But there is some pretty gnarly root damage and it’s super bumpy.”
The bumpy trail would cause problems for the group’s aphasia patient, who has partial paralysis from a stroke. Harm’s group presented their findings to the patient, who was impressed and agreed the park’s accessibility could be improved.
“It was pretty eye-opening because I’m not normally thinking that way when I’m out recreating,” Harms said. “It’s easy to overlook those things if you are not affected in the same way. You don’t even have to look that close and you can tell things are lacking.”
The Wild Health class drew a variety of Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ from public health, wildlife biology, business, math and other majors. Having the course taught by two professors with expertise in wildlife biology and speech pathology created an opportunity for the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to explore different ways to define health and how those definitions connect, Off said.
“The way Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ think now is to not be so siloed and more collaborative,” Off said. “We are making sure we are giving Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ an education that is applicable to their relative fields because they are coming from a variety of disciplines in this course.”
Susan Connelly, a sophomore public health major and Blackfeet Nation member from Browning, was initially drawn to the course to learn more about the One Health model, a concept that all human, animal and ecosystem health is interconnected.
Connelly was already familiar with One Health, but found it interesting to hear from other Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ who were learning about it for the first time. When the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ were asked to define “health” during the course, Connelly said she was surprised at the various answers.
“As a public health major, I would offer my insight. But it was also interesting to see other people’s perspectives that aren’t centered around human health,” Connelly said. “People interpret things differently which is nice to see.”
Off and Dreitz received positive feedback from the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ and hope to continue to offer the Wild Health course in the future. The course could expand to feature other health and wildlife topics.
No matter how it’s offered, Harms and Connelly encourage other Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ of any majors to consider taking the course.
“It’s totally worth it,” Harms said. “It makes you think about the different sides of health and how it's interconnected. Talking about those things and hearing other people’s perspectives showed me how interesting it is.”
###
Contact: Dave Kuntz, UM director of strategic communications, 406-243-5659, dave.kuntz@umontana.edu