My Scope of Practice: A Mighty Heart

If we have the opportunity to be generous with our hearts, ourselves, we have no idea of the depth and breadth of love’s reach. – Margaret Cho, comedian

  Teresa A. Conner-Kerr, PhD, PT, CWS, CLT, has a pleasant demeanor and gracious humility that belie her sense of determination and purpose as well as her long list of accomplishments. A coal miner’s daughter, Teresa was the first in her family to complete advanced education. Initially, Teresa’s goal was to attend medical school and work with underserved populations and increase access to what is still limited quality care. She achieved her goal pursuing a slightly different path; she is a well-recognized name in the wound care world.

  Teresa earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from Queens University, Charlotte, NC, then immediately entered a PhD program in anatomy and cell biology at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University (Greenville, NC). She trained in the electrophysiology and neurochemistry labs. As part of her training, she mentored physical therapy (PT) students in the application of neurophysiological recording techniques. “While we worked together, the students discussed PT as an alternative career and talked about their clinical experiences with patients with spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries and strokes,” she says. “Over the months, I became intrigued by their chosen profession and began to volunteer at a teaching hospital in the Rehabilitation Department.”

  Teresa applied to the PT Program at East Carolina University and began her PT education the last 6 months of her PhD program. “After graduation, I joined the faculty to gain experience in PT,” she says. “I focused my training in neurorehabilitation and wound care and have worked as a wound care therapist or wound care team leader in acute care, extended care, outpatient care, community care, and within the mental health system of North Carolina. I have combined clinical experience with teaching throughout my career and continue to provide indigent care through community affiliations and a free clinic that my program operates.”

  While she was a faculty member, Teresa attended certification programs in lymphedema and wound care. She also obtained and participated in grant programs to deliver diabetic education, lymphedema management, and wound prevention in some of the poorest counties throughout North Carolina (in many of these counties, 20% of households do not have sufficient indoor plumbing). Teresa’s research focus has moved from brain injury and rescue interventions to wound care and potential therapies for healing. Today, as the Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy and Director of the Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) Doctor of Physical Therapy program recently approved by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina. WSSU, one of the 17 constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina System, is a historically black university dedicated to providing education to minority and first-educated individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Teresa states, “Our mission is to provide access to a first-class educational experience and as our Associate Dean of the School of Research and Graduate Studies puts it, we focus on ‘excellence without excuses’.”

  WSSU PT reaches out to persons with no access to care. “We partner with the Community Care Center of Walkertown in east Winston-Salem to provide free PT care to more than 17,000 eligible individuals whose income is 200% below the federally defined poverty level,” she explains. Teresa’s students are on the frontline of providing care to these individuals. A recent patient scenario tugs at Teresa’s heartstrings. The ice cream man for the neighboring areas around WSSU sought assistance from her clinic. He had an amputation about 10 years before and over time had become lost to the medical system. When he first arrived at Teresa’s facility, he walked with an exaggerated limp, throwing his body to one side in order to clear the floor with his opposite foot. The team, under the direction of Dr. Hamdy Radwan, from Teresa’s department, learned his prosthetic device had belonged to a deceased female friend and was too long for him. Plus, this makeshift prosthetic was made for the opposite leg and duct-taped to his thigh. The students worked with a local prosthetist and were able to secure a new, lightweight prosthetic limb. Today, the ice cream man can push his cart and play his guitar without the tremendous effort he once expended. “This is only one of the many lives that our students touch during their matriculation in the WSSU PT Program,” says Teresa. “We are currently setting up free care for an individual with elephantiasis who exhausted his resources. The students will provide care under my direction and another PT from the community will volunteer his services.”

  Teresa’s leadership abilities and humble nature inspire her work. “Being a professor and chair means I am the team captain, facilitator, and advocate for my faculty, staff, and students,” she says. “I am the go-to gal, the one who carries the PT banner forward and the one who never, never gives up! I am responsible for seeing to it that my faculty, staff, and students have the resources they need to succeed. It is my role to foster their development and to assist them with meeting career objectives.”

  For Teresa, a good day is when the team or a team member accomplishes something that has been worked on long and hard — a grant is funded, a faculty/student paper gets accepted for publication, or a community care patient’s life is improved. But Teresa also must face certain barriers and challenges that routinely stifle optimal patient care, such as finding resources to support programming. “This includes funding equipment for the program, community clinic, or a multimillion-dollar research lab that is studying army dogs, animating a serious physical therapy game, or studying the effects of movement therapy on Parkinson’s disease or osteoarthritis,” she explains. “Perhaps our greatest barrier to funding on all fronts is helping decision makers understand the relevance of innovative programming, the impact of early intervention, and the need for prevention.”

  Teresa’s team is currently working on securing funding to create a center for rehabilitation training that will serve the community by using population-appropriate techniques. This high-tech simulation and gaming center will use virtual reality — a plethora of video games and human patient simulators (robots) — to engage clients and teach students. The team has received more than $800,000 in total funding thus far. When she is not working, Teresa spends as much time as possible with her husband and two daughters. A romantic at heart, the last movie she saw in theaters was Letters to Juliet. She loved the film’s ending— “a true testament to tenacity and hope.” Her favorite movie this year is Alice in Wonderland. As her younger daughter says (and Teresa agrees), “Johnny Depp rocks!”

  At this year’s Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society (SAWC/WHS) Teresa was elected treasurer of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC). Although elated to serve on a board of both friends and colleagues, Teresa describes the process as bittersweet. “I am thrilled [to be the new treasurer] but also feel a little melancholy,” she explains. “I ran against Chris Eremento, a great lady and wonderful friend who served the association with distinction as the previous Treasurer. I would like to recognize her for the strong financial footing she established for our association. It is incumbent on the board to serve as good stewards of the members’ funds. As treasurer, I take this responsibility very seriously and look forward to input from the members on how to use our funding strategically and what initiatives they would like to see supported.”

  An additional SAWC “victory,” Teresa was a witness to the success of Arhalia Steele, a WSSU Department of Physical Therapy graduate student in Teresa’s lab who was selected as a SAWC Young Investigator for her project, “35 kHz LFU enhances growth factor and cell adhesion molecule gene expression in human neurons.” Teresa could not be any prouder. “Arhalia embodies the mission of WSSU,” says Teresa. “She is a young mom who excels at her studies while finding time to engage in research and community service. Another student from Teresa’s team won last year’s WHS Young Investigator’s Award for a project on “Effects of LFU delivered at 35 kHz on the viability, cell wall structure and colonial characteristics of vegetative forms of MRSA,” a study recently published in OWM.

  Looking ahead, Teresa’s team hopes to create PT educational opportunities in Africa. “We recently visited Cairo, Egypt to hopefully establish joint program initiatives and national licensure for the DPT,” says Teresa. “We will visit Lesotho in South Africa to explore opening the first PT educational program in that country, where 40% of the population has been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and a great number of children are orphans, many with significant rehabilitation needs. We also will begin to train healthcare workers and others on current wound care management techniques. A few exceptional individuals provided tremendous excitement and support for these efforts: Mölnlycke colleagues Suzanne Collins, RN, CWOCN, and Jacquie Morrison, RN; and Margaret Falconio-West, RN, and her team at Medline.

  Over the years, Teresa’s work has taught her to be dedicated but not consumed. A stickler for balance, she attributes much of her success to this principle. “My childhood, the belief that we are all created equal, and my academic/professional experiences have made me the person that I am today,” she explains. “A person’s character is measured not by how one treats someone who can do something for them but by how one treats those who are powerless. I have been given the opportunity to serve a community with great needs and I have a wonderful group of faculty, staff, and students who are equally committed and who see the big picture in life. I count my blessings every day. It is not about me. It’s about my team, students, and department. Success means crafting a vision then providing resources for implementing that vision and pursuing excellence, whatever your scope of practice.”

This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.