2023 Grantees
Small wonders entertainment
Small Wonders Entertainment is a local puppetry theatre that performs at senior living facilities. They first received chapter funding in 2021, when we supported their efforts to hold in-person performances again as pandemic restrictions abated. They received their third grant from our chapter in 2023.
Artistic Director Joan Klasson said:
“Small Wonders Entertainment is, as always, so grateful for your generous donation to our Mission. With your help, we have been able to bring so many performances to differeent senior facilities in the Austin and Round Rock communities. The Holidays were particularly busy with our high-quality, visually engaging, memory-stimulating, Ed Sullivan-like, Holiday puppet reviews. We performed at Buda Oaks Memory Care, The Rose at Wyoming Springs, Longhorn Village Memory Care, Querencia Barton Creek Memory Care, Age of Central Texas, Age of Williamson County, Arden Courts Memory Care, Heritage Park Rehab and Skilled Nursing, Watermark at South Park Meadows, Park Valley Inn/RR, Arbor Terrace Lakeway, just to name a few! Our Audiences seem delighted with the performances and the interactions with the puppets. There are smiles, laughter, clapping, and just a feeling of engagement with this largely underserved community.
We are making you proud and will continue to do so for as long as we can!”
narrative medicine series
by jennifer pollard ruiz, md, mph
This is the second chapter grant received by Dr. Ruiz for her efforts to provide narrative medicine workshops to physicians in our chapter's service area.
Assistive device design project
Dr. Larry Kravitz, chapter member and enthusiastic supporter of the Senior Design Capstone Project at the UT Cockrell School of Engineering's Biomedical Engineering Department, received a chapter grant to support this year's student-led effort to develop an assistive device for mobility impaired patients to independently and safely position themselves on doctors' examination tables. From Dr. Kravitz:
"Approximately 12.1% of Americans are mobility-impaired, making it difficult for them to raise themselves onto a standard 32” medical office exam table. This process leads to patient discomfort, embarrassment, longer examination times, and risk of injuries. Often, examination elements are not completed, and healthcare quality is compromised. Adjustable exam tables offer a comprehensive solution; however, their average cost is $8000, and only 9% of U.S. clinics are so equipped. Therefore, a device to facilitate mobility-impaired patients to independently position themselves on a standard 32” exam table is needed.
Through a grant from the Heart of Texas Chapter of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, a team of biomedical engineering and medical students were challenged to design a practical device to assist mobility impaired patients onto a standard exam table. The device had to be compact enough to fit in an exam room, be mobile, safely handle loads up to 400 lbs, and be safe from risk of falls. The final product met FDA medical device standards and could be built from easily obtained low cost commercially available materials and reached the stage of readiness to move to a step of practical production, marketability, and human testing."