Lights, camera, action!
Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine students channeled their inner Spielberg for September's What the heck is rehab? video contest. Two impressive videos made it to the finals, and it's time to recognize the winners.
Runners up for the contest are occupational therapy students Bronwen Black and Kristi Gurski with What is rehabilitation? Their video uses stop-motion photography to highlight the importance of rehabilitation medicine in various living situations.
Speech-language pathology students Christina O'Dell, Candace Brown, Sable Chan and Salima Suleman are the $1000 grand prize winners. Their video Tongue Talk illustrates student life at the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine with a humorous song and a choreographed dance.
"We are very proud of our faculty and of our chosen profession, and I think we communicate this to our audience in a fun, catchy way," says O'Dell. "I like to think that we make people smile while introducing them to both our university and our professional field in a very exciting, memorable way!"
Both videos were posted on YouTube and the winner was decided based on the most views. Together the videos have over 23,000 YouTube views, almost 100 facebook shares, about 75 tweets, and about 800 comments throughout the Internet. For one week in October, the RehabMedicineUofA channel was the 13th most viewed channel in Canada.
The videos are broadening international awareness about the University of Alberta and the rehabilitation medicine field.
"Down at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association conference in Philadelphia in the fall, many speech-language pathologists were asking our department if they were from 'U of A, that Canadian University with the video,'" says Chan. "It's great to hear that there's interest generating about our video beyond our Canadian borders!"
About the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine
As the only free standing faculty of rehabilitation in Canada, the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine balances its activities among learning, discovery and citizenship (including clinical practice). A research leader in musculoskeletal health, spinal cord injuries and common spinal disorders (back pain), the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine aims to improve the quality of life of citizens in our community. The three departments, Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT) and Speech Pathology and Audiology (SPA) offer professional entry programs. The Faculty offers thesis-based MSc and PhD programs in Rehabilitation Science, attracting students from a variety of disciplines including OT, PT, SLP, psychology, physical education, medicine and engineering.