Dr. Julia Schmitz holds hand washing event at Piedmont College.
Demorest, Georgia, September 4, 2020— Dr. Julia Schmitz wants Piedmont students to understand the importance of proper handwashing, and Global Handwashing Day on Oct. 15 presents an ideal opportunity to spread that message.
“You should constantly wash your hands,” said Schmitz, associate professor of biology at Piedmont College. “You should be washing your hands before and after eating, after using bathroom, before and after caring for a sick person, after interacting with animals, and after blowing your nose.”
Schmitz said hot water — as hot as each can handle — should be used in conjunction with hand soap for best results. Soap contains oils and alkali base that breaks the water tension to penetrate germs.
When using hand sanitizer, the alcohol percentage needs to be between 60-90%. Although sanitizer doesn’t remove bacteria from the hands, it does make it inactive.
Commonly missed places when washing hands includes under nails, knuckles and thumbs.
In order to spread the importance of proper handwashing, Piedmont College will be hosting an event on Global Handwashing Day, Thursday, Oct. 15, as well as a sponsoring a TikTok contest, giving prizes to students who present the best handwashing video.
To learn more about proper hand washing techniques, visit cdc.gov. For more information about Piedmont College events relating to Global Handwashing Day, email Joe Dennis at jdennis@piedmont.edu.
About Piedmont College
One of the most dynamic small colleges in the Southeast, Piedmont is an independent liberal arts college of more than 2,260 students. The college’s four schools—Arts & Sciences, Business, Education, and Nursing & Health Sciences—develop tomorrow’s leaders by engaging students in the classroom, in their community, and around the world. Founded in 1897, Piedmont offers bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, and doctoral degree programs at its Demorest residential campus in the foothills of the northeast Georgia mountains and at its Athens campus in the heart of Georgia’s Classic City. Information can be found at www.piedmont.edu.
My grandpa has had type 2 diabetes my whole life. I’ve never known him any other way than taking insulin daily. With the diabetes comes a whole slew of other medical issues: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, foot ulcer and vascular dementia. No child should know so many medical terms and their meanings at such a young age, constantly having to worry about your elder. The kind of diabetes he has was self-induced thus leading to his other medical conditions to be heightened. Because of that he missed out on so many things in his grandchildren’s lives.
Type 2 diabetes typically forms in adults over 45 years old. One in 10 Americans have diabetes and for around 90% it is type 2, meaning most of those people were able to prevent it. According to the CDC type 2 diabetes can be prevented by making a healthy lifestyle change. Eating healthier, drinking more water and physical activity all contribute to that desired lifestyle.
When creating a healthy lifestyle, you must look at every aspect of your life and create those habits to succeed. It can’t be achieved by only working out once a week or eating one healthy meal a day. It must be sustainable to fit into your everyday life. Some of the fad “diets” circulating around social media today aren’t practical to incorporate into your life and only worry about the caloric intake. There are too many people counting calories, and not chemicals.
A healthy lifestyle is cheaper than medical bills and time spent in doctor offices. But even more importantly it isn’t about just living a long life, it’s about living a long life with quality. Who wants to be severely limited in their capabilities during their final 30 years of living?
Fruits and veggies are on the top of every list related to “healthy eating,” yet most Americans do not consume the proper amount. Experts say 10 servings a day would create a longer life, and if everyone did this, 7.8 million deaths could be prevented in the world. Other foods that contribute to a healthy diet are whole grains, low-fat dairy, fish, nuts and beans.
Since becoming more interested in overall health and well-being I have made so many realizations. Just by eating healthy, in combination with an overall healthy lifestyle, so many more people in America can live a high-quality life. It truly is amazing when you have such a close connection to someone affected with a chronic disease.
If my grandpa just ate healthy and exercised consistently through his life prior to his diagnosis, I could have had a grandfather that was able to do activities with his grandchildren. All of this leads to the question, why are Americans largely focused on treating diabetes instead of preventing it?
Hi, my name is Alyssa Hall. My life started out when I born on December 20, 2000 to my parents in Tampa, Florida. On that day I became their second child, joining my older brother and we have been best friends ever since. Today my brother, Trey, is 21 years old and everything I possibly could have hoped for in a sibling, even though sometimes we want to kill each other.
My parents have always made sure we lived an active lifestyle and participated in all things outdoors. Living on the West coast of Florida my whole life I had no choice but to love anything involving the ocean. As a family we spend most weekends on the boat fishing, spearfishing, and anything else you possibly name. From age 2 to 12 I played soccer, but quit because I finally wanted to play a different sport than my brother. This is when I was introduced to volleyball, due to myself being vertically inclined.
My volleyball career really took off in high school at Nature Coast Technical where I played for 4 years. In addition to high school volleyball, I also played club ball at one of the largest clubs, OTVA. There I had many coaches who shaped me into the player I am today and led my decision to continue playing at Piedmont College. I visited and later committed to play here in the last semester of my senior year. Fast forward to now, I have met some of my best friends and could not imagine them not being in my life.
As for my future, I plan to transfer most likely after 2 years at Piedmont and continue getting a degree in Mass Communications at a University in Florida. I am currently still figuring out what I want to do with my degree, in addition to possibly adding a minor in Political Science, and am excited to see where I end up.
DEMOREST — It’s well-known that knee injuries are more common in female athletes than with male athletes, as are knee surgeries. Erica Balkum, a senior health science major and volleyball player, wanted to discover what types of anterior cruciate reconstruction (ACLR) surgery might work best.
“I particularly studied the difference between autografts and allografts used for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery, and how these differences may affect surgeons choosing a specific graft type for certain age groups,” she said.
As a volleyball player Balkum spends hours in the training room, but not for the reason one might think. She gains experience working with athletes to build knowledge for her future profession as a physician assistant in orthopedics. She will see many ACLR surgeries and assist the orthopedic surgeon in procedures. At the 2020 Piedmont Symposium, Erica gave her virtual speech on “Age As a Factor For Difference In Graft Type Used In ACLR Surgery.”
“I chose my topic because of my interest in sports medicine, specifically the surgical aspect,” she said.
Looking at young, mid-aged, and older patients she was able to evaluate her hypotheses. One being confirmed and another was opposed.
“There would be no difference in graft type used by the age group,” said Balkum.
There are two common types of ACLR surgeries. Allografts uses grafts from a cadaver, while autografts use the middle-third of the patient’s tendon. Discovering that 71% of patients used allografts despite previous readings stating they were inferior to autografts, she was surprised when doing her research. The allografts used in her study had been through new and alternative sterilization process, allowing the graft type to be highlighted and eliminate the disadvantages.
Physical therapist Chris Olsen was not surprised by the findings. “There is not a huge difference in healing and the outcomes of each were essentially the same.”
Dealing mostly with allograft, which is a cadaver graft, and autograft, a bone-tendon-bone harvest, he stated that most doctors he works with in Tampa, Florida only use those types.
“Age is the most important in recovery. Teens heal quicker than those over thirty years old,” he said. “Also overall health and fitness level are big factors in healing, usually less unfit people with lower muscle mass have a slower healing process, and those with more muscle mass have a quicker healing process.”
Compliance with the physical therapy and home exercise programs also play a huge role in the six-month recovery. People who do the work get better quicker, right?
“Basically I learned that my current findings showcased how the medical world and certain methods and techniques, are constantly evolving,” said Balkum. “The improvements allow for previously frowned upon concepts, in this case allografts, to sometimes surpass their counterparts (autografts), in both efficiency and practicality.”
Demorest — Piedmont College assistant volleyball coach Rachel Selmore is worried about more than a ring.
“Division 3 volleyball is Division 3 volleyball, and I care more about my players being successful in the real world than them having a ring for volleyball,” said Selmore.
As an assistant coach, Selmore is responsible for meals, hotels, gear and making practice plans with head coach Jamie McCormack. Out of season she recruits players for the program.
“The team is what makes me smile everyday,” she said. “If you’re not on the bus, you are missing out.”
Selmore gets to know her players even more when traveling to games and is able to coach better because of it.
“I like watching the girls figure out how the stuff we are doing on the court can mix with our lives, and it’s not as hard to be an adult as everyone thought it was,” she said.
Coaching girls in college allows her to take on a “big sister” role and watch freshmen become adults.
“My goal is to make sure the girls have a good 4 years and to know that even if they transfer, I am still in their corner,” she said.
Selmore not having a plan post graduation brought her to Piedmont, and she is now going into her fourth season as assistant coach.
Although she loves her job, there is one thing Selmore can’t stand about her role on the team.
“I hate not being in season.”
Spring season begins in March.
Hi, my name is Alyssa Hall. My life started out when I born on December 20, 2000 to my parents in Tampa, Florida. On that day I became their second child, joining my older brother and we have been best friends ever since. Today my brother, Trey, is 21 years old and everything I possibly could have hoped for in a sibling, even though sometimes we want to kill each other.
My parents have always made sure we lived an active lifestyle and participate in all things outdoors. Living on the West coast of Florida my whole life I had no choice but to love anything involving the ocean. As a family we spend most weekends on the boat fishing, spearfishing, and anything else you possibly name. From age 2 to 12 I played soccer, but quit because I finally wanted to play a different sport than my brother. This is when I was introduced to volleyball, due to myself being vertically inclined.
My volleyball career really took off in high school at Nature Coast Technical where I played for 4 years. In addition to high school volleyball, I also played club ball at one of the largest clubs, OTVA. There I had many coaches who shaped me into the player I am today and led my decision to continue playing at Piedmont College. I visited and later committed to play here in the last semester of my senior year. Fast forward to now, I have met some of my best friends and could not imagine them not being in my life.
As for my future, I plan to transfer most likely after 2 years at Piedmont and continue getting a degree in Mass Communications at the University of Florida or University of South Florida. I am very excited to see where my life leads me and what I end up doing with my degree.
Monday Morning Editors 