Fall Prevention Specialist Certification Course: Fall-proof Your Patients with Today’s Best Practices

Shelly Denes, PT, C/NDT, CFPS, CGCP, is an expert in fall prevention and neuro-rehab with more than 30 years of experience treating patients with hemiplegia, neurological diseases, neuromuscular disorders, TBI, and SCI. She has a special interest in Long COVID, autoimmunity and the impact of chronic inflammation and sleep deprivation in rehab. She has been involved extensively with neuroprosthetic devices, lower extremity orthotics, and exoskeleton devices at the Rehab Institute of Michigan. Mrs. Denes travels nationally to present seminars on fall prevention, Long COVID and geriatric rehabilitation. Additionally, her expertise has been presented through expert witness work and consulting both nationally and locally. She also sits on the State of Michigan Fall Prevention Coalition committee. Shelly Denes is a graduate of University of Michigan’s PT program, and she earned her certification in Neurodevelopmental Treatment for Adult Hemiplegia (NDT) at the Rehab Institute of Chicago. She helped create the certifications for ‘Fall Prevention Specialist’ and ‘Geriatric Care Professional’ with Evergreen Certifications, holds these two certifications and sits on their advisory board.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Michel Janet (Shelly) Denes is the owner of Denes Physical Therapy Consulting LLC. She is a consultant with Experts in Therapy LLC and previously with NewGait™. She receives a speaking honorarium from Motivations, Inc. Michel Janet (Shelly) Denes receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Michel Janet (Shelly) Denes is an advisory board member for Evergreen Certifications. She serves on the Fall Prevention Coalition Committee at Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Colleen Sleik, PT, DPT, OCS, NCS, is a licensed physical therapist, specializing in the treatment of patients with vestibular disorders when other forms of medical management have failed. Dr. Sleik founded a private practice in 2010 with the primary focus of treating patients with vestibular conditions. She continues to work as a specialist at Dickenson Rehab Services where more than 90% of her caseload consists of patients with vestibular and balance disorders.

Dr. Sleik graduated from The College of St. Catherine with a Master’s in physical therapy. She earned a transitional Doctor of physical therapy degree through The University of St. Augustine, Florida, and completed the Competency-Based Vestibular Rehabilitation course through Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to board-certification as an Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist and Neurologic Clinical Specialist, Dr. Sleik is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, including the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapists, and the Vestibular Special Interest Group.

She began teaching continuing education courses in vestibular rehabilitation with the purpose of improving clinicians’ knowledge in the specialty of vestibular rehabilitation and ultimately improving the quality of patient care. Dr. Sleik’s goal as a clinician is to provide her patients with the best care available for return to daily function with minimal limitations, while also providing the tools for long-term self-management of symptoms.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Colleen Sleik is the owner of Focus on Function Physical Therapy, PC and has an employment relationship with Bellin Health and Aegis Therapies. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Colleen Sleik is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapists, and the Vestibular Disorders Association.

Anna Anderson, OTD, OTR/L, is the owner and occupational therapist at Comprehensive In-Home Therapy. Anna earned her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga in 2017. She was an intern for the Low Vision Network in Chattanooga for her capstone project. Here she developed an interest in working with people who have vision deficits. Through this network she has developed a partnership with Cheryl Saucier of Mountain View Low Vision Services to help provide a more comprehensive approach to vision rehabilitation in Chattanooga and surrounding areas. Anna noticed that transportation is a huge barrier to accessing needed services for people who have vision loss. She was eager to create a mobile therapy service to enable those without transportation to be able to receive high quality therapy services. Anna continues to learn about assessing and treating clients with vision deficits through mentorship, continuing education courses, and through self-study.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Anna Anderson is the owner of Comprehensive In-home Therapy. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Anna Anderson has a professional relationship with Mountain View Low Vision Services.