This year continued the recent growth for NORA. We again broke attendance records and enjoyed having so many special people attend the meeting. This year the attendance broke our previous records as we reached 274. This included 40 students attending from 15 schools. NORA continues to offer top notch education on the clinical skills side (Skills 1, 2 and Advanced) as well as the general program. This year the Advanced clinical skills course was hallmarked by a day of IMPACT training and the second day was how to implement it into clinical practice. We were led by Deann Fitzgerald, OD and her team including Shannon McGuire and Becky Moran.
At the meeting our new Executive Director was introduced, Angela Gosling of Denver, CO. Through a lengthy interview process Angela was selected and we’re so glad she’s become part of the NORA family. We look forward to great things from her energy and efforts.
General Conference Receives Rave Reviews
The general conference started Friday night with a preconference presentation by June Chiang,OD on “Eye Spirals-Integration of the Neurosensory Systems to Enhance and Promote Neuroplasticity”. It was an excellent workshop on helping patients to explore integration of multiple systems in terms of grounding and movement.
The first day of the meeting was highlighted by Cavin Balaster, a head trauma survivor who spoke on, “Lights, Coma, Action ! – Adventures in Brain Injury”. He told a fantastic story based about his head injury and his work with Denise Smith, OD in Austin, TX. Other speakers included Elizabeth Stuller, MD who is a physician with the Amen Clinics. Her lecture was on “Psycho-Neuro Immunology – Clniical Application of an Emerging Field in Medicine”. The afternoon speakers were on Management of Visual Field deficits with David Lewerenz,OD on “Management of Hemianopsia with Prism and Visual Rehabilitation” and Imelda Llanos, MS, OTR/L on “Rehabilitation Strategies in the Management of Visual Field Deficits”.
The second day was headed by Jack Richman,OD who spoke on “Everything I Didn’t Know About Pupil Assessment”. The next presentation was done by Jason Mihalik,PhD,CAT(C),ATC titled, “A Vision of Concussions: What they are, traditional treatment and the implications for innovation”.
The meeting was completed with a presentation by Barry Kavanaugh, OD titled, “Understanding, Identifying, and Remediating Visual Multi-Tasking Dysfunction.”
The annual NORA installation and banquet was headed by the introduction of the new board and presentation of awards. Tracy Ammann,OD served as Master of Ceremonies.
2014-2016 NORA Board
President - Curtis Baxstrom,OD,FNORA
Vice President – Susan Durham,OD
Secretary – Susan Daniel,OD
Treasurer – Tracy Ammann,OD
Immediate Past President – Carl Garbus,OD
Council Members – Jenny Garbus, Nova McNally
All of NORA and the board would like to send our thanks and gratitude to Carl Garbus,OD who completed two terms as our President for the past four years.
At the annual Awards Banquet the following were honored for their contributions to NORA and the area of Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation.
Completion of Fellow, Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (FNORA)
Briana Larson,OD
Jill Schultz,OD
Founding Fathers Award
Willard Bleything,OD
Advancement of Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Award
Cavin Balaster and Denise Smith,OD
Advancement of Sciences Award
Jason Mihalik,PhD,CAT(C),ATC
William and Diane Ludlam Educators Award
Barry Tannen,OD
President’s Award
Don Fong,OD
Jenny Garbus
Gus Forkiotis Student/Resident Award
Grace Dumayas,OD,L Major – for her poster, “Pupillary Light Reflex and Eye Movement: Clinical Tools for Early Detection of mTBI/Concussion”
2014 Student Service Award
Jonathan Hall
The next NORA Conference will be in Denver, Colorado. Please mark your calendars now for May 14-17, 2015. For information check the website at www.nora.cc .
At the meeting our new Executive Director was introduced, Angela Gosling of Denver, CO. Through a lengthy interview process Angela was selected and we’re so glad she’s become part of the NORA family. We look forward to great things from her energy and efforts.
General Conference Receives Rave Reviews
The general conference started Friday night with a preconference presentation by June Chiang,OD on “Eye Spirals-Integration of the Neurosensory Systems to Enhance and Promote Neuroplasticity”. It was an excellent workshop on helping patients to explore integration of multiple systems in terms of grounding and movement.
The first day of the meeting was highlighted by Cavin Balaster, a head trauma survivor who spoke on, “Lights, Coma, Action ! – Adventures in Brain Injury”. He told a fantastic story based about his head injury and his work with Denise Smith, OD in Austin, TX. Other speakers included Elizabeth Stuller, MD who is a physician with the Amen Clinics. Her lecture was on “Psycho-Neuro Immunology – Clniical Application of an Emerging Field in Medicine”. The afternoon speakers were on Management of Visual Field deficits with David Lewerenz,OD on “Management of Hemianopsia with Prism and Visual Rehabilitation” and Imelda Llanos, MS, OTR/L on “Rehabilitation Strategies in the Management of Visual Field Deficits”.
The second day was headed by Jack Richman,OD who spoke on “Everything I Didn’t Know About Pupil Assessment”. The next presentation was done by Jason Mihalik,PhD,CAT(C),ATC titled, “A Vision of Concussions: What they are, traditional treatment and the implications for innovation”.
The meeting was completed with a presentation by Barry Kavanaugh, OD titled, “Understanding, Identifying, and Remediating Visual Multi-Tasking Dysfunction.”
The annual NORA installation and banquet was headed by the introduction of the new board and presentation of awards. Tracy Ammann,OD served as Master of Ceremonies.
2014-2016 NORA Board
President - Curtis Baxstrom,OD,FNORA
Vice President – Susan Durham,OD
Secretary – Susan Daniel,OD
Treasurer – Tracy Ammann,OD
Immediate Past President – Carl Garbus,OD
Council Members – Jenny Garbus, Nova McNally
All of NORA and the board would like to send our thanks and gratitude to Carl Garbus,OD who completed two terms as our President for the past four years.
At the annual Awards Banquet the following were honored for their contributions to NORA and the area of Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation.
Completion of Fellow, Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (FNORA)
Briana Larson,OD
Jill Schultz,OD
Founding Fathers Award
Willard Bleything,OD
Advancement of Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Award
Cavin Balaster and Denise Smith,OD
Advancement of Sciences Award
Jason Mihalik,PhD,CAT(C),ATC
William and Diane Ludlam Educators Award
Barry Tannen,OD
President’s Award
Don Fong,OD
Jenny Garbus
Gus Forkiotis Student/Resident Award
Grace Dumayas,OD,L Major – for her poster, “Pupillary Light Reflex and Eye Movement: Clinical Tools for Early Detection of mTBI/Concussion”
2014 Student Service Award
Jonathan Hall
The next NORA Conference will be in Denver, Colorado. Please mark your calendars now for May 14-17, 2015. For information check the website at www.nora.cc .
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