People and Places – August 2010

A reporter is honored The late Darcy Pohland is one of the new members of the Museum of Broadcasting Hall […]

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A reporter is honored

The late Darcy Pohland is one of the new members of the Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame. The 2010 members were announced last month, after a vote of their peers.

Pohland died earlier this year. Injured in a diving accident during her college days, Pohland used a wheelchair. She worked at various capacities at WCCO TV before becoming an on-air reporter, handling breaking news as well as features.

Pohland is one of three posthumous winners. The others are former WCCO Radio personality Bob DeHaven and Minnesota radio and television pioneer Marty O’Neill.

Other honorees are KSTP-TV anchor Cyndy Brucato; WCCO Radio reporter and Almanac co-host Eric Eskola; Gopher Communications and KROX Radio, Crookston owner Frank Fee; Minnesota Public Radio’s First Classical Music Host Arthur Hoehn: Northland’s NewsCenter KBJR 6/Range 11, Duluth anchor Michelle Lee; Twin Cities Top 40s radio personality Donald K. Martin and former Mankato and Austin area radio station owner Phil Nolan.

Receiving the 2010 Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award is Brad Nessler, a Minnesota native and nationally known ABC and ESPN sportscaster. They will be honored at a ceremony in October in Golden Valley. [Source: Minnesota Broadcasters Association]

Courage Center joins network

Courage Center’s Activity Based Locomotor Exercise (ABLE) program has been named one of five community-based fitness and wellness facilities of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s NeuroRecovery Network (NRN). This cooperative network of cutting-edge rehabilitation centers provide and develop therapies that promote functional recovery and improve the health and quality of life for people living with paralysis and spinal cord injury. 

Funded by the Reeve Foundation through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the NRN translates the latest scientific advances into effective, activity-based rehabilitation treatments. Eight employees from Courage Center recently participated in a national summit in Louisville, Ky. The team spent five days of intensive, specialized training to learn how to appropriately deliver the NRN’s therapies. They learned about intervention techniques on TheraStride equipment for locomotor training; Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) for upper/lower extremity; strengthening using FES bikes; and treatment and assessment protocols.

The NRN interventions, including locomotor training, come from years of basic research and expertise developed at hospital-based centers and from European-based rehabilitation best practices. Through this research there is scientific and clinical evidence that supports the effectiveness of intensive therapy to improve a person’s health, independence and quality of life. Courage Center’s ABLE is open to people with a spinal cord injury and other neurological conditions.

“It is our goal that, as a member of the Reeve Foundation NRN, Courage Center will improve overall health for people living with spinal cord injuries and improve access to services at the community level,” said Susan Howley, executive vice president for research, at the Reeve Foundation. Courage Center will begin accepting clients for the ABLE program in September.  [Source: Courage Center]

New vice president named

UCare has hired Hilary Marden-Resnik as the nonprofit health plan’s new Senior Vice President of Administration. She assumed her new responsibilities July 12, and reports to UCare’s President and CEO, Nancy J. Feldman. Marden-Resnik succeeds Terry Chism as Senior Vice President of Administration. Chism, who joined UCare in 1996, will retire in early August.  Marden-Resnik most recently was Vice President of Human Resources at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis. Prior  to joining HCMC, she was Director of Human Resources at HealthEast Care System and also held human resources positions at Fairview Health Services and Golden Valley Health Center.

“Hilary brings a broad knowledge of human resources to UCare, along with great energy and enthusiasm for this opportunity to support our mission and goals” said Feldman.

 As a member of UCare’s senior management team, Marden-Resnik provides strategic guidance and executive leadership for human resources, organizational management and facility operations issues, leads strategic planning, and oversees corporate information research and materials production. Marden-Resnik holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin, a graduate degree in industrial relations from the University of Minnesota, and a juris doctor (Summa Cum Laude) from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.

UCare (www.ucare.org) is an independent, nonprofit health plan providing health care and administrative services to more than 200,000 members. UCare addresses health care disparities and care access issues through its UCare Fund grants and a broad array of community initiatives. The health plan received a Top Workplaces 2010 honor from the Star Tribune[Source: UCare]

Special Olympians do well

Katie Timmer, Eric Sherarts, Kievin Odero and Michelle Boss, all of Minneapolis, competed as part of Team Minnesota at the 2010 Special Olympics USA National Games in Lincoln, Neb., July 18-23. They were among the top winners as 94 members of Team Minnesota earned 91 medals in 43 unique events at the 2010 National Games. The team included 16 track and field athletes; eight aquatic athletes; a male and female full-court basketball team; eight bowlers; eight golfers; two gymnasts; eight bocce athletes; a softball team and a volleyball team. A complete list of Team Minnesota’s results, including team rosters, can be found at www.specialolympicsminnesota. org/National_Games_Athlete. php.

Timmer, 35, earned a Division 1 gold medal in female nine-hole competition, shooting 57-56-52 for a total score of 165. Fellow Team Minnesota golfers Michael Copler, Desiree Greene, and Michael J. Madden also earned gold medals in their divisions while Aimee Anwiler, Michael Briddell and Michael C. Lawrence earned silver.  Sherarts, 41, brought home two silver medals: one in Division 14 bocce team competition with teammates Erik Westenfield, Marshall Erickson and Jacob Pfleger; and one in Division 39 bocce doubles competition with partner Pfleger.

Odero, 19, won two gold medals and one silver medal in track and field events. He won an individual gold medal in the Division 15 200-meter run with a time of 26.21 seconds. Ordero also earned a gold medal as part of the Team Minnesota 4×400 relay team, along with teammates Jerad Magnuson of Austin, Jesus Ortega of St. Paul and Nick Vandenburgh of Oak Grove. Ordero placed second in the Division 17 long jump with a distance of 4.51 meters, and he placed fourth in Division 13 of the 400, finishing in 1 minute, 1.68 seconds.

Boss, 25, earned a Division 1 silver medal as part of Team Minnesota’s female basketball team. Minnesota defeated Michigan to advance in their division but fell to Kentucky in the gold medal game.

Jamie Scattergood, Michelle Alvord, Tammy Kveen and Michael Krueger, all of Bloomington, also earned medals. Scattergood, 28, and Alvord, 41, earned a Division 1 silver medal as part of Team Minnesota’s female basketball team. Kveen, 40, earned a gold medal and three silvers in aquatics events. She placed first in Division F04 of the 25-meter breaststroke with a time of 37.17 seconds. Kveen swam 1:24.73 to earn individual silver in the 50 breaststroke in Division F04 and also won individual silver in the 50 freestyle in Division F15 with a time of 1:02.33. Kveen competed with Minnesota’s female 4×25 freestyle relay team to also earn a team silver medal in Division F01. Krueger, 18, competed with Minnesota’s softball team to take second place in Division 2 competition. Minnesota advanced after victories against Florida and Kentucky but fell to Louisiana in the gold-medal game.

 The 2010 USA National Games was the largest sporting event held in the history of Nebraska, bringing together 2,666 athletes, 746 coaches and 6,300 volunteers. Athletes from 48 states won a total of 4,923 medals in 13 sports: aquatics, basketball, bocce, bowling, flag football, golf, gymnastics, power lifting, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball.  [Source: Special Olympics Minnesota]

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