Eng 546

ENG 546 Jacqui G. Haas

ENG 546, Grant Proposal Writing was a course offered with the objective of identifying and researching funding opportunities through grant writing. Students were expected to write a grant addressing real situations, directed at real audiences. The course focused on the processes of grant seeking and writing, to have a positive impact on the community in need. The required text was, Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age by Victoria Mikelonis, Signe Betsinger, and Constance Kampf. Published by Pearson Education, in 2004.

As a licensed athletic trainer, having worked with the Cincinnati Ballet for almost 30 years, I knew the benefits of providing backstage care during dress rehearsals and performances. Athletic trainers have been providing sideline care for college and professional athletes for many years (Arnheim, 1989). College dance departments that have designed successful performing arts medicine programs for their students also provide backstage care during dress rehearsals and performances (Ambegaonkar & Caswell, 2011).

After personally working backstage for several performances, I was surprised at the lack of fundamental first aid necessities available for the students at Northern Kentucky University. One student suffered from floor burns during a performance, causing her knee to bleed, there was blood transfer on the floor, her costume, and other dancers, which can become an infection control issue. There was no disinfectant and the available antiseptic solution had expired. Unlike college or professional football games, there is no ‘time-out’ during a live dance performance to address injuries. The department desperately needed a first-aid medical kit to be available backstage.

The requirements for the grant writing project consisted of writing a need statement, goals, objectives, and the short-term and long-term impact relating to return on investment. I chose to apply for $2000 with The Strategic Investment Proposal of 2018. The one-time funds were appropriated through the Arts and Sciences Strategic Plan, Fuel the Flame and the Enrollment and Student Success Implementation Plan.

The overall goal was to provide health, safety, and wellness opportunities for the students. Performing artists need to feel supported by their professors and administrators and should be able to perform in an atmosphere where safety is a priority. The objective was to secure a $2000 gift to purchase a medical kit with ample supplies to provide care for minor scrapes, burns, cuts, or blisters. Performers also suffer from sprains and strains while rehearsing or performing, ace wraps and various taping supplies were also included in the grant proposal. A detailed list of the first aid items and anticipated expenses were included in the proposal.

The goals written in the proposal had to align with student success, talent development, academic innovation, community engagement and institutional excellence and were included in the proposal. The short-term impact of the proposal would provide first aid for two to four main stage musicals annually, emerging choreographers showcase, and the mainstage dance concert. By supporting this proposal, the long-term impact would make the statement that The School of The Arts believes in the health and wellness of their students and students to come, once again aligning with the strategic plan of a student-centered environment. Incoming students and their parents will be re-assured that safety is a priority, which could be one factor in the decision-making process of which college to attend. A copy of the original proposal is attached.

References

Ambegaonkar, J.P., Caswell, S.V. (2011). Development and implementation of an in-house health care program for university-level performing artists. IOS Press Work 40. 261-268.

Arnheim, D. (1989). Modern Principles of Athletic Training. Times/Mirror Mosby College Publishing.

Need Statement for Medical First Aid Kit, Northern Kentucky University, School of the Arts.

Musculoskeletal injuries do occur to college performing artists, interfering with their curriculum and potential career. These artists are high performance athletes and are in need of specialized care. Performing arts medicine includes all performance related illnesses from acute musculoskeletal injuries to overuse injuries. It also includes cuts, abrasions, bruises, strains and sprains. Northern Kentucky University’s School of Theatre and Arts has just over 1000 students. The music department has approximately 37 performances a year. The theater and dance departments combined have approximately 60 performances a year. With each performance comes hundreds of hours of rehearsing.

Musicians suffer from overuse injuries in the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hands. Dancers suffer from a multitude of injuries in the foot and ankle as well as the lumbar spine. Injuries come in all shapes and sizes and can happen in the studio during rehearsals or in the theatre during performances. Dancers develop blisters and scrapes from floor burns, they also develop muscle strains and spasms. Musicians can also develop blisters and muscle spasms. The blisters and abrasions can bleed and become infected and need acute care. The muscles strains and sprains need compression wraps.

The theatre and dance department needs a medical first aid kit to provide immediate care for blisters, abrasions, minor strains and sprains. The medical kit needs to be accessible during rehearsals and performances and stocked with first aid items. Safety for the performing artists should be a priority and the responsibility for their safety falls on the faculty and staff. Having a fully stocked first aid kit will help reduce infection risks, treat minor scrapes and abrasions, contain all needed supplies in one location, ensures that safety is a priority. A $2,000 gift would fund a medical kit including different tapes, compression wraps, braces, antiseptic wipes, ice packs and heating pads. The kit would also include eye wash, band aids, hand sanitizer, hydrogen peroxide, gauze and scissors. The gift would also make it possible to order enough supplies to keep the kit fully stocked for a year.

The overall goal is to promote wellness and safety for the artists, each performing arts student deserves the right to perform in an atmosphere where safety is a priority. The $2,000 will support this objective and ensure that the staff and faculty are more safety aware and the students are taken care of in the case of an accident.

Strategic Investment Proposals

2018

This year, all Strategic Investment proposals should be designed to positively impact student success. This means that one-time funds will be available to support projects, ideas, and efforts proposed by both faculty and staff that are aligned with the major college success and retention initiatives as stated in the A&S Strategic Plan, Fuel the Flame and the Enrollment and Student Success Implementation Plan. Immediate and long-term impact on student success and retention as well as sustainability (how projects could be continued beyond the funding period) should be discussed in all proposals.

Strategic Investment Proposals will be discussed at the department level, prioritized, and put forward for consideration by a college-level committee. Individuals (faculty and staff) may submit proposals to the department; however, each department must determine how it will prioritize its collection of investment strategies Department Chairs should forward their department’s prioritized ranking by 4:30pm on February 5 to Associate Dean Bethany Bowling (bowlingb2@nku.edu). Late rankings will not be accepted.

Transdisciplinary proposals that cross Arts and Sciences should be submitted directly to the college. These funds are intended to support Arts and Sciences faculty and staff efforts. If a project involves another college, and funds are required, then that college will need to be approached for funding for its applicants.

Funding requests may range from $1-$15,000 (note: funding is limited, and awards will be based on the quality of proposals and clear intersections with the college and university strategic plans). Budgets should be realistic and based on project goals and an understanding of sustainability expectations. The number of high-dollar awards will be limited.

Date(s) of Proposed Initiative: Fall 2018-Fall 2020

Faculty/Staff Name(s): Jacqui G. Haas

Proposal Title: Medical First Aid Kit

Proposal Description (include major goals and address need):

Goals:

The overall goal is to promote wellness and safety for the artists, each performing arts student deserves the right to perform in an atmosphere where safety is a priority. Musculoskeletal injuries do occur to college performing artists, interfering with their curriculum and potential career. These artists are high performance athletes and as The School of The Arts continues to grow, the numbers of performances will grow as well. With each performance comes more rehearsal time, increasing the risk for all types of physical complaints. Performing arts medicine includes all performance related illnesses from acute musculoskeletal injuries to overuse injuries. It also includes cuts, abrasions, bruises, strains and sprains. These students also face a variety of physical and emotional stressors, surrounding faulty technique, being preoccupied with perfectionism and distorted body image. Student success depends on healthy participation.

Providing performing arts specific athletic training services to the students would have a long term beneficial impact on the department. Offering quality care and guidance from a health care professional familiar with the School of the Arts students’ needs will improve their well- being and provide valuable information for the faculty as well. Performing arts specific athletic training support would provide an interdisciplinary approach to assist students in injury prevention and injury assessment. This support also has the potential to provide behavioral health assistance and nutritional counseling referrals if needed.

A study published in Medical Problems of Performing Artists in December of 2015 found that out of 168 dancers in the dance department at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, 46 dancers reported injuries during one semester. Another study published in The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in 2014 found that, 87% of the college music students interviewed reported suffering from a playing related injury. Another article published in American Music Teacher in 2015, stated that 24% of injured music students miss one week or more of classes. Professor Jatin P. Ambegaonkar of George Mason University developed an in-house health care program for the dancers, during the first year, he reported treating 100 injuries. Musicians, dancers and artists feel that their art defines who they are, once injuries begin to cut into their classes, rehearsals and performances their technique begins to falter having a serious impact on their college career. Student success depends on healthy participation.

Objectives: The School of The Arts needs a medical first aid kit to provide immediate care for blisters, abrasions, minor strains and sprains. The medical kit needs to be accessible during rehearsals and performances and stocked with quality first aid items. Safety for the performing artists should be a priority and the responsibility for their safety falls on the faculty. Having a fully stocked first aid kit will help reduce infection risks, treat minor scrapes and abrasions, contain all needed supplies in one location and ensure that safety is a priority. A $2,000 gift would fund a medical kit including different tapes, compression wraps, braces, antiseptic wipes, ice bags and heating pads. The kit would also include eye wash, band aids, hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial ointment, gauze, tweezers and scissors. The gift would also make it possible to order enough supplies to keep the kit fully stocked for two years and ensure that the staff and faculty are more safety aware and the students are taken care of in the case of an accident.

Most recently, during a series of dance performances several dancers received scrapes, abrasions and floor burns needing a disinfectant, antiseptic solution and band-aids. The small, inefficient first aid kit backstage did not have any disinfectant or antiseptic solution. Blood transfer on the floor, on costumes and on other dancers is an infection control issue. Another dancer needed eye wash for make-up, dirt and dust that was causing mild to moderate discomfort as well as restricting her eye movement. The eye wash in the first aid kit had expired in 2004. During the same series of performances one of the dancers was performing with a mild ankle sprain and needed her ankle taped daily, another dancer injured her knee during the dress rehearsal and needed tape for each performance. The outdated on-site kit had no tape. Anything can happen in the theatre from scrapes to severe orthopedic injuries, effective response with an effective well stocked medical kit is imperative. Again, the gift would also make it possible to order enough supplies to keep the kit fully stocked for two years and ensure that the staff and faculty are more safety aware and the students are taken care of in the case of an accident.

Specific Intersection(s) with the A&S Strategic Plan:

This proposal for a medical first aid kit supports student’s healthy participation in their dance endeavors improving their chances of a successful experience at The School of the Arts. The Dance Division itself is a diverse and growing program offering three levels of dance courses and specialty dance courses, adding Ballet III in 2017 and Jazz III in 2016. The growth and addition of courses within the department supports the strategic plan of enhancing learning outcomes for our students as well as setting and maintaining academic standards. The department had 6 dance majors in 2014, it has grown to 28 in 2018. The talent among the students continues to grow as does enrollment, aligning with the, recruit talented students, part of the strategic plan. The dancers perform on a regular basis both in house and at the national level. The dance program proves to support the Arts and Sciences strategic plan but can also provide support for our students’ health education. Having immediate first aid available minimizes future injury and gives the student’s a sense of security, thus supporting a student-centered environment. The College of Arts and Sciences strategic plan centers around student success, the performing artists will succeed with healthy participation and wellness education.

Goal #1 is Student Success- in order for students to succeed we must promote wellness and safety, each performing artist deserves the right to perform in an atmosphere where safety is priority. Doing our best to provide a safe working environment strengthens student success. Students are confronted with challenging schedules of classes, rehearsals, physical demands as well as emotional and behavioral stressors. Supporting the students by providing a healthy and safe participation in the classes, rehearsals and performance will help the students succeed.

Goal #2 Talent Development-the Dance BFA program is rapidly expanding, growing from six majors to twenty-eight majors in the last four years. Talented students are coming from regional and national dance studios to experience what our department offers. We are also proud of our diversity ratio of 25% of our total BFA enrollees. As we train new and more talented performing artists, we also need to be aware of safety, health and wellness for all performers.

Goal #3-Academic Innovation- the Dance program has added a Dance Physiology course to educate students on anatomy, musculoskeletal injuries and injury prevention to prepare them for life, work and service as performing artists. This is a transdisciplinary course combining health science knowledge and dance knowledge to provide a platform for student success. Having a quality medical first aid kit aligns with our need to support our students’ physical health and wellness.

Goal #4 Community Engagement- we know that the Arts support’s learning, creativity and innovation. Regionally, the School of The Arts is expanding college offerings, Music and Dance preparatory programs and the Tour Troupe outreach programming. Our dance, musical theatre and visual arts performances are bringing art to this region improving academic performance, student creativity and innovation. The experience our students have will enhance regional growth and we want to increase wellness awareness as well.

Goal #5 Institutional Excellence-In order to improve effectiveness across all aspects of our work we need to be able to effectively treat our performing artists if they develop mild or major injuries. This also supports our initiative of providing outstanding service for our performing artists.

Return on Investment:

• • Short-term Impact (1 year):

  • Performing arts medicine includes all performance related illnesses from acute musculoskeletal injuries to overuse injuries. It also includes cuts, abrasions, bruises, strains and sprains. The funding for this medical first aid kit will have an immediate impact and provide a service for all performing artists during movement classes, rehearsals and performances. It is an occupational safety hazard to be without a quality medical first aid kit. This proposal includes enough items to last for two years.

  • Current dance classes needing access to a medical first aid kit:

  • Ballet I, II, III, Modern I, II, III, Jazz I, II, III, Tap I, II, III, Choreography, Partnering, Dance Foundations, Dance Physiology, Musical Theatre Dance, Pilates and various specialty dance courses.

  • Performance opportunities needing access to medical first aid kit:

    • Two to Four main stage musicals annually, Emerging Choreographers Showcase, Mainstage Dance concert.

• • Long-term Impact (3-4 years), Sustainability Strategy:

  • The medical first aid kit will need to be inspected on a regular basis to meet the demands of the performing artists. Long term maintenance is imperative for safety. The kit will need to be re-stocked and inspected for rusted or damaged containers, expired products and contaminated items. By checking the kit often, the faculty will get into the habit of using the kit, promoting long term student safety. Only approved faculty would have access to the kit which to keep items from being misused.

  • Students will be able to attend class, rehearse and perform during their years in this department knowing they will be taken care of in an emergency.

  • Promoting health and wellness with a fully stocked medical kit begins the process of providing quality care for the students’ unique physical complaints which improves their well-being. As they graduate and begin the process of teaching or performing in the community they will have a better understanding of their own physical strengths and weaknesses and can share their knowledge to promote wellness, representing The School of The Arts.

  • In the long term, supporting this proposal would make the statement that The School of The Arts believes in the health and wellness for the students and students to come, once again aligning with the strategic plan of a student centered environment.

  • Incoming students and their parents will be re-assured that safety is a priority, which has the potential for being a factor in the decision making process of which college to attend.

  • Sustaining expansion of programming and future growth that is supported by health and wellness initiatives will strengthen student success which is at the core of NKU’s mission.

    • Budget:

  • Itemized List of Anticipated Expenses, Total Cost of Proposal: