The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, December 29, 2018, Image 12

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The times., December 29, 2018, Image 12

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Newspaper Page TextNick Bowman Features Editor | 770-718-3426 | life@gainesvilletimes.com S'hc Srtnes gainesvilletimes.com Saturday, December 29, 2018 FAITH EVENTS Bible study. 7-8 p.m. Jan. 9. Mount Zion Baptist Church, 4000 Thurmond Tanner Road, Flowery Branch. 770- 967-3722 or mzbcinfo@ yahoo.com. Meditation Workshop with an Enlightened Master. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec.. 29. Fowler Park recreation center, 4110 Carolene Way, Cumming. Thathvadarshi Sree Ramanananda maharshi. 11 a.m. Dec. 29. Fowler Park, 4110 Carolene Way, Cumming. North Georgia Revival Women’s Conference. 2p.m. Jan. 12. Christ Fellowship Church, 139 Hightower Parkway, Dawsonville. $10. Marriage Enrichment. 9-9:45 a.m. Jan. 13. Mount Zion Baptist Church, 4000 Thurmond Tanner Road, Flowery Branch. 770-967- 3722 or mzbcinfo@yahoo. com. Shepherds singing at First Congregational Holiness Church. 5 p.m. Jan. 13, at 741 Bradford St. SW, Gainesville. Free. Movie Night. 7 p.m. Jan. 26, Feb. 23 and March 30. Chicopee United Methodist Church, 3 First St., Gainesville. 770-634-6803 or pegflute@yahoo.com. Love and Respect Video Marriage Conference. 6p.m. Feb. 1 and 8:30 a.m. Feb. 2. Winder First Baptist Church, 625 Jefferson Highway, Winder. $15-20. Rethinking Retirement. Retreat to encourage and equip elders for the work of discipling the next generation. 9 a.m. Feb. 15 to 10 a.m. Feb. 17. Ark on Lake Lanier, 6250 Old Dawsonville Road, Gainesville. Maximizing Your Mission Hip. Workshop preparing you for the mission field. 8 a.m. Feb. 16. Adventures In Missions, 6000 Wellspring Trail, Gainesville. $25. David Marsh, theater organist. 3 p.m. Feb. 17. Cumming First United Methodist Church, 770 Canton Highway, Cumming. Darrell and Dawn Ritchie. Noon Feb. 26. Concord Baptist Church, 6905 Concord Road, Cumming. ONGOING Men’s Prayer Breakfast. 9-10:30 a.m. second Saturdays. Sept. 8 to March 9. Hosted by Mount Zion Baptist Church. Email for location. mzbcinfo@yahoo. com. Celebrate Recovery. 6:15-9 p.m. every Friday. Dinner, large group service and small groups. Children’s ministry available for children of all ages. CrossBridge Community Church, 751 Ga. 53 E, Dawsonville. $2-3. 770-883-2576 or slreeves2@ yahoo.com. Free clothing store. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday. Infant, children and adult clothing available for those in need. Donations appreciated. Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 7049 Spout Springs Road, Flowery Branch. 678-336- 6964. Gentle Hearts Ministry Food Pantry. Distribution of food. 5-6 p.m. every Wednesday. St. Paul United Methodist Church, 705 Summit St., Gainesville. 770-536-4910. Senior adult choir. 1 p.m. Wednesdays. First Presbyterian Church, 800 S. Enota Drive, Gainesville. Membership not required. 770-532-0136. Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times University of North Georgia graduate student Tommy Otley walks Rafi the dog Tuesday, Dec. 18, on a special pad that records data of his steps as he travels with the pooch. UNG is using research to improve harnesses for guide dogs in order to cut back on injuries and pain for guide dog users. UNG helps visually impaired to combat guide dog strain Rafi, the syrah golden retriever, walks along with graduate student Tommy Otley on a special pad which records data from Otley’s steps. Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Sue Ann Kalish records data from the footsteps of a subject using a guide dog Tuesday, Dec. 18. Rafi walks along with graduate student Tommy Otley. BY LAYNE SALIBA lsaliba@ gainesvilletimes.com Researchers in Dahlonega are work ing to make life a little easier on the visually impaired. More than 10 years ago, Teresa Conner- Kerr started thinking of ways to help her visu ally impaired patients at the wound-care clinic where she was working. She noticed a pattern in some of those patients, but wasn’t sure what to do about it at the time. “I would watch their posture, and I was always just concerned about how they walked,” said Conner-Kerr, now dean of the College of Health Sciences and Pro fessions at the Univer sity of North Georgia’s Dahlonega campus. “It looked uncomfortable, and I wondered about the pain. A lot of my cli ents would have pain and their shoulders were in a strange position when they used the guide dogs.” Those thoughts racked her brain until she got to UNG and met Sue Ann Kalish, associate profes sor in the department of physical therapy. The two began talking about ways to help the visually impaired and decided to begin researching the strain guide dog users experience by using guide dog harnesses. “We began to talk about this project and it kind of took on a life of its own,” Conner-Kerr said. Research began with Kalish’s Syrah golden retriever, Rafi. She walked with him using a normal leash. She then traded that leash out for a harness that a visually impaired person would use and she found a con siderable — and uncom fortable — difference. “It was amazing how rigid the transmission of the forces were,” Kalish said. “He was walking in the correct position. It was just such a different strain with the handle and the harness.” Kalish, Conner-Kerr and students in the doctor of physical therapy pro gram at UNG are using that knowledge along with more research to find ways to make using a guide dog easier on the visually impaired. Solutions could include anything from more training for the users or even a new design for the handle attached to the harness. Whatever it is, Kalish said she thinks they’re about two years away from the answers. It’s all about research right now. “We are just at the beginning,” Kalish said. Although they’re just at the beginning stages, the research has been shown at the National Association of Guide Dog Users’ national confer ence, where they also gained further data from volunteers who walked on a GAITRite walk way, which Rae Philips, a third-year doctor of physical therapy student at UNG, said is “a rubber mat with pressure sen sors embedded into it.” “We were fortunate enough to have a num ber of volunteers that were attending the con ference,” Philips said. “They walked on the mat for us with their guide dog and again with their cane and we were able to gather some information on different gait charac teristics and see the dif ferences there.” Over the next few years, they plan to research the kinds of joint injuries and pain guide dog users expe rience in order to find ways to alleviate them. All of the information gathered will give the university what it needs to find solutions for guide dog users. Kalish said industries have studied the har nesses, but “the interface between the guide dog user and the handle has not been well studied. ” “Our ultimate goal is to increase the qual ity of life of individuals who use guide dogs and prevent injuries,” Con ner-Kerr said. “That’s probably going to be about helping fit a person to use a better-designed harness. But what that better design is, we don’t know.” Whatever solution ends up coming from the research UNG is doing, Kalish hopes it’s just that: a solution. “We like to get to the cause of the problem,” Kalish said. “We don’t like to just put Band-Aids on things. We want to get to the root cause.” A Happy New Year and lots of merry cowboys Always, as we enter into a new year, I like to look back at the past year and reflect on the memories, especially the good ones. One of the best memories and most enjoyable evenings we had happened in early November. Of course, before I get to that, I must explain how it all began. In 2019, Tink and I watched “The Waltons” from the first sea son to the last. We found it on a channel called INSP. Somewhere halfway through those seasons, we saw a commercial for an INSP- created show called “The Cowboy Way: Alabama.” Tink loves all things cowboy. He even subscribes to a couple of cow boy magazines. And on the cover of my newest book, “Let Me Tell You Something,” he is wearing a cowboy suit, at four years old, that was a Christmas gift from his father’s friend, Mr. Walt Disney. We were instantly interested in “The Cowboy Way: Alabama” so I wrote the channel’s publicist, Tara RONDA RICH southswomen@bellsouth.net Brown, who sent me the first cou ple of seasons, and we launched into watching it, instantly falling in love with the simplicity of the show and the humility of its stars. Bubba Thompson, Cody Har ris, and Chris “Booger” Brown are young, handsome men who are trying to feed their wives and babies by adhering to the old, tra ditional cowboy ways - in South Alabama. The location adds an interesting twist. They raise cattle, curse the tribulations on counting for the weather to act right, trust in God, take their hats off when the flag is raised, ride horses, rope steers here and there, and count heavily on pickup trucks. We have not missed an episode. In early November, we were thrilled to be invited to have din ner with the guys, Tara, and net work executives Craig Miller and Elizabeth Buraglio, in the pictur esque town of Fairhope, Alabama. We arrived 20 minutes early and were waiting to be seated when Tink looked across the room. Like a little boy who’d just seen a hero, he grinned, then turned and whispered to me, “Look, baby. It’s a cowboy!” There, across the restaurant, was Cody Harris, sitting alone, having arrived even earlier than we had. When we approached to introduce ourselves, he rose, took off his hat, and offered his hand. “Miss Ronda, Mr. John, it’s a pleasure to meet ya.” What a lovely evening it was. I sat in the midst of the cowboys and asked questions while Tink chimed in with great enthusiasm as we discovered that these young men we cheer for on TV are just like their alter egos; they’re cour teous, thoughtful, hard-working, Jesus-revering, America-loving husbands and fathers. These farm ers are helping feed our country even though it could lead them to half-starvation themselves since farming won’t make you rich. Or even comfortable. Most memorable was when our food arrived. “We gotta bless this food,” Cody said, grabbing the waiter and pulling him in. “You get over here with us and pray, too.” The waiter complied and dropped his head. I’ve never seen anything like that happen. It was lovely. I asked the blessing then we dove into more conversation and delicious, fresh seafood. As Tink engaged in energetic conversation with the cowboys, I laughed to myself, thinking of a conversation I’d overheard between Tink and his best friend in Los Angeles. “We’re having dinner tomor row night with Cody, Bubba, and Booger,” he said, pausing a beat before continuing. “I bet you’ve never had dinner with anyone named Bubba or Booger.” The answer to that, I gathered, was “no.” Firmly. We’re not the only ones who admire the three cowboys. They recently won an award as a fan favorite on cable television. You can start your New Year off with a dose of goodness by tuning into the premier of the fifth season of “The Cowboy Way: Alabama” on INSP on January 6 at 8 p.m. Our hats - cowboy and other wise - are off to them.. Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of “Mark My Words: A Memoir of Mama.” Visit www. rondarich.com to sign up for her free weekly newsletter. Her col umn appears Saturday.