By Erin Jester
Alumni and friends of the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions answered the called to “Stand Up and Holler” for Gator Nation Giving Day on Feb. 20.
A total of 146 donors raised $115,879 in 24 hours, propelling the College of Public Health and Health Professions to the No. 6 spot for most funds raised out of UF’s 17 colleges.
Overall, 12,821 donors raised more than $6.2 million for the university, an increase of more than $2 million over last year’s campaign.
Each year, PHHP encourages giving to “challenge gifts,” donor-matched funds that directly benefit students in their work to become tomorrow’s health care professionals.
Occupational therapy alumnus Frank Gainer matched gifts dollar for dollar up to $10,000 for the Occupational Therapy Challenge in memory of Kay Walker, Ph.D., OTR/L. Donors surpassed that mark, raising $13,633 for the fund.
The M.H.A. Health leaders professional Development Fund provides critical resources for Master of Health Administration students. An anonymous donor matched gifts to the fund dollar for dollar, up to $5,000. Fourteen donors contributed a total of $6,113.
Longtime PHHP supporters and UF alumni Rolf and Anne Kuhns matched every dollar 5 to 1, up to $2,500, to the Rolf M. and Anne T. Kuhns Endowed Scholarship in Physical Therapy. Donors gave $3,507 to support scholarships for Doctor of Physical Therapy students demonstrating clinical excellence.
Taylor Pray, a third-year Doctor of Physical Therapy student, received the Kuhns Endowed Scholarship last August.
There is no application process; faculty and clinicians nominate students who show promise in becoming great clinicians. Pray was nominated by a clinician she worked with at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa.
“I’m so grateful,” Pray said. “The scholarship has been such an influential part of the last year for me.”
Since receiving the scholarship, Pray has completed clinical rotations at an outpatient orthopedic clinic in Sarasota, a neurology unit at Brooks Rehabilitation in Jacksonville and a pediatric clinic in Orlando.
The neurological physical therapy rotation was her favorite, Pray said, and solidified her passion for working with patients who are living with Parkinson’s disease or recovering from stroke or spinal cord injury.
“Because of that rotation, I’d eventually love to pursue a residency to dive deeper into that,” she said.
Pray said the scholarship relieved the financial burden of school tuition and living expenses while she has been on clinical rotations in different cities. Without the scholarship, she said, those opportunities may have been out of reach.
“This funding has been a huge part in me being able to get through school,” she said.