UAB Briefs: Prison drama, homecoming events, kudos from Forbes

Welcome to another installment of UAB Briefs, in which we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.

Look for UAB Briefs at ironcity.ink on Fridays.

Know people, places and programs at UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email Iron City Ink at sydney@starnespublishing.com and jchambers@starnespublishing.com.

Prisoners making “Corrections”

With some help from UAB faculty members, a group of about 20 inmates at a maximum-security prison in Bessemer – the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility – have written and produced a new serial radio drama about life behind bars.

The 30-minute drama, called "Corrections,” will premiere Sat., Oct. 22, at 7:30 a.m., on Birmingham’s WJLD Radio AM 1400. The episodes will air each Saturday for eight weeks.

“While (the drama’s) main objective is to raise inmates’ awareness of common health problems in correctional settings, it is entertaining and novel, making it appealing to all audiences,” Connie Kohler, the show’s producer, told UAB Reporter.

The health issues discussed in “Corrections” include diabetes, tuberculosis and high blood pressure.

Kohler, a professor emerita in the UAB School of Public Health, has been involved in a number of serial dramas to further public health education and pitched her idea for “Corrections” to the warden at Donaldson, according to UAB Media Relations.

UAB faculty have already led an annual lecture series for inmates at the facility for 20 years. 

The inmates “absolutely” enjoyed the creative process, Kohler told Iron City Ink.

“They are already expressing interest in doing a second season,” she said.

They also displayed some unexpected creative spark, according to Kohler. “One young man in particular was able to write dialogue very well,” she said. “It was like any show you would watch on television. There has been pretty good writing and pretty good acting displayed among several of the inmates.”

Other faculty members involved in the drama include Lee Shackleford and Dennis McLernon from the UAB Department of Theatre. Two doctoral students also took part – Caroline Durena of the School of Public Health and Ashley Conway from the School of Education.

Shackleford, Kohler and the students went to Donaldson once a week to meet with the inmates. The series is based on the inmates’ perception of the most prevalent health issues in prison. The inmates came up with the characters and determined how they would work the health issues into the script. The project took about a year.

The project was paid for with money raised through the UAB crowdfunding site. A professional recording studio provided music, sound effects and post-production editing.

And the inmates have derived some psychological benefits from taking part, according to Kohler. "The inmates tell us that it helps their self-esteem,” she said. “They can show their families something they’ve worked on. It is also of benefit because it gives them something to look forward to each week, and the assignments in between give them something to do outside of their daily routine. They are also learning about the health issues discussed.”

Each episode of “Corrections” on WJLD will be followed by discussion with the program hosts – a former inmate and a social worker with experience working in prison. The hosts will take listener calls.

The show will be available to any inmate at Donaldson who has access to a radio, according to Kohler, who has worked with WJLD before and approached the station for this project because its signal can be picked up at Donaldson.

The show was originally intended solely for the prison audience, but that changed as the creative process went on, according to Kohler.

"As the writing progressed, the inmates expressed interest in trying to extend their audience beyond the prison, so people outside of the prison can know that they are regular, creative people with the ability to produce something like this,” she said.

Kohler said she would like to make the drama available to other prisons, as well as to people around the county doing tuberculosis education.

Depending on the response “Corrections” receives during its initial eight-week run, producers may look into airing the series again or creating a second series, according to Kohler

Listeners can hear the program at the radio station’s streaming site, http://wjldradio.com.

Homecoming winds up

UAB is celebrating its homecoming this week with the theme of “Forever Blaze.” A series of events and activities began on Sun., Oct. 16, and are scheduled to wrap up this Sat., Oct. 22.

The Homecoming Parade and Float Competition will take place today at noon. It will begin on 14th Street South, turn down 10th Avenue South, turn onto 19th Street South and then proceed down University Blvd back to 14th Street. For details, go to uab.edu/homecoming/events/parade-float-competition.

Homecoming festivities will end on Saturday with the Blazer 5K Run and 1-Mile Walk, beginning at 8 a.m. on the Campus Green. Registration is $5. For more information, go to uab.edu/homecoming/events/blazer-5k-run.

Events earlier this week included the Gurney Derby, the Green and Gold football game, and the Mr. and Ms. UAB awards, as well as a film screening, comedy show and Red Cross blood drive.

UAB gets Forbes kudos

UAB is one of the best employers in the America, according to a new survey from Forbes. The magazine ranked the university at No. 24 in its list of the country’s best midsize employers.

Forbes looked at about 1,900 companies with more than 1,000 employees and identified the factors that influence employee satisfaction, according to a UAB news release. The study was based on surveys of more than 30,000 employees and other data.

Other universities on the list – which is part of Forbes’ new America’s Best Employers report – include Boston College (5), Oregon (16), Johns Hopkins (18), Princeton (29) and Baylor (30).

UAB is the largest single employer in Alabama with more than 23,000 employees and an annual economic impact exceeding $5 billion in the state, according to school officials.

Stimulating the brain

UAB has scored a BRAIN Initiative grant worth $7.3 million over five years from the federal National Institutes of Health to study new technology that could improve outcomes from deep brain stimulation, a treatment for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, according to a news release.

The grant will enable UAB researchers to test out new DBS technology made by Boston Scientific. The technology can direct current in specific directions in the brain, allowing for a more tailored approach to DBS adjustments in individuals.

Deep brain stimulation is a neuromodulation therapy that uses electrical current to improve slowness, muscle stiffness, tremor and other disabling symptoms of movement disorders, the release states.

Stimulating the heart

UAB Hospital has acquired two high-tech simulators from the American Heart Association that should dramatically improve the way its nurses and other emergency department staff are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, according to a news release.

The machines, called RQI or the Resuscitation Quality Improvement system, consist of two mannequins — one adult and one pediatric — attached to a computer system. The machines measure the variables involved in giving performing CPR and give staffers instantaneous feedback while they practice.

“The new simulators allow us to approach CPR training in a whole new way, and we are seeing remarkable improvement,” said Dr. Michael Kurz, an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine.

The new training, which is thought to be much more effective than the old methods, is very important, since staff members must get recertified in CPR every two years, according to Kurz.

UAB is only the fifth hospital in the nation to have the RQI machines and the first in Alabama, the release states.

10-21-16 12:25 p.m.--The post was corrected. The radio drama premieres on Sat., Oct. 22. The post previously stated, incorrectly, that the date was Oct. 23.