DUBOIS, Pa. (EYT) – The connection between students and faculty members is not only one that cultivates learning, but it also often creates a bond that continues long after a student graduates.

Such is the case for Haley Gray, an alumna of Penn State DuBois who is the current rehabilitation director at Windy Hill Village in Philipsburg.

(Pictured above: Penn State DuBois occupational therapy assistant faculty LuAnn Delbrugge and Amy Fatula at the recent CarFit event at Windy Hill Village.)

When the continuing care retirement community decided to host a CarFit event, Gray contacted her former professor, LuAnn Delbrugge, associate teaching professor of occupational therapy at Penn State DuBois. Along with Amy Fatula, assistant teaching professor of occupational therapy, they were able to educate numerous residents about how to make traveling in their vehicles safer.

CarFit is an educational program that promotes continued safe driving and mobility among older drivers. It focuses on bringing attention to safety, comfort, and fit within each vehicle. The program helps drivers find out how well they currently fit into their personal vehicle and provides steps they can take to improve their fit.

LuAnn Delbrugge presents residents of Windy Hill Village with information at a CarFit event.

As a CarFit event coordinator, Delbrugge is also able to train and certify others to become CarFit technicians. For sophomores in the occupational therapy assistant program, becoming a trained CarFit technician is a supplemental program offered each year during the spring semester. Once training is complete, students can then be listed on a national database that allows them to be identified as someone who can perform a CarFit session.

Working together, Gray, Delbrugge, and Fatula, who is also a CarFit technician, were able to help numerous drivers assess their fit in their vehicle, assist them with making adjustments to have a safer fit, and make recommendations for additional adaptive support equipment.

Credit: Penn State