KARRN
Improving quality of life for all
Recent News
The Bridge Podcast: Tech Empowerment in the Mountains
We're back and letting the cat out of the bag— the ACAT, that is!
Host Amelia Holliday talks with staff at the Appalachian Center for Assistive Technology (ACAT) in Hazard, Ky., about providing assistive technology (AT) demonstrations and consultation, a short-term AT loan locker, maker space, workforce training, and refurbishing used tech for those in need in the mountains. ACAT Director Dr. Patrick Kitzman, ACAT Manager Keisha Wells, and ACAT Coordinator Crystal Hignite explain how the Center got started and what they see for the future.
“If I Can’t Do It, It Ain’t Worth Doing”
Celebrating the 34th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Join us for an online documentary screening featuring Kentucky’s own Arthur Campbell. This 1998 film shares the story of one disabled man’s unforgettable ride through life and the disability rights movement.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Mr. Campbell.
KARRN and ACAT updates May and June 2024
Appalachian Center for Assistive Technology (ACAT)
- We held an ACAT advisory committee meeting to discuss funding, adding new members, and moving forward.
- We had the field representative from Hal Rogers office visit ACAT.
- We had the team at Complete 3D tour ACAT.
- We had high school students from different eastern Kentucky high schools, attending a scrub camp, tour ACAT.
- Incoming Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT) students toured ACAT.
Demonstrations/community activities
- We continued with our monthly activities with the LKLP Adult Daycare and the Eastern Kentucky Veterans Center.
- We participated in Senior Games 2024 in Perry Co. and had an informational table.
- We...
KARRN and ACAT Updates March - April 2024
View the March-April Report here.
'Behind the Blue': The Kentucky Appalachian Rural Rehabilitation Network (KARRN)
On this episode of "Behind the Blue," Kitzman and Bond talk about the important work of KARRN, the collaboration the network has helped inspire, the culture shift they see happening both on and off campus, and more.
This year during One Day for UK, the university's annual giving day, all donations to the College of Health Sciences will go directly toward the Grace Jones Fund. This fund is used to help people with physical disabilities, caused by conditions such as strokes, as well as their families.
Grace Jones Memorial Fund 2024
It is my pleasure to announce the second annual call for applications for the Grace Jones Memorial Fund mini-grants. The Grace Jones Memorial Fund was established in memory of Grace Jones, who joined the faculty of the Department of Entomology at the University of Kentucky in 1984 and rose to Associate Professor in 1990. She then moved to the University of Kentucky's School of Biological Sciences in 1991, rising to Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 1999 in the renamed Department of Biology. Subsequent to a severe stroke in 2000, she inspired many as she overcame difficult physical challenges, and continued her academic teaching and research in Biology which she so much enjoyed.
The purpose of the Grace Jones Memorial Fund mini-grants is...
FROM AARP.ORG: A Community is Enabled Through the Reuse of Walkers, Wheelchairs and More
A decade ago in Hazard, Kentucky, home of the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health, physical therapists from four health programs met and shared a common complaint. Used wheelchairs, walkers, canes, crutches and other durable medical equipment desperately needed by their patients were routinely thrown away. The items ending up rotting and rusting in landfills.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Donates $125k to Hazard’s new Appalachian Center for Assistive Technology
By Ryan Clark
CHS Communications Director
HAZARD, Ky. (March 10, 2023) — The University of Kentucky announced today a $125,000 grant from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky to support the new Appalachian Center for Assistive Technology, or ACAT, located in Hazard.
Patrick Kitzman, PhD, PT and professor in the College of Health Sciences' Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation and Health Sciences PhD programs, is director of both the Kentucky Appalachian Rural Rehabilitation Network and...
