It was a hot summer day on June 6, 2019, when Kim Ford felt so incredibly hot that she couldn't keep her clothes on. She was working from home in customer care when she tripped and couldn't get up. Before she knew it, she was in an ambulance, heading to Christiana Hospital, where EMTs pointed to her husband's wrist and asked her what was on it. She couldn't answer them.

Ford, who was 50 years old at the time, had what doctors described as a one-in-a-million stroke. Covering the entire left side of her brain, Ford suffered cognitive deficits that affected her memory. That's how she linked up with the University of Delaware College of Health Sciences, where she's participated in several studies for stroke survivors, including the five-year PROWALKS clinical trial led by Darcy Reisman, professor and chair of the Department of Physical Therapy. The PROWALKS study emphasized daily walking activity in the community through step monitoring, goal setting, and coaching. These efforts resulted in significant improvements in gait, walking speed, and endurance. Interestingly, only participants with FitBits who received a behavioral intervention improved their daily step count. That finding spawned the subsequent community-based study, in which Reisman seeks to bridge the gap between clinic research and community implementation.

The 12-week community study optimized walking capacity in stroke survivors like Ford. It's similar to PROWALKS but substitutes licensed physical therapists with non-licensed doctor of physical therapy (DPT) students to test feasibility and determine whether the intervention can be implemented in community settings like senior centers.

"High-intensity walking is good at improving a person's capacity for doing something, but it doesn't change actual behavior," explained Reisman. "If we want to improve what people do in their real life outside the clinic, we need a behavioral intervention that can be delivered potentially by non-licensed people. With PROWALKS, this is where we saw bang for our buck in improving actual performance."

Reisman's community study is funded through a generous grant from WeRunWithYou, a nonprofit co-founded by marathon runner and brain aneurysm survivor Kathy Nguyen of Newark, a former patient at UD's Physical Therapy Clinic. WeRunWithYou helps survivors overcome perceived limitations and return to doing what they love while raising funds for brain aneurysm research.

"We are excited to support UDPT and fund this multi-year research project for advancing post-stroke and brain aneurysm rehabilitation technologies and techniques," Nguyen said. "We hope it will make a difference in the lives of many stroke and brain injury survivors for years to come."

WeRunWithYou is also raising money through the Run4Rehab campaign, associated with the Philadelphia Marathon, in partnership with UDPT students and stroke survivors participating in the study and the marathon. Nguyen praised UDPT students for choosing a path of service.

"Their participation in this study will provide them with valuable experience and an opportunity to make a difference in the community," said Nguyen.