Health?s Kitchen: Rehab med wins Iron Chef Competition

Holly Gray - 8 February 2011

If you see three students in Corbett Hall wearing embroidered chef hats and waving wooden spoons, don't be surprised.

These kitchen gadgets were prizes awarded to students from the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine - Chrissy Semonick and Jennifer Wingert from speech-language pathology and Nicole Pineault from occupational therapy - for winning the second annual Health Science Student Association's Iron Chef Competition.

The three rehab med students were randomly thrown together in a team with Emily Li from the Faculty of Pharmacy to make a specialty meal.

"This was my first time participating in the Iron Chef Competition and I would totally do it again in a heartbeat," said Pineault. "We were very proud of our product and so excited to have won! It was cool knowing that a group of strangers can come together to make delicious food, yet we were ultimately recognized for our teamwork and communication!"

The team worked together to prepare a health chili on a baked potato, sliced cucumbers, apple berry sauce, a small oatmeal cookie, and a green tea latte.

Sounds easy enough to make at home? That was the point.
Each team was required to analyze a complex patient case study and then create a meal that suited the client's health needs. The meal had to be simple enough for the client to make on his or her own.
To keep things challenging, teams only had one hour to complete the task. Ingredients were limited and participants could only bring one resource, such as a recipe book or textbook.
The winning team's client was an 87-year-old woman who had suffered a stroke. She had difficulty using the left side of her body and some trouble swallowing. She also had heart disease and was taking many nutritional supplements that she wished to discontinue.
The team's key to successfully creating a meal for this woman was interdisciplinary teamwork.
"I was totally impressed with everyone's contributions from their specific field of study, even though some of us were only in the first year or two of our programs," said Pineault. "It really gave a well-rounded approach to catering the meal to our case study client, plus we all learned a little bit more about each other's future professions!"


About the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine
As the only free standing faculty of rehabilitation in Canada, the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine balances its activities among learning, discovery and citizenship (including clinical practice). A research leader in musculoskeletal health, spinal cord injuries and common spinal disorders (back pain), the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine aims to improve the quality of life of citizens in our community. The three departments, Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT) and Speech Pathology and Audiology (SPA) offer professional entry programs. The Faculty offers thesis-based MSc and PhD programs in Rehabilitation Science, attracting students from a variety of disciplines including OT, PT, SLP, psychology, physical education, medicine and engineering.