Jadon Mehringer is an exercise science, pre-occupational health major at IUPUI. Based on his past experiences and looking toward his future career goals, Jadon knew he wanted to work with people, specifically kids, with developmental disabilities. He had volunteered in special education classes in high school, worked with community programs for people with disabilities, served as a Special Olympics coach, and currently works with the Adaptive Movement Program at IUPUI.
His LHSI internship with Dr. Jill Fodstad, associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine, provided a great opportunity for him to pursue this interest and gain valuable skills that will help as he works toward an advanced degree in occupational health.
Dr. Fodstad had published a paper highlighting the disparities in care received by the general population and care received by people with developmental disabilities. Her team is now working to gather information from health care workers, parents, and patients to develop a care plan to serve those with developmental disabilities when they are admitted to the hospital. These patients typically have longer stays and receive poorer care; developing a care plan can help guide health care workers and families to eliminate barriers and promote better care.
The project is currently in the interview stage, and Jadon has worked to recruit participants, as well as set up, conduct, and transcribe the interviews. This has been challenging due to COVID restrictions, but their team has been creative. In the coming months, the team will begin coding the data and looking for correlations in experiences to develop a care plan.
“The best part of LHSI has been the experience I’ve gained in working in a lab, in grant writing, and seeing how research actually works through all of the different phases and funding avenues,” Jadon said.