About Great Seminars & Books
This is the story of how it all began.
The seeds for GREAT Seminars and Books (GSB) were planted in 1958 when I was 5 years old and went to Miami Beach with my Grandparents. I loved being with older adults and hoped one day to make a difference in their lives. Then in 1978, when I was working on my master’s degree in Gerontology at the University of Southern California, I delivered a 3-minute talk to my class. After the presentation, a nurse, who owned a seminar company specializing in geriatrics, offered to pay me to deliver one-day talks on geriatrics for rehabilitation professionals. Off I went. I began in Flint, Michigan with 6 slides and 7 class participants and ended in NYC with 40 slides and 150 participants. I continued to lecture for various companies and years later I realized that I had a different vision from the people who owned these companies.
My vision was to own an educational company that presented current, research-based information on what clinicians could do every day to increase to improve their outcomes in working with older persons. Thus, GREAT (Geriatric Rehabilitation, Education And Training) Seminars was born. With the help of the world’s greatest executive director, my sister, Neila Waugh, we created Great Seminars and Books.
Eventually, teaching 10-20 times a year all over the country and running three PT clinics became impossible. I decided to find talented therapists who shared my vision, were engaging presenters, and offered specializations that could increase the impact GREAT could have on geriatric rehabilitation.
My first find is vivid in my mind. I was teaching a Documentation and Functional Assessment course and I couldn’t help but notice that one participant was incredibly bright and insightful. Her name was Sandy Shelton. I cornered her in the Lady’s Room at the Peabody Hotel and asked if she would like to assist me in my courses. She enthusiastically accepted. A few years later, Sandy started her own successful course on Intensive Orthopedics. Sandy is still a full-time acute care therapist on the orthopedic wing at Vanderbilt Hospital. She no longer teaches this course live, but we recorded her in our Hip Fracture course for our online division, Great Seminars Online (www.greatseminarsonline.com).
In 1994, Great Seminars became Great Seminars and Books and the publishing component was born. One of the earliest books published The Functional Toolbox (1994) was the first compendium of functional tools published in this country and it is now a classic in rehabilitation programs and departments. GSB boasts over 15 books or learning tools that are easy to use and order. The face-to-face seminar portion has educated over 30,000 therapists and is constantly striving for excellence and participant growth and satisfaction.
The faculty grew as did our reach. I began to look for ways to promote and identify therapists advanced knowledge and skills. I realized that people were taking more than one GREAT course and were becoming experts in care for older persons. In 2003, I introduced the Geriatric Trained and Certified Clinical Specialist (GTCCS). We call it an alternative residency. I modeled it after other certifications and in fact, it has been used very successfully to prepare for the APTA’s GCS. GTCCS therapists have a 100% GCS pass rate and the GTCCS is the only geriatric certification to earn the approval of the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy.
What a ride! But in all honesty, it has been and continues to be a struggle. Too few therapists feel the need to continue to learn beyond what they studied in school. With states now mandating con ed, more people are taking courses, but now there are many more companies that provide con ed. Some are good and some … not so much. Our hope is that word of mouth by the GREAT community will encourage people to come to our classes.
We provide the rehab community with solid, evidence-based information that can be used in the clinical setting immediately. I personally work intensely with all GSB instructors prior to their first course and I attend and critique their first course. If a course is not the quality that I, and you, expect, it does not continue.
Today, I am 25+ years in. I have witnessed 3 major economic crashes, horrific terrorist attacks, the covid19 crisis of 2020, major changes in the competitive landscape of continuing education, and massive technological growth that is rapidly changing our industry and producing incredible changes in how health care is consumed and practiced. On top of that, I have seen rehabilitation blossom, my children grow up strong and healthy, and I have met brilliant rehabilitation professionals.
So much has changed, but many challenges still exist. Through all the changes and all the challenges, I have been privileged to work around the world and meet thousands of interested and passionate therapists who really want to improve the health care for older persons and make this world a better place.
Thank you all so much for your support and patronage. I am very grateful for my 25+years in this wonderful business and for the many more ahead of me. It would have been impossible without my amazing faculty, executive support, and you. I continue to find great joy in my career and I look forward to meeting and working with you and many others all over the country in the years to come.
Thank you again for being part of this journey.
Carole B. Lewis, PT, DPT, GCS, GTCCS, MPA, MSG, PhD, FSOAE, FAPTA
About Great Seminars Online
Great Seminars and Books, the company that has brought face-to-face continuing education opportunities to physical and occupational therapists since 1989, launched Great Seminars Online (GSO) in 2005. We offer online courses that are every bit as powerful as GSB’s face-to-face trainings. Check out our list of Great Seminars Online courses.
Great Seminars Online (GSO) began in 2009 after Dr. Lewis and Dr. Laflin, who have been good friends since 1985 when they got their PhD’s together in Health Education at the University of Maryland, started talking about education in the rehabilitation professions. Dr. Lewis felt she could bring the rehabilitation expertise and hoped that Dr. Laflin would bring her educational and technological expertise to develop the best online programs in the world. Dr. Laflin is well known for her outstanding work in technological education; her leadership in this area is unmatched.
GSO courses are practical, engaging, and interactive, and our digital format offers unrivaled convenience. Courses can be accessed 24 hours a day using a computer, a tablet or a smart phone. Courses include demonstrations using live patient videos, interviews, simulations, case studies, and lectures packed with clinical evidence designed to be used in your practice right away.
Dr. Christian Rogers, PhD, Dr. Molly Laflin, PhD, Dr. Carole Lewis, PhD.
We think we are the most advance degree educated team for continuing education for rehabilitation in the world. We are dedicated to producing relevant and clinically useful information for today’s practicing therapists.
GSO is excited to build upon the legacy of Great Seminars and Books. We are dedicated to bringing the newest, most relevant clinical research to you using the most interesting and intriguing delivery methods.
Carole B. Lewis, PT, DPT, GCS, GTCCS, MPA, MSG, PhD, FSOAE, FAPTA, GSO president
Molly Laflin, PhD, GSO Executive Director