Part of being a leader in physical therapy is to advocate, collaborate and act in a socially responsible manner that pertains to not only you and your patients, but also the medical profession as a whole. Being able to provide a holistic approach to care involves a team approach to be able to provide patients with the most optimum quality of life attainable. Each medical profession is one piece of the puzzle, and it is this collaboration and accountability amongst these professions that ensure that our patients do not fall through the cracks and get lost in the system.
How this influenced my development as an SPT:
Cathy Webster and this opportunity to volunteer with the NDAA has played an immensely important role in my life and my decision to become a physical therapist. I met Cathy before entering PT school and it was this experience that further led me to develop such an immense passion and love for physical therapy and to see the impact we have on our community and patients. I have continued working with Cathy throughout my academic career in PT school and have since become very close with the adaptive kayaking participants. This has influenced my development as an SPT to see the lengths that Cathy goes through to take care of her kayakers, how active she is in the community, along with the humility she possesses. Cathy has become not only a friend, but a mentor and role model who inspires me to go above and beyond in hopes to create as great an impact as she has at such a large level. I have learnt the power of advocacy, the power of compassion and empathy, and the power of building a community which allows for these individuals to share their experiences different and alike, and bond over their love of being out on the water. In addition, she has helped many kayakers obtain grants from the Kelly Brush Foundation so that they could obtain their own equipment and kayaks to independently be able to remain active. She has set an example consisting of high standards of what it means to be a great PT not just in the clinic, but outside of it.
How this influenced my development as an SPT:
This influenced my development as an SPT to strive to continue to get involved in events that work toward important causes such as this. We had created a VT-DPT team for this march, and it was nice to share this experience with fellow classmates and help raise money for a good cause. Being part of a healthcare team, it’s important to advocate and support events like these as well as fundraise to help our interdisciplinary colleagues across the medical profession.
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Advocacy, justice, and community engagement:
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Develop experiential learning through local or international community immersion projects.
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Northeast Disabled Athletic Association (NDAA)- Adaptive Kayaking
Description: NDAA is a non-profit public charity that encourages and provides people with physical disabilities the opportunity to pursue adaptive kayaking. It allows them to leave their chairs, and assistive devices ashore and gets them into a kayak to be able to enjoy the beautiful Vermont shorelines and scenery. In addition, it allows them to be physically active in a safe, fun, and effective manner that works for them. Modifications are also made and tailored to each participant's needs. The kayaks have been adapted with supportive seats, outriggers for added stability, and specialty paddles to remove upper body strain and allow for easier paddling.
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
Description: The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a movement that supports the breast cancer communities including patients, survivors, thrivers, and caregivers through every step of the journey. The American Cancer Society started Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks to unite communities in the fight against this deadly disease. The movement works toward raising money to help the American Cancer Society fund groundbreaking breast cancer research and provide patient services like free rides to chemo, free places to stay near treatment, and a live 24/7 cancer helpline. I met Vermont’s Making Strides team at the 22nd Annual Women’s Health and Cancer Conference in 2019. A few of my classmates and myself signed up to fundraise and walk in the Making Strides event that occurred at Veterans Memorial Park, South Burlington. We also volunteered to work some of their booths, as well as help with set up and take down.
Accountability and Integrity
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Act as a role model and leader within the PT cohort and community
UVM Virtual Playgroup
Description: The virtual playgroup is a service and teaching project of the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences at UVM. Dr. Liliane Savard, a clinical educator and physical therapist in conjunction with graduate physical therapy students, conduct a weekly virtual playgroup that is meant to provide parents and children more opportunities to socialize and engage with peers in the community. Children of all ages and abilities are invited to join. The playgroup meets once a week for about 30 minutes over zoom. These playgroups are designed to help children practice their gross motor development, fine motor development, social/communication skills, and lastly, music and rhythm.
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Each week there is a new fun theme designated to guide the playgroups activities. It often begins with an intro song and dance to get the kiddo’s moving, followed by fun arts and crafts, physical activities, music, socialization, turn-taking, games, and more. Some examples of the themes used include food week, springtime week, family week, transportation week, and all about me week.
How this influenced my development as an SPT:
How this influenced my development as a SPT is how it enhanced my knowledge with regards to working with kids of different ages and focusing interventions on play. More specifically, being able to base your plan for the day around their level of interest and engagement. It really showed the need for inheriting a skill set that requires quick-thinking and adaptability to the kiddo in front of you. A good example of this would be one day having them be very interactive and engaged, and the next being very withdrawn. Then as the therapist, we need to be able to figure out if this was due to the lack of interest in the activity planned, or maybe the kiddo was just having an off day. What I learned from my time with these kiddo’s is once you have developed that rapport and get to know them, you pick up quickly on what interests them. This then allows you to develop future interventions accordingly. I also learnt that though we want to come up with interventions that incorporate different skills such as coordination, dexterity, turn taking, sometimes you just have to abort and just play with them.
This experience has also changed my perspective on health promotion. We know and have become very familiar with the importance of all 8 dimensions of wellness, and the bio-psycho-social model. With regards to this experience, a good example is when we interviewed one of the kiddo’s moms. She went on to talk about the amount of bullying her son has gone through because he’s “different”. We took this feedback and for our next playgroup we focused it around “All About Me.” We began by going around and sharing one thing we liked and/or was unique about ourselves. When it was his turn, he didn’t want to answer. I followed up by stating that if we were alike, it would be as if this world was black and white, but it is each one of our unique qualities that brings light to this world and makes it more fun and interesting. This was by far our best playgroup. By providing the tools and support as well as setting an example for these kiddo’s, we can help them develop not just physically, but intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually and help promote and advocate for health promotion to which physical therapists and physical therapy can play an immense role in.
National Seating & Mobility – Assistive Technologies
Description: National Seating & Mobility is an assistive technology company whose goal is to customize chairs to meet the unique needs of their patients with simple to complex mobility needs. They provide personalized solutions to individuals with mobility challenges by bringing them uniquely designed engineered systems and breakthrough technology in order to enhance patient independence and self-reliance.
How this influenced my development as an SPT:
This experience was a great opportunity to learn about what technologies are out there that can help our patients become more mobile. Though this is not within our scope of practice, it was refreshing to familiarize myself as a student to the variety of assistive technologies available, and how advanced technology has become to help those with mobility deficits. During this experience I had the opportunity to help a patient with end-stage multiple sclerosis with the only remaining function being his head and tongue.
![NSM.FINAL.horz[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/422dc5_8966be129f30423da45f8c97bebbaf69~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_35,y_0,w_1137,h_627/fill/w_82,h_45,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/NSM_FINAL_horz%5B1%5D.jpg)
During this encounter I got to see how a physical therapist and an assistive technology professional (ATP) can work together to make an individual’s chair most valuable to them. The PT having worked with this individual over the course of his progression knew exactly what his needs were. As a team they were able to play with a variety of options in modifying his chair that ensured he had the most use of it, and could independently navigate his chair appropriately based on his limitations.
Mountains Beyond Mountains- Becky Ouellette-Morton’s Professional Formation and Leadership IV Class
Description: Mountains Beyond Mountains written by Tracy Kidder is a book about the life of a physician and anthropologist by the name of Paul Farmer in which it highlights his work fighting tuberculosis in Haiti, Peru, and Russia. This book accentuates the theme of moral obligation, and how Paul Farmer built his life’s work on the premise that the poor deserve the same level of medical care as the wealthiest of Americans. His goal was to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who needed it most. This book demonstrates how it can only take one person with a vision to make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease. Farmer helped find a nonprofit called Partners in Health, which states its mission is both medical and moral.
How this influenced my development as an SPT:
One of my favorite quotes is “Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do.”- Thomas Carlyle. This book really resonated with me and convinced me that no dream is too big. Coming from and being born in a third world country such as India, it has always been a dream of mine to go back and help the underserved. I hope to one day open a school and create a safe living environment for those who need shelter and food.
As a future clinician, my goal has transformed into wanting to build a non-profit facility that serves as a school as well as a clinic for those to come and learn as well as be treated. I truly believe one of the greatest gifts in life is to help others, and that is one of the many reasons I chose to become a physical therapist. This book has influenced my development as an SPT to hold me accountable to provide a moral duty to help those in need domestically and abroad.
​“Here to Help” (HTH) Clinic
Description: "Here to Help" clinic began in 2016 by a University of Vermont College of Medicine student named Jasmine Robinson and was held at the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Burlington. This offered access to services such as health screenings and haircuts, as well as necessities such as toiletries, hot showers, and a warm meal. HTH now offers monthly clinics at the First United Methodist Church. In 2019, before COVID-19 hit, we as DPT students had the opportunity to volunteer for this great cause and contribute toward helping our Burlington community.
How this influenced my development as an SPT:
How this has influenced me as an SPT was by showing me that community engagement and inclusiveness does not have to revolve around free PT screenings, assessments, and treatment. It is important to just get involved and give back to the community and help those who need it. It makes you grateful for the little things in life and shows that it does not take that much effort to make a difference based on where you stand with your goals and how much you are willing to give back. Just simply being able to donate old clothes or provide someone with food that only costs a few dollars goes a long way.
Civility and Inclusiveness
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Collaborate with other clinicians on a feasible model on prevention programs in underserved areas.
