Today we returned to the PT clinic in Zacapa to work under Nancy. We had the pleasure of meeting a 4th year medical student, Karen, from Philadelphia. She has only a few more months until she graduates so she is able to spend time down in Guatemala. The PT clinic was very busy today. Between the 6 of us we saw a total of 21 patients! Today, I worked with Trisha Counce on a boy who fractured his 2-5 Metacarpal bones in a motor cycle accident. I eager to see what we could do for him and I enjoyed learning from Trisha how to problem solve on a structure that is so complicated like the hand. Another pt I saw today had a left total knee replacement ten months ago. Nancy, the PT in Zacapa, allowed me to work on a her ROM, which passively was 80 degrees. Nancy instructed me to perform a contract-relax move on the pts knee. It was very cool to see how such a simple, although arduous, could do so much. By performing this move I was able to increase her passive ROM by 8 degrees! I dont know how much of that she will retain without further visits but It was very rewarding to see her improvement in the clinic. Overall, the experiences in Guatemala doing physical therapy have been some I will never forget. Whether it is being thrown in the fire or receiving so much gratitude from each patient it will lead me to become a better physical therapist and appreciate this opportunity I have been given. -Dan
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 03:13:07 +0000
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