Pro Bono PT

Before PT school, I was fortunate enough to be a part of 4 Habitat for Humanity Mission trips through my church youth group. In 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015, I had to privilege to travel around the U.S. to various cities where strangers welcomed us with arms wide open & allowed us a build a part of their forever home.

Once I started PT school, it only seemed right to continue mission trips but now provide specialized services to our global friends that they so desperately need physical therapy services. Although only one service trip has been completed so far, it only means that there are so many more pro bono physical therapy opportunities to come! To carry on our UIC tradition, the class of 2019 will be partnering again with Viva Nicaragua to serve the citizens of Granda once again. Check out this awesome group's fundraising page! Read below about my experience.

First service trip: Granada, Nicaragua

From January 1-8, 2017, I co-treated five patients in a home health physical therapy atmosphere to our friends in Central America. We stayed with a giant, caring family, who welcomed us with arms wide open despite the fact that we knew minimal Spanish & they knew very little English. I quickly adjusted to "Nica time," which is not rushing to get to places but to let life occur naturally. (Basically, It's socially acceptable to run late if you happen to meet a friend along the way to work or your kid wants to play with you before a business meeting.) Our family was big on plantains, gallo pinto, and black coffee. We treated patients in the morning and immersed ourself in Nicaraguan culture in the afternoon/evenings. I transcribed my daily journal entries onto here in case you're interested in catching a glimpse as to what we experienced while in Nicaragua.

Daily entries from my journal

January 1-2, 2017

We started off the New Year traveling to Managua, NIC. While it was a turbulent flight, we arrived at night with a spectacular view of the tiny continent - with different colored trees lit up on their main street. Viva picked us up & dropped us off at our home stay houses one by one.

Jan. 2, we met Carrie, the Viva director, who gave us a walking tour of the town we will be working in. We met our translators and learned about our patients - all middle aged or elderly requiring help with walking. Our homestay family is HUGE - 7 others living at the house along with my roommate & I. They mainly speak Spanish, which forces us to learn quickly.

January 3, 2017

Met our patients today - Ms. I, Mr. O, Miss H, and Miss A. May also meet Mrs. F tomorrow. Many were motivated to receive PT and learn some exercises from us. While today's focus was mainly on subjective interviews, we did some objective measurements (MMT, gait training, goniometry). A big challenge was the language barrier, even with our translator there. We are learning to use simple phrases to help with passing on valuable patient education as much as possible. This afternoon, we visited the islands in Lake Nicaragua. With over 300 islands, we rode a boat between them and saw luxury homes on many & monkey island.

January 4, 2017

To our surprise, it rained today! Thus, some patients were indoors for treatment. We really got down with interventions today - gave them a HEP, tried out various ROMs, gave massages & PROM to further assess what was going on. We were impressed by what our patients can do & how determined they are to try our interventions. We worked as a team all offering different tips, exercises, patient education, and learning more about our patient's stories. We even interviewed our patient's families to learn more of how they go about their day - all vital info for us! Our translator was phenomenal.

Later, we headed off to play soccer with the local kids. They were interrupted by a downpour, so we ran off under trees and decided to conquer the Elsa piñata; they had the students/PTs hit the piñata for them. Many paper airplanes were made before heading back.

January 5, 2017

Finally met Mrs. F, our other knee patient who has other conditions that keeps her from leaving her house. We have a goal of offering HEPs to our patients to continue until the next PT group arrives. We saw three patients today as Miss A did not sleep well and Mrs. I did not return from Managua. We were able to take BP and glucose on 2 of 3 patients. No items needed to be built for our patient's homes as they are pretty satisfied with their living conditions.

This afternoon, we had the option of going canopy zip-lining or hiking in a new microclimate atop Mombacho; I picked the latter and did not regret my decision. Did you know that Nicaragua is located in the Ring of Fire?

January 6, 2017

Today was our last day with patients. We got to see Mrs. I, Mr. O, Ms. H, and Mrs. F but not Miss A because she was ill - high fever and swollen. We called for a doctor for her. Our goal was to give them HEPs to practice to get stronger and relieve pain. We gave out T-bands, gait belts, and their hand drawn HEP sheets. We went over them and answered questions about their condition and what is best to do to stay active. They were all very motivated to try new exercises as we offered them and listened to our advice. It was bittersweet leaving them but know they will receive continued care.

We got to travel to a market in Masaya then went to the top of the active Volcano there; the lava was churning. Because of its heightened activity, we were only allowed up there for 5 minutes.

January 7, 2017

Our last full day at Granada started off with a visit to their retirement home. We were asked to bring them from their sitting room into a common area. The men and women are in separate sections, and we greeted all of them - some were able to hold a conversation (some even spoke English!) and others were more mute. We also had the local kids come so it was a multigenerational endeavor. We had music on and got some of our new friends dancing. Others colored with the kids and us. Some were too weak to get out of bed and thus received some PT TLC. After that, we went to the Lagunas where we got to kayak, paddle board, and/or swim.

SPT Lessons:

When you have limited resources, you learn how quickly you must incorporate exercises using what the patient has - chair, cane, curbs, towels, and beds. Working in home health, you do not have the luxury of exercise equipment, plinths, Bosu balls, foam rollers, etc. All you have access to is what your patient owns and what you packed in your bag.
I have never met more motivated patients out there than these individuals in Nicaragua. They thoroughly completed their home exercise program. They asked valuable questions about what exercises are best to do and when. They poured out so much gratitude for our short time there.
Don't let a language barrier, an unknown destination, or a "lack of" experience stop you from a mission or service trip. You will find a way to communicate - whether it be a translator or exhausting the other learning styles (visual & kinesthetic). You WILL learn the language along the way. You will be grateful later that you took the road less traveled on, & ultimately you will learn: both from each other and from your patients.

Google Sites

Report abuse