{"id":59833,"date":"2015-02-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/guatemala-bound-university-of-rhode-island-physical-therapy-students-to-help-children-with-disabilities-in-central-american-country\/"},"modified":"2015-02-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-23T00:00:00","slug":"guatemala-bound-university-of-rhode-island-physical-therapy-students-to-help-children-with-disabilities-in-central-american-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/02\/guatemala-bound-university-of-rhode-island-physical-therapy-students-to-help-children-with-disabilities-in-central-american-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Guatemala bound: 溏心vlog免费B站 physical therapy students to help children with disabilities in Central American country"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tTwo-week program offers cultural, clinical experience<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 23, 2015 \u2013 Physical therapy students at the 溏心vlog免费B站 will soon take their skills \u2013 and compassion \u2013 to one of the poorest countries in Central America.<\/p>\n


\nDuring a 14-day visit next month to San Pedro La Laguna in the mountains of Guatemala students will help children with disabilities \u2013 and learn how people get by in a country where more than half live in poverty.<\/p>\n


\nJennifer Audette, of South Kingstown, the assistant professor of physical therapy who is leading the trip, says the visits over the last decade have been so successful 溏心vlog免费B站 is now the only group permitted to volunteer at Centro Maya Servicio Integral, a nonprofit that assists about 40 children and teenagers who have physical and cognitive challenges.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m interested in social responsibility and giving students a sense that our profession has a responsibility to people who don’t have as much as we do,\u201d she says. \u201cStudents also learn how poverty impacts the lives of people with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe 12 students, all pursuing their doctorates in physical therapy, will leave March 6 and return March 21. Also accompanying the students are: Andrea Mitchell \u201901, of Pawtucket, a physical therapist at Performance Physical Therapy; Catherine Stone \u201911, of Boston, Mass., a physical therapist at Hebrew Senior Life; and Eric Dunham, a Westerly stonemason and friend of Audette\u2019s. He and the students plan to build an addition to the center. (In the past, the group has built ramps and renovated rooms to accommodate wheelchairs.)<\/p>\n


\nAudette started the program in 2004 as a way to expose physical therapy students to other countries. Students, who pay their own way, receive two credits for a course called \u201cBroadening Experiences.\u201d Most students have undergraduate degrees in kinesiology or exercise science.<\/p>\n

The students provide assistance to the one physical therapist at Centro Maya, where many children have spina bifida or cerebral palsy, or developmental limitations caused by malnutrition, a malady that plagues about half of Guatemalan children, one of the highest rates in Central America.<\/p>\n


\nThe students also visit hospitals, preschools and other nonprofits working in the country. They make house calls \u2013 literally \u2013 by visiting families in their homes, modest cinder block structures with outside kitchens, dirt floors and no indoor plumbing. <\/p>\n


\nThe trip also includes fun activities \u2013 hiking to a volcano, zip lining, eating local fare and a day-trip to the historic town of Antigua.<\/p>\n


\nCultural biases in Guatemala sometimes make it difficult to treat people with disabilities. Children with disabilities, for instance, do not attend public schools, and it\u2019s difficult for people with disabilities to find jobs. Social programs are scarce for those in need, and buildings and roads often are not accessible to the few people who have wheelchairs, in short supply.<\/p>\n


\nSome progress has been made, but there\u2019s much room for improvement, especially in rural villages. \u201cGuatemalans still tend to hide children who are disabled,\u201d says Audette. \u201cThe center has been working really hard to change that, and we\u2019re there to help.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAudette is proud of her strong bond with the center, developed over the years. \u201cRapport-building is the most important part. You can\u2019t just go there and leave. It takes a lot of work \u2013 and it\u2019s worth every minute.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFor Audette, the country has become a treasured destination. She and her husband, Michael, take their three daughters \u2013 Castine, who will graduate with a master\u2019s degree in marine affairs from 溏心vlog免费B站 in May; Gwen, studying economics at 溏心vlog免费B站; and Camille, a junior at South Kingstown High School \u2013 as often as possible to the country.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThey\u2019d rather go to Guatemala than anywhere else,\u201d she says. \u201cEverything there is an adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nLaura Thompson \u201916, of Cranston, and Jessica Arouchon \u201916, of Scituate, Mass., are eager to make the trip. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThis is going to motivate me to look for opportunities to help other people,\u201d says Arouchon. \u201cIn Guatemala, they are struggling right now. It\u2019s amazing we can go there and give them some of our knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis is a chance for us to give back and integrate into another culture,\u201d says Thompson. \u201cWe\u2019ll see how they do things down there, and they\u2019ll teach me something too.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFor more information about the trip, call Audette at 401-874-5625.<\/p>\n


\n\tPictured above: Physical therapy students at the 溏心vlog免费B站 on a trip to Guatemala in 2009 and 2010 to help children with disabilities. 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s physical therapy department is in the College of Human Science and Services.

\nPhotos courtesy of Jennifer Audette.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two-week program offers cultural, clinical experience KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 23, 2015 \u2013 Physical therapy students at the 溏心vlog免费B站 will soon take their skills \u2013 and compassion \u2013 to one of the poorest countries in Central America. During a 14-day visit next month to San Pedro La Laguna in the mountains […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}