{"id":69413,"date":"2006-02-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-02-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-physical-therapy-students-have-moving-experience-in-guatemala-village\/"},"modified":"2006-02-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-02-01T00:00:00","slug":"uri-physical-therapy-students-have-moving-experience-in-guatemala-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2006\/02\/uri-physical-therapy-students-have-moving-experience-in-guatemala-village\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 physical therapy students have moving experience in Guatemala village"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tFive graduate students offer clinical skills, friendship to children<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. — February 1, 2006 — The five 溏心vlog免费B站 physical therapy students and one alumna were stunned, but not by the lack of indoor plumbing or the homes with dirt floors in San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThey were amazed by the beauty of the people and the beauty of the place,\u201d said Jenny Audette, 溏心vlog免费B站 clinical assistant professor of physical therapy.<\/p>\n


\n\tAudette and her students recently recounted their two-week December stay in the Guatemalan village, during which they provided physical therapy services to local children and befriended them, got to know their parents and enjoyed the breathtaking beauty of the countryside. Some even learned weaving from the villagers.<\/p>\n


\n\tA physical therapy professor at 溏心vlog免费B站 for the past two years and a resident of South Kingstown, Audette said it was the first time she had taken a group of students to Central America to do such work. The five students are now completing internships and will earn their masters\u2019 degrees in physical therapy in May.<\/p>\n


\n\tEach student paid his or her own way, and received two credits for the course titled International Service Oriented Clinical Experience. They worked at the Centro Maya, a center for children with physical and cognitive disabilities. The non-profit agency relies heavily on volunteers and donations to remain in operation.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe center has three to four paid staff members, but much of the work is done by volunteers from the United States, France, Belgium, Canada and a number of other countries,\u201d Audette said.<\/p>\n


\n\tAudette, whose program is housed in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Human Science and Services, and her students worked with youngsters with developmental disabilities, such as cerebral palsy and spina bifida. They provided services to a boy who was paralyzed by a virus he contracted during Hurricane Stan, which hit Central America in early October 2005 and killed 1,500 people in Guatemala alone.<\/p>\n


\n\tPhysical therapy student Amy Woodard of Wakefield, who earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in biological sciences from 溏心vlog免费B站, had never traveled outside the United States until this trip. \u201cI knew if I didn\u2019t go I would regret it. This was a totally new experience, during which I encountered a new culture, language and new lifestyles. I also had a chance to do physical therapy with children who didn\u2019t speak my language, so I had to use my creative skills.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShe said the trip made her a more confident physical therapist. \u201cI hadn\u2019t worked with children before, and now I know that I can. And with the lack of resources, we all had to learn new ways to conduct therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe team spent its time working with the children, educating families and conducting home visits. Carpenter Damon Arndt, the husband of physical therapy student Shannon Arndt, built a physical therapy room with a platform for an exercise mat and shelves for supplies. In addition, the team built a set of parallel bars outside the home of one child so he could exercise at home.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cDamon also built a huge swing set,\u201d Audette said. \u201cMost of the children had never seen a swing set, and it was so gratifying to see them learning how to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShannon Arndt said the students are fortunate that Audette wanted to widen the students\u2019 experiences as much as possible. \u201cI am hoping that it\u2019s not a once-in-a-lifetime experience for my husband and me,\u201d said Arndt, a resident of Seattle. \u201cThe people we met were so welcoming and so open to helping their children in whatever way they could, and the people at the clinic are absolutely dedicated to the children.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShe and her classmates also provided home care for several youngsters. \u201cWe were able to help the parents learn the exercises, so they in turn could help their children, and we provided some assistive devices that they could use at home.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tMany village homes are made of cinder blocks, and the kitchens are outside. Most have dirt floors, and animals roam freely through the dwellings. \u201cThe poverty is striking, but we had a great time with each other and in working with such gracious, warm families,\u201d Audette said.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe team also brought plenty of toys and candy to give to the kids as icebreakers. \u201cThese were very important ways for us to connect with the children and their families,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\n\tAudette said one of the harder things for the physical therapy students was breaking down the stigma that disability carries in some families.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cAnd because the facilities are nothing like what we have here in this country, we had to use all our usual clinical skills in creative ways. It was challenging and fun working with a diverse culture with heavy Spanish and Mayan influences.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAudette said while the clinical experience gained by the students was valuable, there was an even more important lesson. \u201cThe trip helped all of us keep things in perspective and appreciate the privilege and luxury of providing health care in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nTHE GANG\u2019S ALL HERE: A group from the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Physical Therapy Program poses before the sign at the agency in Guatemala where it provided physical therapy services in December. In the front row from left are students Amy Woodard, of Wakefield, Alicia Rubino of Cranston, and Jessica Moran (bending over) of Wakefield, and Professor Jenny Audette of South Kingstown. Back row from left are: student Mark Ruzzo of Coventry, Andrea Mitchell, a 2001 溏心vlog免费B站 physical therapy graduate who lives in Providence and works at Performance Physical Therapy in Pawtucket, student Shannon Arndt of Seattle, and her husband Damon, a carpenter who helped construct some additional facilities. Photo courtesy of Jenny Audette.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five graduate students offer clinical skills, friendship to children KINGSTON, R.I. — February 1, 2006 — The five 溏心vlog免费B站 physical therapy students and one alumna were stunned, but not by the lack of indoor plumbing or the homes with dirt floors in San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala. \u201cThey were amazed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69415,"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-69413","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\/69413","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=69413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}