This summer I had the opportunity to serve as a Rehabilitation Aide at Athletico Physical Therapy in Bloomington, IN. My internship lasted from May 22, 2017 to August 25, 2017, and I worked an average of 15-20 hours a week. My supervisor was Anthony Coy, the facility manager and main physical therapist. I also assisted the student physical therapist, Alexa Rick, and the office coordinator, Jaycie Edwards. There were two other aides at the clinic, and sometimes we would work the same shifts. Although my schedule varied each week, I typically worked afternoon shifts. The age range of patients I worked with was 15-85 years, with the majority of patients in the 50-70 age range.
A typical day would involve me clocking in, reading the schedule of …show more content…
Many of the patients were funny and friendly with interesting life stories. I remembered the names of the majority of the patients, and often, I was the first face they saw when they walked into the clinic. I made an effort to remember details about their lives, such as the baseball game they went to with their grandchildren the weekend before or the tomatoes they were planning to plant in their gardens. By forming relationships with the patients, many of them were eager to speak with me and were excited to do their exercises. Familiarizing myself with the individual patients helped me remember their exercises and helped me assist the therapists more rapidly. Since the clinic was very busy with only two physical therapists, the aides needed to assist as much as they could, because often the therapist was not able to see the patients until several minutes after they arrived. If the patient was new, I helped the physical therapist develop a home exercise program on the online program. By doing so, I had a head-start on what I would be doing with the patient in the future, and I gained insight on the importance of certain …show more content…
Although the job did not have specific requirements regarding major and background, my education helped me immensely with my specific duties. For instance, many of the exercises were abbreviated to indicate a certain muscle or muscle group. Since I was required to take classes such as Human Anatomy and Physiology and Kinesiology, I quickly recognized the muscles and was able to use that knowledge to recognize the specific exercises. Also, when patients asked certain questions about the human body, I could form logical conclusions to answer them. In addition, Anthony would often quiz myself and the other aides on important concepts we have learned in classes. I could generally answer these questions accurately due to the many classes I have taken in my