Iasi, Romania; Physical Therapy Internship - Jenna

        From the beginning of September until the end of November 2012, I participated in an international internship in Iasi, Romania. Half of my day was spent with a specific group of children in an orphanage while the other half of my day was spent with children in a hospital. Many of the children I worked with had disabilities or developmental delays. I had the opportunity to work with a physical therapist’s assistant at the orphanage. I observed and participated in therapy sessions in which she taught me exercises and activities I could do with the children.

          In the orphanage I was assigned to work with fourteen children ranging in age as well as in physical ability. With the children who could walk on their own, I facilitated group dancing and games to help them to be active. Three of the boys I worked with had muscular

development issues so I would try to spend time with them each day
massaging and stretching their muscles.  The two boys I worked with most both had cerebral palsy. Through attending their physical therapy sessions, I learned exercises I could do with them each day. The older of the two boys had difficultly using his arms and had very little control over his legs. He and I worked on bending and stretching his legs and arms a few times a week. To help with his muscle control in his arms, we would also play a game where he would

grab a toy from one side of his body and place it in a container on the other side. With the younger boy I focused mostly on standing.  Ana showed me activities we could be doing to strengthen his leg muscles and increase his balance. Each day I would get him out of his wheel chair and he would crawl around the room first to stretch his muscles. Next I would stand him up at a table upon which he rested his arms for balance. This allowed him to straighten and strengthen his legs. On my last day at the orphanage, he pulled himself into standing position at the table. It was amazing to see what even a minimal amount of physical therapy could do.

            Through this experience, my appreciation for and understanding of physical therapy has increased. As I practiced what I had been taught, I felt more confident in my ability to facilitate therapeutic exercises.  The practice also taught me that doing therapy is not a one-person deal. I had to get the children I was working with to participate for the therapy to be most effective. This internship has made me want to pursue a degree in physical therapy even more because of the good that I saw accomplished by even small amounts of therapy.

  

Iasi, Romania; Sf. Andrei's Orphanage -Britta

Iasi from my window

 When I first got to Romania, I had no idea what to expect. I hardly knew the language and I knew little about the people and customs, but I knew that I needed to be there and that my semester there would change me in ways I could not expect.  (sidenote: I cannot post any pictures of Romanian children as it is illegal to take pictures of any institutionalized children)

Trip outside of Iasi

Tomesti

outside of Iasi

Romania is in itself an interesting and beautiful place. The countryside in particular is gorgeous and varied.

me and my co-interns 

At the orphanage, I ran a room of 8-11 children, depending on the week. It was a special needs orphanage so most of my children had some sort of disability. The children ranged in ages between 6 months and 7 years.  I spent my mornings with those children Monday through Friday. I taught the older ones to read and write and I worked on all of the children's lingual skills and fine motor skills. My emphasis was to increase motor abilities and I worked closely with the resident Physical Therapist. I did a lot of PT and I saw a lot of success. I received a 2 year old who could not even lift up his head. After a month of rigorous PT, he could not only lift up his head, he could roll over and sit up! He was such a happy and fun little guy. I have many other similar stories but I cannot convey how fulfilling it is to see the results of your hard work, prayer and faith in helping a child.

Co-interns in scrubs coming home from the hospital

In the afternoons, I worked at a Pediatric Hospital and saw some of the most heartbreaking things of my life. I used the PT I learned at the orphanage to help all the little ones without parents who were sick at the hospital and all by themselves. It was so sad to walk into a room of 4-5 babies knowing that each of them had been abandoned either by the death of a parent or by a negligent living parent. I worked with these children to prevent bedsores and muscle atrophy, as well as to try to keep them on-track developmentally. Sometimes a child would be so ill that the best things I could do  was hold them or pat them gently to comfort them. I saw children in so much pain that death came as a relief as it ceased their suffering. In Romania I definitely had both the best and the worst days of life. 

Golia Monastery in Iasi

The very best thing about Romania was the people that I met. The children that I worked with are incredible little people. I am not capable of explaining just how much I love those little ones and how much they have changed me. Nor can I explain how difficult it was to leave them. I’ll just say that if Romania ever changes their adoption laws, I will desperately try to adopt any one of those children. They are so fun and wonderful. Yes, they were difficult at times, but overall they were such a joy. Their ability to love and grow was so inspiring and they really just bring me so much happiness with their sweetness and curiosity. Besides the children, the Romanian people were very kind and helpful. They were quick to try to help us with the language and with finding our way. Our neighbors were kind and interested in helping us and bringing us food. The branch members were the same. The people were really so loving and appreciative of the work we did.
 
I was told before I went that no matter how much I change the children's lives, they will change my life so much more.  This definitely has been true. I would go back to Romania in a heartbeat.  It was an amazing experience and I really am so grateful for it.  I'm grateful for the places I visited, the things I saw, the lessons I learned and the people I met.  It was worth the heartache, the break from school, the expenses and the time. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

me at a monastery