Alpine, Utah; Alpine Fitness & Physical Therapy - Lizzy

The internship at Alpine Fitness & Physical Therapy is an amazing learning opportunity. Nowhere else will you have the same hands-on opportunities that this facility provides. You work very closely with fellow interns and real patients from day one. It is a difficult internship in that it tests you intellectually, physically, and socially. However, it is a very unique opportunity as you are provided with wonderful resources, but then get to take your learning into your own hands and shape your experience into exactly what you want it to be. You can learn how to be physical therapist, or you can learn how to be a personal trainer, or you can do both! The greatest thing I learned was that, "A good physical therapist makes a good personal trainer." It makes so much sense that the two go hand in hand and I'm glad I had this experience to open my eyes to this fact, so that I can be a more successful and more motivating physical therapist some day.

BELIZE; Physical Therapy Internship - Randy

             The Octavia Waight Centre: Help Age Belize is a home for the elderly in the beautiful, paradisaical country of Belize in Central America.  The 25 residents of the center suffer from a variety of diseases; including diabetes, hemiplegia, and Alzheimer’s.  As an active geriatric physical therapy intern I was able to participate in the treatment of these patients, specifically helping them with physical therapy.  This has been the first time that I have worked consistently with geriatric patients, so I was interested to see how I would like the experience.

            Being a part of the Octavia Waight Centre was not only educational but also very enjoyable.  5 hours a day 5 days a week I helped patients with therapy, and when I was at the apartment I studied to learn different things I could do that would help the residents.  I learned so many things and developed skills that directly apply to my major (biology) and career choice (physical therapy).  I was also able to develop relationships that I will keep for the rest of my life.  Due to privacy concerns, I am unable to post the pictures that I took with the patients at the nursing home.

            In addition to the therapy, I also participated in a variety of volunteer opportunities.  We coached a middle school volleyball team, directed a youth summer camp at the police station, set up volunteer work at an abortion advisement clinic, and worked construction at a local school.  On the weekends we explored the culture.  By the end of the adventure, we had been all over the country.  It was a very productive 4 weeks, and I enjoyed every moment.

Overall, the internship was a remarkable, eye-opening learning experience.  I loved working with the patients, and I learned that I would be more than happy to work in geriatric physical therapy.

Provo, UT; NOW I CAN! Intensive Pediatric Physical Therapy - Randy

ternship experience was amazing.  I would highly recommend it and advise to make sure you get more than 2 or 3 weeks in a given location.  
Now I Can! is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to helping disabled children reach their greatest potential (Nowican.org).  The therapists strive to achieve this mission through intensive physical therapy with patients that come in 5 days a week for 4-hour sessions.  Generally this will last 3-4 weeks.  I have had the privilege of volunteering for Now I Can for the 7 months, and this past semester I decided to apply for internship credit.
Because of my personal experience with physical therapy I was myopic enough to believe that the only field I would be interested in was sports injury recovery.  I searched for a place where I could volunteer, but no outpatients clinics designated for sports injuries were close to where I lived.  With a bicycle as my only form of transportation anywhere, this made things difficult.  I later found out about a pediatric physical therapy clinic just around the corner from my apartment, so I decided to investigate.  They let me know there was an opening for one more volunteer, and I started going every Thursday as a therapist assistant.
As I helped the children with different exercises and stretches that expanded their abilities I began to see how driven many of them were.  I fell in love with the whole experience.  The disabilities that the children with whom I was able to work included Cerebral Palsy (differing levels of severity), brain anomaly, Spina Bifida, brain tumor resection, and hemiplegia.  Never before had I worked with or even been around children with neurological disabilities, so any ideas or notions I previously had were created by myself.  However, working alongside these children and getting to know them by talking with them and observing them has led me to the conclusion that they are children of divine heritage just as is everyone around them.