Sandlots and Webpages

Lately, my work here has been a bit all over the map – the afternoons remain consistent with work at the outpatient clinic. But, I spend my mornings and weekends either doing wheelchair fittings at a school, home health visits, preparing/leading educational sessions, or working on various projects. The survey for persons with disabilities is currently on hold as we wait for funding to go through, but I’m staying plenty busy with other various projects - planning a 200-participant physical therapy continuing education conference for August (with the help of Regis University and ten US-based volunteers who are coming down!), working on a detailed plan for “Rehabilitación con Esperanza” (a community based rehabilitation project), continuing to do lectures and labs 1-3 times a month for local PT’s, and trips to Lima to talk about community-based rehabilitation and the survey. With such a variety of work tasks, I’m learning a ton and certainly not getting bored.

And, with some (a lot of) help I just created my first website! Special thanks goes out Matt Medlock for all of his hard work and patience in getting the site up and running. I hope it will grow into a good shared resource for physical therapy materials in Spanish:
www.recursosdefisioterapia.com

Other news - I just started a new job!

Welcome to my office!

 I’ve affectionately termed my new workplace “The Sandlot.” In partnering with the Hermanas Del Buen Soccorro, I’ve begun a new work assignment in the neighboring community of Winchinzao. Twice a week, myself and one Peruvian PT head out to the Sandlot to provide affordable ($1 dollar/session) physical therapy services in a “red zone” neighborhood. This area has a lot of problems with juvenile delinquency, and the plan is to develop this space into a neighborhood resource center – a home for about 16 youth, and an outpost offering services such as physical therapy, speech therapy, early infant stimulation, and psychology. Fortunately, the donations from abroad keep pouring in, so we’ve been able to outfit the small room with an exercise ball, mat, and small toys. However, with theft problems, we are forced to carry the equipment – even the pillow! - back and forth to another building each time we work. Also, I have to remember not to drink water or coffee before I go to work these days – no toilets or running water! I will never again take for granted a fully-equipped physical therapy clinic like the ones I’m accustomed to in the US. But, at the same time, one thing I love about my profession is that you don’t actually need material objects to have success in patient care – just a little creativity. ☺