In Merida, Mexico, physical therapy students volunteered their services at clinics, schools, and nursing homes. The students worked with children and elderly people with disabilities, led group exercise sessions, repaired wheelchairs--and remembered what had drawn them to the profession in the first place.
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Transcript
(Spanish)
Ashley Kulju: I have very little Spanish. It was definitely a challenge, but we had our translators and they were a huge help. But it was interesting. You really kind of learned to use all other forms of communication.
Dale Deubler: Everyone discovered that a smile is a common communication, whether it's Spanish or Maya. At least 50 percent of the people in Yucatan, Maya is their native language. But a smile broke it all.
AK: Merida is in the Yucatan and it's about two hours away from Cancun. It's definitely a city, but where we were staying was outside of the city and some of us stayed in a mission house. Mission of Friendship. We went to a lot of different places. A few of us went to a school just for disabled children, so that was really neat. We got to work with the doctors and physical therapists and teachers there.
We try to work on just as much as we can. Helping a child or whoever it is that we're working with to be able to function in their daily life as much as they can. A lot of times, especially with the kids, the things that you see us doing it looks like we might just be playing with them. But there's always a purpose to everything that we're doing.
DD: This is a nursing home that's run by a group of Catholic sisters. Asilo de Celarain. At that facility they did a number of things. They did some group exercises. They provided some better ways to position people who are immobile due to a variety disabilities. They did general maintenance work, fixing wheelchairs, adjusting footrests, trying to make people more comfortable..
AK: We're in our last year of school. It's a three-year grad program. So all of us are close to begin with but then after going through something like this with everyone together I think we all just felt a sense of community and a sense of togetherness. And even just the community when we were down there. Everyone was so welcoming and so nice and I think that just made us feel even better about the experience.
DD: As a hallmark of our physical therapy program, we really stress the idea of discovery, whether you're discovering research or you're discovering service or you're discovering knowledge. These are all things that we have the capability to help you do here.
AK: This trip just gave me a whole different perspective on not only what I do but just another culture and then just being able to see my future profession and how other people do it. It was amazing. And I learned so much, not only just about physical therapy but just about people and how I learn, how others learn, how to work in a team. This trip just kind of reminded me of why I got into physical therapy and just the heart of it. When all of us went on this trip we'd just come of off six months of clinicals. The focus of our health care here is on a lot of productivity and documentation. Sometimes, unfortunately, you just get wrapped up in all of that. What I'll take with me most is just remembering to always not to get wrapped up in all of the nit picky things that can come in our health care here, just to remember why I'm doing what I'm doing and the good that can come from it.
When Ashley Kulju leaves Ohio State with her doctorate of physical therapy, she'll take many lessons--things she's learned about anatomy and pharmacology, biomechanics and pathology. But among the most important is the feeling she had after a service learning trip to Merida, Mexico, where she and eight fellow students spent 10 days working with local residents.
"This trip just gave me a whole different perspective," says Kulju, who plans a career in pediatric physical therapy in the Columbus area. "I learned so much, not only just about physical therapy but just about people and how I learn, how others learn, how to work in a team."
"This trip just kind of reminded me of why I got into physical therapy and just the heart of it. What I'll take with me most is just remember just to not to get wrapped up in all of the nit picky things that can come in our health care here, just to remember why I'm doing what I'm doing and the good that can come from it."
Students in the three-year doctorate of physical therapy program at Ohio State are required to use what they've learned outside the classroom; each year, they must dedicate 40 hours to community service.
“This trip reminded me why I got into physical therapy.”
—Ashley Kulju, doctorate of physical therapy student
This school year, physical therapy faculty members Dale Deubler and Anne Kloos decided it was time to add an international component to the program. Deubler and Kloos worked with faculty in Wheeling Jesuit University's physical therapy program, which brings student volunteers to the Mission of Friendship outreach project in Merida each February, to set up Ohio State's service global service learning course. They plan to offer the trip to students each December. (Kloos also oversees an ongoing service learning project at the Columbus Free Clinic.)
"Working with clients from the Mexican and Mayan cultures reinforces the core values of the physical therapy profession, including altruism, social responsibility and compassion," Deubler says. "By providing physical therapy to the neediest residents of Merida, the students learn that professional duty has international implications."
In Merida, the students consulted and treated patients and fixed medical equipment such as wheelchairs at local clinics, schools, and nursing homes.
But the trip wasn't all work. Students also toured the Mayan ruins, heard local music, and shopped in the city.
"Everyone was so welcoming and so nice," Kulju says. "I think that just made us feel even better about the experience."
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