Thomas hill internship final presentation

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Athlone School for the Blind Internship

Cape Town, South Africa

Why Cape Town?

Why Cape Town?

Strong desire to do something different

Great opportunity to have a real impact

Get full hands-on experience and responsibilities

Eye-opening experiences culturally, personally, and professionally

Adventure of a lifetime

Africa…?

Before it all started..

Fall of 2011 decision to intern in Africa

Search began numerous organizations and contacts made

Locations Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sierre Leone, Namibia, and South Africa

Quickly learned that African internships (especially medical) are highly sought after and cost a fortune

Found the perfect organization to meet all of my goals

Africa’s best kept secret

Volunteer Adventure Corps

www.vacorps.com

Company Profile

The Volunteer Adventure Corps was established in 2006 as a professional internship organization that specializes in allowing students and young professionals to meet professional and personal goals.

They offer internships in all fields of study given the relationships they’ve built within the city (work with over 150 local companies)

Staff is located in host city and acts as the primary support-group for interns during their stay (internships, program housing, weekly activities, travel around Africa, courses, continued education, etc). All at a fraction of the cost.

Volunteer Adventure Corps

Prospective interns apply

Intern with local NGO’s

Medical, teaching, and

coaching internships in

schools

Intern with Government

Organizations

Volunteer Adventure Corps

Accepted to the program in October 2011—3 questionnaires, letter of reference, resume, and telephone interview

Worked with placement team to give me the opportunity to work at a site that allowed me to meet all of my goals from Packet A

Was placed at The Athlone School for the Blind in February 2012 as a Pediatric Physiotherapist Intern

My Pipeline

A BRIEF glimpse of my experience with VAC

[play video]

Athlone School for the Blind

Brief History

Established in 1927 by an Anglican Church to house colored (mostly Afrikaaners—not a derogatory term in SA) children who were otherwise banned to enroll in the only school for blind children at the time under the then Apartheid regime.

Now is a publically funded school for blind, disabled, and able-bodied children

Serves students’ transportation, some housing, therapy, regular class, and as a vocational institution (on-site job training)

405 Students, mostly blind and/or multiple handicaps

K-12, mostly from very low income families

Therapy Departments

Both on-site occupational and physical therapy for the students

Occupational therapy 80% of space, 8 staff members, 4 offices, more funding, lots of equipment/learning aids

Physical therapy 1 staff member

1 small office and 1 treatment room with limited equipment

My Roles and Responsibilities

More or less an acting physical therapist

Oversaw patient assessments

Execution of treatment based on individual needs

Further planning and realistic goal setting

Patient write-ups (SOAP notes)

One-on-one therapy

Group-led therapy

In charge of PT department when mentor was absent

Day in the Life

Up at 6

Transportation leaves Obs at 7

On site by 745 in Belville

45 minutes to check schedule, patient files, make plan…(take a nap on treatment table)

See 3-5 patients a day (40 minutes each)

1-4 group therapy sessions

Pick up at 3 or mini-bus home

Discipline-Specific Technology

Very limited funding:

2 treatment tables

Medicine balls

Parallel bars

Battery-powered mobility table

Free weights

Elliptical

Ample toys for fine/gross motor skill development

Motivating Patients

Largest component of my internship

Rewarding, stressful, necessary, hectic, daunting, difficult, etc.

My strength as an intern but subsequently an aspect of the job that drew me away from the field

Few examples

Application of previous skills

Unfortunately not a whole lot

Learn to be resourceful

Learn communication with patients (PEP 454-6)

Applied some from paramedic training

SOAP notes

Research & Continued Education

Very independent learning

Was briefed on CP during first day

Referred to a lot of online resources

Treatment options, classifications, types, etc.

Example: Marie-Charcot-Tooth patient

Standards of Care

Culture of learn as you go, ask questions, learn from mistakes

All the freedom in the world

Learn standard treatment/assessment techniques that standard in South Africa

Had to work with the limited resources and tools I had

Few Goals and Objectives

Goal: Gain hands-on experience in the field of physical

therapy Treated as full-time PT on site My own patients Own assessing, treating, planning

Find interest in sub-field Learnt pediatric PT is now for me Have for now decided not pursue career in PT

Life experience culturally, personally, professionally Culturally lived and worked amongst other South

Africans Worked in impoverished communities

Khaylitsha

What have I gained?

Life Experience Wealth of knowledge through work, travel, living

Independent learning/the importance of taking initiative Worked with numerous organizations: Athlone School,

SACLA, Emasithandane Orphanage, Volunteer Adventure Corps, Cape Town Refugee Center

Travelled to Namibia and around South Africa Living in The Observatory vs. Southern suburbs

Greater understanding of what I what to get out of my life, my skills, what’s going to make me happy

Advice for future interns:

Don’t treat PEP 495 as a regular class

Invest in your life/potential career

Take chances

Leave your comfort zone

“Go for the gold”

Don’t procrastinate

Where I’m going from here..?

‘Live the dream’ for a while and figure out career plans as I go

This summer: MNR firefighter in Northern Ontario

September-October 2013 Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro Self-drive from Tanzania Malawi Zambia Democratic

Republic of the Congo Zimbabwe Botswana South Africa

Start work full-time for Volunteer Adventure Corps October 2013?? As program coordinator

Continued education

…references

[email protected]

www.vacorps.com