PT Crossing Borders :: Katies Study Abroad

There have been so many moving moments throughout this journey we have started and I am sure there will be many more. The residents at the hospicio are amazing and seem so happy to see us even if we do not know what they are exactly saying. They get so excited to perform exercises in the group and seem to have fun and even joke with each other about things. Although the exercise group is so much fun to do it is also been an experience working individually with some of the less fortunate residents. For two days we have now worked with one specific individual and he has shown me that just little things in life make a huge difference. With many of the residents they want to come and give you a hug and grab your hand. Even if you are unsure of what they are saying you can just smile and nod which works to. Seeing the happiness on each of the residents’ faces keeps me wanting to go back and help in any little way that I can.

We also learned today how important minimizing use of materials is within our setting. We had each been given a pair of gloves and saw one resident so we took off the gloves (like we would normally do when we are in the USA between each patient). A couple of us went back to get another pair as we were going to be seeing more residents and they told us that they only get one pair of gloves for the entire day. This is such a different concept and it is hard to grasp, luckily we have some other gloves that were brought so tomorrow we can bring them and use one pair of gloves for each resident we work with. This just goes to prove how important equipment is here. We have been trying to come up with creative ideas to use the materials available to assist with proper positioning for residents as well as bracing for one of the women here. Hopefully we will be able to in the days to come help as much as we are able.