Day 3 April 28, 2016

Day 3 – April 28, 2016

Guatemala 2016: Day 3

Today’s blog post is brought to you by Lindsey.

Genevieve and Emily working in pediatrics

It was an early morning for many in our group as they rushed off to Las Obras to assist with feeding kids, orthopedics, and the NICU. The rest of the crew joined later as we dispersed to work a full morning with young children, young adults, and adults. Three other UNC students and myself worked with two lovely Guatemalan physical therapists in the young adult boys zone that mostly had varying severity levels of Cerebral Palsy. We did a lot of stretching out spastic lower extremities, trunk control, and arm strength. The Guatemalan physical therapists have wonderful relationships with the boys and we learned that they treat each one of the 32 boys three times a week!

Kohler presenting

Andrew Kohler gave an excellent presentation on Assessment and Return to Work after Lower Extremity Surgery/ Injury in Spanish to the Guatemalan physical therapists and physical therapy students that helped bridge the communication barrier gap with us through hands-on learning.

Foster, Sarah, and Lindsey speaking with a patient

After departing Las Obras we headed to Enseñame a Pescar, a school for children with disabilities. There we met with locals from the community for consultative services. There were a variety of diagnoses - down syndrome, spinal cord injury, developmental delay, and amputation to name a few. Everyone worked at providing education, exercises, or referral services to the families. 

After a long day

It was an eye opening experience for all of us that are first timers down here and many first time experiences while as we practiced physical therapy and our Spanish. We are looking forward to another great day in Guatemala tomorrow!