10 hours of sitting (February 10, 2009)

From Rachael Bloom ‘07 and Dorothy Fernandez…

Being the ambitious CSM goers that we are, we decided to attend as many sessions as we could Tuesday. After a quick stop at Starbucks, our day started with a session about lifelong disabilities and our role as therapists in helping these patients.  It was a great start to our day with an inspiring talk from Dr. Janice Brunstrom-Hernandez, who has had her own battle with cerebral palsy, a chronic neurological disorder.  It was amazing to hear about her persistence as she fought through other people’s doubts about what she could and could not accomplish.  We split up from there. Dorothy attended an orthopedic session, and Rachael went to an acute care session.  This was our first experience trying to fight the crowds and make it in time to get a seat. You really have to plan out where you are going, but the map is quite helpful!

We had our hodge-podge lunch packed in our bags and quickly gobbled it down before heading into the afternoon session. Our last session addressed boundaries with patient interaction, and had some unique twists with entertaining videos of some bizarre, real-life cases.  We ventured next into the exhibit hall where hundreds of vendors and recruiters were waiting to show us what they had to offer.  We decided to just tackle part of it and come back for more later.  We finished up the daytime festivities with a “branding” reception where the APTA president launched the new “brand” for physical therapy. The motto is “Move Forward: Physical Therapy Brings Motion to Life.”  It was great to be a part of this very exciting announcement and milestone, but now we are going to go get some dinner!