Balancing a Busy Day (February 10, 2009)

From Shyla McCarthy ‘06 and Emily Saathoff ‘06…

Tuesday was an exciting day. We started out our morning by attending a course regarding financing of healthcare in America, presented by Bradley University physical therapy professor Bill McGehee. The course provided information about the history of healthcare and its future.  Another exciting event was riding the tram and walking the strip to get lunch and see the sites.  Unfortunately, it was only about 50 degrees here.

The exhibit hall opened today. It consists of hundreds of booths where companies and products are displayed.  I had the opportunity to try out the Biodex Balance System. I have to admit, it was difficult at first, but it got easier with practice. Other interesting things at the exhibit hall included mineral oil resistive bands, comfort grips for crutches and walkers, and tons of free pens, goniometers, and various other goodies. We were not able to walk through the entire exhibit hall because there were so many booths!

Tuesday night we attended a ceremony to launch the new brand for physical therapy. This is a new campaign - entitled “Move Forward” - to promote physical therapists as the practitioners of choice for maximizing movement and function. At this reception, ATPA also announced that this CSM is the largest in its history. More than 8,200 participants were registered as of 11 a.m. Tuesday. It is great to be a part of this event.

Late Monday night, we also had the opportunity to meet Dr. Scott Ward, president of the APTA, and Bill Boissonnault, an author of one of our textbooks.  It was a privilege to meet these well known physical therapists.

That is all for now. Thanks for reading, and we will send another update tomorrow!