Physical Therapy in Vegas
Rachael Bloom '07, Shyla McCarthy '06, and Emily Saathoff '06 are in Las Vegas to represent the Department of Physical Therapy this week with Dr. Steve Tippett, chair of the Department of Physical Therapy, at the Combined Sectionals Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association.
From Dr. Steve Tippett…
Bradley graduates were well-represented at the Opening Ceremonies of CSM 2009 when new clinical specialists were announced.
Andy Peterson ‘97 (sports); Karey Cook Ledbetter ‘01 (geriatrics); Jennifer Asbury Mai ‘00 (neurological); Nate Johnson ‘02 MPT ‘04 (ortho) were announced as new clinical specialists. Joe Kelly (ortho) and Cheryl Sparks (ortho), temporary assistant professors of physical therapy and health sciences, were also recognized.
From Rachael Bloom ‘07 and Dorothy Fernandez…
That alarm clock at 6:30 a.m. seemed to come way too soon this morning. Must be something about the third day, when that lack of sleep you’ve been getting finally catches up with you. It was also on this third day that my achy feet caught up with me; I decided to throw on tennis shoes with my dress clothes to give them a break. We started the day off by splitting up and covering two different sessions - Rachael to a talk about patients with low back pain and neck pain; Dorothy to a talk about rehabilitation after breast reconstruction in cancer patients. We both really enjoyed our sessions and then went back to the exhibit hall one more time to scope out the booths we had missed. One booth of particular interest was the U.S. Paraolympics team. We heard a fascinating story from one of the athletes and also found out about a volunteer opportunity in St. Louis this summer. When we left the exhibit halls for the last time, we couldn’t believe all of the free stuff we had received from the different vendors… I mean, I don’t think we’ll EVER need to buy another pen again!
The afternoon was filled with more learning as we attended two sessions. The first was learning about treatment with burn survivors. We thought this would be a great session to go to because we aren’t sure if our curriculum will be covering this topic. Next, we took a brisk walk downstairs to a special-interest group in vestibular therapy where we were taught how to look for clues to figure out patients’ diagnosis based on eye movements and other symptoms. This was very helpful and a great last session of the week. We found out that we will have to catch a shuttle to the airport at 4:30 tomorrow morning! We’re heading out to a final night/birthday dinner with the whole class, and we are contemplating making it an all-nighter, grand finale to our trip!
From Shyla McCarthy ‘06 and Emily Saathoff ‘06…
Last night after our classes and after writing our blog, we put on our walking shoes and took off to see more sites. We saw the Bellagio water fountain show. The sites here are overwhelming. Everything, even the Walgreens and CVS pharmacies are lit up with bright lights. It is hard to find an ordinary, non-expensive restaurant on the strip, because they serve a lot of exotic foods.
We presented our poster from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lots of individuals stopped to view our poster. Many commented that our research was excellent and thanked us for being there. One of the individuals who noticed our poster was Colleen Flannery, an Illinois Physical Therapy Association executive director. It was a great opportunity to share our research with others in the profession, and we really enjoyed explaining it to them.
We then attended the exhibit hall and talked with representatives from companies that provide books and courses to help us pass our national PT boards. We then attended the course “FUNctional Evidence: New Approaches to Functional Therapy.” We learned about more fun, functional interventions to prescribe to our patients.
We are sad this is our last day here, but we are grateful for the opportunity we had to present the research we worked long and hard on. We think it is wonderful that the second-year class was able to come here together, and it reminded us of our class when we went to CSM 2008 in Nashville. We hope that future Bradley University DPT classes will follow and experience we all did.
We would like to thank everyone for following our journey at CSM 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. We have had a wonderful time this week, and we will never forget it. We have gained knowledge that will help us in our profession, and we obtained the experience of a lifetime presenting our research at CSM!!!
From Rachael Bloom ‘07…
The excitement of unveiling the new brand for the physical therapy profession Tuesday night continued Wednesday. Leading up to this trip, I must admit I was quite intimidated about the scale of, not only this city, but the convention itself. Even in these past few days, I have started to take ownership of the profession that I’m about to enter. When wandering through the exhibit hall, we ran into an acquaintance of my mom’s. She’s a physical therapist from Indianapolis and summed up the conference quite well: “It is incredible to be surrounded by so many people who are so passionate and dedicated to their career.” It’s impossible to not be inspired. We saw more of the new PT gadgets and technology and experienced some different therapy techniques.
Speaking of technology, Wednesday afternoon I attended a presentation about the use of the Nintendo Wii, other video games, and virtual reality in therapy. This session was very cool. Even though I had heard of a Wii being used, it presented what we need to know to actually use it with patients. Overall, Wednesday was a lot different than Tuesday. Our group split up more to tackle the issues that interest us individually. It was fun reuniting and sharing what we had learned. I hope this feeling of collaboration is something that we can continue to apply throughout the rest of our program.
For dinner, we found an early two-for-one buffet and paired up for some “student-friendly-priced” food. Now off to more sightseeing and walking, then resting up for our last day in Vegas!
From Shyla McCarthy ‘06 and Emily Saathoff ‘06…
We went to dinner Tuesday night with our professors to a Chinese restaurant, where we had difficulty interpreting the menu. I have to admit none of us knew what we were ordering. One of our professors ordered tendon soup! After dinner we went to a club where the temperature was literally minus-5 degrees. The stools, tables, and glasses were made of ice! We met an editor from PT Priority magazine and a professor from the University of Southern California. Of the 8,000-plus attendees, it seems most are students.
This is our third day in Las Vegas, and our legs and feet are starting to get tired from all the walking. We are overwhelmed by the number of programs each day. We have a hard time selecting which ones to attend. We went to presentations entitled “The Management of Individuals With Complex Traumatic Leg, Ankle, and Foot Injuries” and “Spinal Implants: From Bone to Metal to Artificial Disc” on Wednesday. We also finished our stroll through the exhibit hall.
We also set up our poster on Wednesday. This was exciting but nerve racking, because we knew we would be presenting Thursday!
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!
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!
From Shyla McCarthy ‘06 and Emily Saathoff ‘06…
Greetings from CSM 2009 in Las Vegas! We are Shyla McCarthy ‘06 and Emily Saathoff ‘06. We are third year DPT students at Bradley University. This afternoon we flew from Peoria to Las Vegas. It was an experience for Shyla, as this was her first flight ever! We are staying at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, where the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) conference is being held. We were amazed at how extravagant our hotel room is. We even have a flat screen TV in our bathroom! It is surprising how many physical therapists are here from all over the country. It took us 15-20 minutes to register because the lines were so long. We felt honored this year to wear a “presenter” ribbon on our ID badge.
We just attended the opening ceremony where all the clinical specialists were recognized and the keynote speaker was from Illinois. There were more than 800 newly certified clinical specialists in 2008. Following the ceremony, we attended the reception where there was free food! Stay tuned for more news from CSM 2009.
From Rachael Bloom ‘07 and Dorothy Fernandez…
Hi, thanks for reading our blog! This is Rachael Bloom ‘07 and Dorothy Fernandez, both second-year DPT students, writing from Las Vegas at the 2009 Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) for the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Leading up to the trip, we were full of nerves and excitement, not knowing what to expect with a projected 7,000-plus therapists in attendance. After four short hours crammed in the back of a plane, we arrived at the Las Vegas airport and took a shuttle bus to Excalibur Hotel and Casino. Everyone registered for the week’s events (man, there were a lot of people!), before getting dressed up for the opening ceremony and reception.
You can’t imagine how far the Excalibur was, just two hotels away from where the conference is being held at Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. As we attempted several routes of travel, the norm was a brisk 20-minute walk. Ready for action, we located the opening ceremony, honoring more than 800 therapists who have received specialist certifications. We found a line leading into the ballroom and were ready to jump in, until a kind assistant informed us that the line was intended for those being recognized. What a surprise that would have been, walking into those bright lights! We listened to the inspiring speeches and then headed in for some delicious hors d’oeuvres and upscale desserts. Now, off to plan out a busy day of classes for tomorrow!
From Dr. Steve Tippett…
The Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) of the American Physical Therapy Association features educational programming sponsored by all 18 of the Association’s specialty areas. Over 6,000 physical therapists typically attend CSM, not only for the comprehensive educational offerings, but also to check out more than 550 exhibitors providing information about products, programs, and employment opportunities. At this year’s meeting, Bradley students and faculty will also be presenting their own research findings and will be conducting some of the educational programming.
Rachael Bloom ‘07 a second-year DPT student, along with Shyla McCarthy ‘06 and Emily Saathoff ‘06 who are both third-year DPT students, will be blogging from Las Vegas. McCarthy and Saathoff will also present their research findings at CSM.
