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“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace”
1 Peter 4:10
Hello! My name is Dorson Dort and I am a second year Master's in Public Health (MPH) student at the University of South Florida, in Tampa and will be graduating this 2016 school year. With a Global Health concentration at USF, you must meet the international field experience (IFE) practicum requirement. To fulfill this requisite, a minimum of 8 weeks abroad in a foreign country and volunteering with a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) in a healthcare setting is needed. For my internship I will be volunteering with an organization known as Projects-Abroad in their Medical and Healthcare Outreach project in Heredia, Costa Rica focusing on Physical Therapy treatment and Health education. My placement is set to begin in June and go through July. Tertiary care, like rehabilitation treatment, is uncommon and usually difficult to access for most families who cannot afford the services in Heredia and government owned centers lack the personnel and financial support to provide the best care, treatments and outreach for community members.
During this project, my aims are to provide support and assistance in therapy treatment and health education outreach for two local under-staffed and resource limited therapy settings in Heredia, working with both mentally and physically disabled children and elderly individuals. One of my placements while abroad will be at an elementary school for special needs children known as Centro de Ensenanza Especial de Heredia. This school is the only one of its kind in the province that provides care, education and therapy for children, as young as a year old, to the age of 21, who suffer from cognitive and behavior disabilities. Here, I will work along side the school’s physical therapist and nurse in delivering prescribed exercise treatments for the children, vital sign medical screenings and measurements and development of exercise treatment plans. While working with the teachers, I will assist with one-on-one, fine motor skill development and literacy skill improvements within the classroom setting.
My second placement will be at a day center for the elderly known as Asociacion Centro de Atencion al Anciano Francisca Valerio Badilla. This day center is poorly staffed and meeting all the treatments of the patients is very difficult with only one physical therapist having to manage up to 35 patients a day. During this placement I will be assisting the centers physical therapist in the patients exercise treatments and health screenings, teaching of personal health and hygiene sessions, nutritional education outreach projects to local community members, preparation of all equipment necessary for therapy treatments and log notes and develop reports of all patient exercise activities during their visit to the center. A normal weekday during my time in Heredia, Costa Rica will start at 7:00am and end at 5:00pm at the elementary school and from 8:00am to 1:00pm during my time at the day center.
Working with vulnerable populations in healthcare takes patience, compassion, selflessness and a passion to do what it takes to provide the highest quality of care for patients you encounter. All of which are areas I am familiar with. During all my time in healthcare, domestically and abroad, through service projects and employment, my desire to improve the quality of life of those I come in contact with has continued to grow. I believe in having a heart of service, so sharing my knowledge, skills, time and experience is what I believe I was placed on this earth to do, especially through healthcare. This particular project may be a mandatory assignment, but anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that this is what I love. My practice is my passion! For me, it is a gratifying experience when I use the gifts I’ve been blessed with to serve those who fight and pray to gain abilities we all take for granted each day and/or recover from disabilities some would never imagine happening. A family member, a friend, or I could be in that same situation.
In an effort to pay for the program fees for Project-Abroad and traveling expenses, I’ve decided to start this page with the hope that you will support my unceasing passion to serve others in need.
Thank you and God bless
-Dorson
If you want to know more about my project or Projects-Abroad and their other services around the world, take a look at their web page in the link below.
http://www.projects-abroad.org/volunteer-destinations/volunteer-costa-rica/medicine-and-healthcare/physical-therapy/
1 Peter 4:10
Hello! My name is Dorson Dort and I am a second year Master's in Public Health (MPH) student at the University of South Florida, in Tampa and will be graduating this 2016 school year. With a Global Health concentration at USF, you must meet the international field experience (IFE) practicum requirement. To fulfill this requisite, a minimum of 8 weeks abroad in a foreign country and volunteering with a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) in a healthcare setting is needed. For my internship I will be volunteering with an organization known as Projects-Abroad in their Medical and Healthcare Outreach project in Heredia, Costa Rica focusing on Physical Therapy treatment and Health education. My placement is set to begin in June and go through July. Tertiary care, like rehabilitation treatment, is uncommon and usually difficult to access for most families who cannot afford the services in Heredia and government owned centers lack the personnel and financial support to provide the best care, treatments and outreach for community members.
During this project, my aims are to provide support and assistance in therapy treatment and health education outreach for two local under-staffed and resource limited therapy settings in Heredia, working with both mentally and physically disabled children and elderly individuals. One of my placements while abroad will be at an elementary school for special needs children known as Centro de Ensenanza Especial de Heredia. This school is the only one of its kind in the province that provides care, education and therapy for children, as young as a year old, to the age of 21, who suffer from cognitive and behavior disabilities. Here, I will work along side the school’s physical therapist and nurse in delivering prescribed exercise treatments for the children, vital sign medical screenings and measurements and development of exercise treatment plans. While working with the teachers, I will assist with one-on-one, fine motor skill development and literacy skill improvements within the classroom setting.
My second placement will be at a day center for the elderly known as Asociacion Centro de Atencion al Anciano Francisca Valerio Badilla. This day center is poorly staffed and meeting all the treatments of the patients is very difficult with only one physical therapist having to manage up to 35 patients a day. During this placement I will be assisting the centers physical therapist in the patients exercise treatments and health screenings, teaching of personal health and hygiene sessions, nutritional education outreach projects to local community members, preparation of all equipment necessary for therapy treatments and log notes and develop reports of all patient exercise activities during their visit to the center. A normal weekday during my time in Heredia, Costa Rica will start at 7:00am and end at 5:00pm at the elementary school and from 8:00am to 1:00pm during my time at the day center.
Working with vulnerable populations in healthcare takes patience, compassion, selflessness and a passion to do what it takes to provide the highest quality of care for patients you encounter. All of which are areas I am familiar with. During all my time in healthcare, domestically and abroad, through service projects and employment, my desire to improve the quality of life of those I come in contact with has continued to grow. I believe in having a heart of service, so sharing my knowledge, skills, time and experience is what I believe I was placed on this earth to do, especially through healthcare. This particular project may be a mandatory assignment, but anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that this is what I love. My practice is my passion! For me, it is a gratifying experience when I use the gifts I’ve been blessed with to serve those who fight and pray to gain abilities we all take for granted each day and/or recover from disabilities some would never imagine happening. A family member, a friend, or I could be in that same situation.
In an effort to pay for the program fees for Project-Abroad and traveling expenses, I’ve decided to start this page with the hope that you will support my unceasing passion to serve others in need.
Thank you and God bless
-Dorson
If you want to know more about my project or Projects-Abroad and their other services around the world, take a look at their web page in the link below.
http://www.projects-abroad.org/volunteer-destinations/volunteer-costa-rica/medicine-and-healthcare/physical-therapy/