EDUCATION
CLINICAL EXPERIENCE
At NWH, I was given the opportunity to explore a variety of areas within Physical Therapy. During my first year, I did a rotation that included 60% subacute rehab as a contractee for the hospital's SNF and 40% outpatient. During my second year, my rotation included 20% acute care and 80% outpatient, eventually transitioning to 100% outpatient. On the inpatient side, our patient population included a variety of orthopedic, oncology and critical care patients of all ages. On the outpatient side, the patient population was mainly orthopedic with close ties to the NWH Spine Center. As a subspecialty, I dedicated 20% of my caseload to patients requiring vestibular rehab for a variety of vestibular hypofunction disorders including BPPV and general age-related postural imbalance. I would also occassionally be consulted to see these patients on the floor when our acute care vestibular specialist was unavailable. As an entry level staff therapist, I took the initiative to seek out additional job responsibilities. I developed a vestibular evaluation form and took it upon myself to update our orientation manual for clinical affiliating students. Finally, I assisted our pediatric specialtist with ongoing program development and execution of Kids On the Move, an 8-wk program geared at promoting exercise and healthy diets for overweight children.
While working at NWH, I also moonlighted at two other hospitals: Lawrence General Hospital in Lawrence, MA and New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, MA:
New England Baptist Hospital is an adult Medical/Surgical hospital with nationally recognized expertise in orthopedic care. The hospital has received numerous honors for its achievement in orthopedic surgery including Press Ganey recognition for top 1% for patient satisfaction in the Boston area and top 6% nationally, AARP's top 10 list for hip-knee surgery and US News & World Report's top 50 orthopedic hospitals. The hospital's Jordan Rehab, where I worked, provided subacute-level rehab to predominately orthopedic patients s/p TKA, THA and lumbar laminectomy/fusion.
In the upcoming months, I am planning to relocate to the Austin, TX area, where I will be seeking a position as an outpatient therapist. My areas of interest include orthopedics, general balance and vestibular rehab. For additional information, please download a copy of my resume.
I originally hail from Salem, NH located in Southern, NH, where I graduated from Salem High School in 1996. I entered the Physical Therapy program at Northeastern University in Boston, MA in the fall of 1996 and graduated with a BS in Rehab Science in June 2001 and a MS in Physical Therapy in June 2002. My education at Northeastern University enabled me to obtain a wide variety of clinical experiences including over three years of cooperative education and per diem rehab aide experience and three eight week clinical affiliations in outpatient, acute care and inpatient rehab. I was fortunate to complete these experiences at top Boston area hospitals including Brigham & Womens Hospital, New England Medical Center and Newton-Wellesley Hospital.
Following graduation, I immediately found a home at the site of my final clinical experience, Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, MA. Newton-Wellesley Hospital is a 250-bed community teaching hospital, offering a full range of medical, surgical and specialty care. The hospital has made the 100 Top Hospitals List for four years running. The study, 100 Top Hospitals®: National Benchmarks for Success, was conducted by Solucient, an Evanston, Ill.-based health care information company. Newton-Wellesley is one of only 20 medium size (100 to 250 bed) community hospitals nationwide to be awarded Top 100 status and one of only five hospitals to be recognized in Massachusetts.
Lawrence General Hospital is a 200-bed acute care hospital and Level III trauma center located in the Merrimack Valley. The undertakings of the rehab team include treating a variety of patients on dedicated orthopedic, medical/surgical, cardiac, ICU and CCU units. The rehab team also works side by side with wound care specialists to provide pulsed lavage and dressing changes.
In the summer of 2004, I relocated to Ft Lauderdale, FL and took a staff position with Hollywood Medical Center (HMC) in Hollywood, FL. HMC is a progressive and innovative provider of high quality health care which operates within the Tenet South Florida Health System, which also includes the Cleveland Clinic. As an acute care team member, I was responsible for updating the daily census and distributing the caseload accordingly to other team members. I also took the initative to develop educational materials for post-op total joint replacement and updated the orientation manual for affiliating students, working in close association with in the inpatient team leader to complete both these tasks. In the outpatient department, I was charged with structuring the program content for an outpatient balance/vestibular program and also developed a presentation on diabetes education for the hospital's Healthy Life Center.
Presently, I work as a travel Physical Therapist through Cross Country Travel Corps and have completed multiple 13+ week assignments in SNF and home care. Travel Physical Therapy has allowed me to work with several San Francisco Bay area Physical Therapy providers including HC Manor Care, PeopleFirst and Sutter VNA and Hospice. Due to the short time frame and diverse nature of travel assignments, certain skills are quickly mastered by the Travel Physical Therapist. These include the ability to promptly acclimate to a facility's work environment and deliver quality, efficient care as an independent practitioner.