Physical Dysfunction I
Phys Dys 1140/50, lecture and lab, taught about different diagnoses and deficits and how to treat them. We learned interventions to rehabilitate these clients. For example we studied areas of the brain, strokes, vision impairments, speech and language impairments, physical agent modalities, fractures, total hip and knee replacements, precautions for surgical procedures, and much more.
Service learning
For this service learning project my class went to CReATE which stands for "Citizens Reutilizing Assistive Technology Equipment." CREATE is a company that takes used or broken wheelchairs that people were going to throw out and fixes them up like new to sell for cheap. This company makes it so wheelchairs are affordable for anyone. We chose to go here for our service learning project for a few reasons. First of all, CREATE is a good resource for us. Since we know about this company, we can send our clients who need wheelchairs but can't afford brand new ones to them and know they will be taken care of. No one has ever been turned away since CREATE was founded. Another reason we chose to serve here was because we learned valuable skills on how to fix wheelchairs. If one of our client's wheelchair breaks, instead of them paying out a lot of money to have someone fix it, we can do it for free. What was so great about this project was that not only their company benefited from our help, but we also benefited from the knowledge we gained about wheelchairs.
I learned so much from this experience. I went in there with little knowledge or experience with wheelchairs and left with skills and a mind set that would help me in my future career! When we got there we were immediately put to work. We grabbed a wheelchair to put on the work tables and began spraying down and scrubbing. We took off the small wheels in front to clean and oil the parts then had to put them back together. We scrapped off any stickers on the wheelchairs, using our elbow grease. If there was any writing on the wheelchair, we would spray paint over it so it looked brand new. Slowly, with lots of hard work and effort we transformed these dusty, old wheelchairs into sparkling, new ones. It felt so good to help out this company that is doing such an amazing service.
The best part for me was when I was given a wheelchair that had multiple problems. The brakes were broken and the front small wheels were wired to the wheelchair frame. My partner and I had a lot of fixing up to do and at first I was intimidated by the difficulty. We had one of the CREATE workers explain how to fix the problems and we were on our own to do it. I felt really proud when we finished that wheelchair because it required problem solving and more time than the others.
When I become an COTA in the future, I know I will refer many of my clients to this company. I am grateful that I had this experience where I was able to volunteer and learn so much. From this experience I have a better knowledge of how wheelchairs work and what parts they are made of. This was a great opportunity for me to get more familiar with something I'm going to be using with clients daily.
I learned so much from this experience. I went in there with little knowledge or experience with wheelchairs and left with skills and a mind set that would help me in my future career! When we got there we were immediately put to work. We grabbed a wheelchair to put on the work tables and began spraying down and scrubbing. We took off the small wheels in front to clean and oil the parts then had to put them back together. We scrapped off any stickers on the wheelchairs, using our elbow grease. If there was any writing on the wheelchair, we would spray paint over it so it looked brand new. Slowly, with lots of hard work and effort we transformed these dusty, old wheelchairs into sparkling, new ones. It felt so good to help out this company that is doing such an amazing service.
The best part for me was when I was given a wheelchair that had multiple problems. The brakes were broken and the front small wheels were wired to the wheelchair frame. My partner and I had a lot of fixing up to do and at first I was intimidated by the difficulty. We had one of the CREATE workers explain how to fix the problems and we were on our own to do it. I felt really proud when we finished that wheelchair because it required problem solving and more time than the others.
When I become an COTA in the future, I know I will refer many of my clients to this company. I am grateful that I had this experience where I was able to volunteer and learn so much. From this experience I have a better knowledge of how wheelchairs work and what parts they are made of. This was a great opportunity for me to get more familiar with something I'm going to be using with clients daily.
Judy Ann Buffmire Building
1595 W. 500 S.
Salt Lake City, UT 84104
1595 W. 500 S.
Salt Lake City, UT 84104