mission team week

What a week! Hearts in Motion hosted two teams from the states this week- Washington State University pre-med students and dentists and Puget Sound PT students. I spent majority of my time with the PT team. The PT team welcomed me with such kindness and joy and I feel so so grateful for the sweet community of this team. Our week was structured as two days of large pop up clinics with the dental group and three days of clinical work in hearts in motion’s established clinics (Zacapa, Tecu, & Gualan). I love love this kind of pop up clinical work because it gives you the opportunity to really sit with a patient and hear their story. There is no time limit with patients which is an incredibly freeing feeling. You have no choice but to be completely present to the person in front of you and to give them the best care possible because you know for some this may be their first or their only time being seen by a PT. The PT students patience with their patients and with me and all my questions amazes me. I feel so lucky to have shadowed so many different diagnoses.

I could share so many patient stories from the week but I’ll share one about an elderly woman who was post-op from a tib fib fracture. Her grandson brought her to the clinic by carrying her in his arms. She had no assistive walking equipment and her grandson had been carrying for the last few months since the surgery. She had never seen a PT. The PT students did strength and neuro evaluations, different mobilizations, and ankle exercises. Then they had her in the parallel bars doing different exercises to put more weight on her recovered leg. She had been too afraid to weight bare on her injured leg and had never been told by a healthcare professional that it was okay since her injury. The PTs comforted her letting her know that her body was ready to walk again. She had the biggest smile as she took her first few steps in months. We asked her how she felt and she said “feliz!” Hearts in Motion was even able to gift her with a walker. The work the PT students did for this woman was truly life changing. Seeing the difference in the way she arrived to the clinic (limp and carried by her grandson) and the way she left head up joyous tears glistening walking out with her new walker beside her grandson is something I will never forget!

We ended the mission trip week in Antigua which was so much fun! It felt so nice to be back in the city I love. We explored markets, tried new restaurants, enjoyed delicious coffee and stunning volcanoe views. I am so grateful for this week, but I am also incredibly exhausted. I have been traveling from place to place (Tecu, Gualan, Zacapa, and Antigua) for truly the last three weeks so I am ready to stay put for a few weeks at the center. I am looking forward to having more of a routine and growing friendships with people at the center.