I had an amazing first week at the Synergy PT clinic! As soon as I walked through the doors on my first, I was greeted with the most welcoming smile from Kathy, the receptionist at the front desk, which immediately soothed all the nervous tension I had entered the office with. Soon enough, I was introduced into the clinic where I met the man himself, Dr. Vincent Peries (my on-site mentor). After casual salutations, the first thing he told me to do was to correct my posture. “Back straight, eyes up, squeeze those glutes,” he said with such conviction. Throughout the week, Dr. Vincent introduced me to several nuances in what humans consider simple everyday tasks such as standing, walking, and sitting. For instance, he had me practice my walking to experience what the patients go through. He mentions it’s important to have this so that we know how to perform these exercises before blindly instructing the patients how to do so. Therefore, as I was walking on a treadmill, he had me execute intricate heal-to-toe conversions, terminal knee extensions, and once again, severely tightened glutes in order to push off from one leg to another (You won’t believe how much my glutes have been worked just during my first week!).
Aside from making me continually sore, Dr. Vincent introduced me to several of his patients and allowed me to form deep connections with this really diverse group of people. I met individuals of many different ages, backgrounds and injuries. With each patient, I was able to hold a steady conversation, mostly on the basis of why I’m working at the clinic and what I hope to discover with my research. Starting next week, Dr. Vincent said I’ll be working with some of my own patients and will take on a much bigger role in the clinic so I’m super excited for that as these hands are super eager to help!
Now, as far as the team goes, I’ve only introduced you to two members, Kathy and Dr. Vincent. I was also work with several PT (Physical Therapist) and PTA (Physical Therapist Assistant) students from different schools from all over Arizona along with additional synergy staff. First, let’s start off with Jordan, the first student I met and had the pleasure to work with. Jordan has what I like to call a very “chill” personality in that he is always welcoming and easy to talk to. Next up, we have Joe. Joe has one amazing beard, one I aspire to grow one day, but that’s beside the point. His compassionate personality and willingness to do whatever to help each patient really proved to be eye-opening for me. There’s also Laurie. Every time I see Laurie, she’s always smiling and that smile seems to brighten up the clinic every single day. Next, we have Nicole. Whenever Nicole speaks to patients, you can tell they have the absolute trust in her because of her everlasting care no matter the circumstances, something I aspire to gain once I start to work with patients. The Last of the PTs is Drew. When I first worked alongside Drew, he welcomed me with such open arms and taught me the importance of adjusting your therapy style to the comfort of the patient, something that is especially important for strengthening that patient-therapist relationship. And finally, there’s the office manager, Emily, the main reason I’m working at the clinic in the first place as she was completely flexible in working me in with Vincent and for that, I am extremely grateful. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a greater group of people to work with day in and day out throughout my research project!
