Health Care Meets Holistic Care
For more than a decade, the Chester Community Clinic has offered physical therapy services to members of the community at little to no cost. Now in a new facility on campus, the student-run pro bono clinic is caring for the community through expanded health and wellness services.
With the addition of occupational therapy, social work, and clinical psychology, the clinic is making a big impact on its clients. Just ask Bridgette Staples. The Brookhaven resident came to the clinic last August after suffering a stroke.
鈥淵ou know how they say 鈥榙on鈥檛 chew bubble gum and walk at the same time鈥? Well I couldn鈥檛 chew gum or walk,鈥 said Staples. 鈥淏ut they鈥檝e taught me to walk and do things at the same time.鈥
The damage caused by the sudden medical emergency put Staples on a long path to recovery, one that requires extensive rehabilitation from different specialties to restore both physical and cognitive functions.
Staples is in the clinic twice a week for coordinated physical and occupational therapy sessions as well as consultations with social work and clinical psychology student to address her multifaceted rehabilitation needs. And so far, it鈥檚 working.
Everything they鈥檝e taught me is helping me move better. I have so much more strength in my legs and in my arms.
鈥揃ridgette Staples
Located in the former Chester School District administration building on Melrose Avenue, the clinic offers a state-of-the-art facility that is designed to enroll more clients
and treat more complex diagnoses.
Offering various services under one roof not only benefits clients, it also creates a hands-on, interprofessional learning environment for graduate students. For Haily Vaka, a second year graduate physical therapy student, the clinic was her first introduction to a multi-discipline environment.
鈥淏efore starting in the clinic I really had no idea about the interprofessional approach,鈥 said Vaka, who is Staples鈥 primary care coordinator.
During Staples鈥 treatment plan, Vaka partners with occupational therapy graduate students, like Floriza Mangulabnan, to coordinate care and patient goals, a practice often seen in professional health care settings.
When we go out into the real world we鈥檙e going to be talking to physicians and other physical therapists and occupational therapists whose goal is to send the patient home and have them be independent in life.
鈥揊loriza Mangulabnan '22, occupational therapy
Allyson Killen, a graduate student in the clinical psychology program, says being in an integrated clinic environment helps her understand care from different perspectives.
鈥淚鈥檓 able to get an outside picture that other disciplines might have,鈥 Killen explained. 鈥淚 get to see things from their lens that I might not have thought of.鈥
The ability to apply classroom lessons in the clinic, in an interdisciplinary manner, also gives students an advantage in the field.
To have that opportunity to see interprofessional collaboration before I go out to clinical rotations gives me a whole different mindset.
鈥揌aily Vaka '21, physical therapy
The clinic expansion reflects the growing emphasis on health and human service education and interdisciplinary learning at Widener. This approach prepares students in health-related disciplines for the connected and diverse health care field.
Tamar Back, a graduate student earning a dual degree in human sexuality and social work, says the clinic enables student interns to address all client needs, not just physical.
"Clients don鈥檛 have just physical issues, they might have other barriers getting to their appointment such as transportation or they need help figuring out insurance or child care, so we鈥檙e seeing them holistically as a whole person," Back said.
Working alongside other disciplines is an invaluable learning experience that ultimately improves the clients鈥 well-being because Back and her classmates have a shared goal of 鈥渕aking sure that the client gets the best care they can possibly get.鈥
As for Staples, she says that shared goal has done far more than teach her to walk and chew gum at the same.
鈥淸The students] helped me heal,鈥 Staples said. 鈥淢entally, physically and emotionally. They helped me heal.鈥
