Teaching Day 3

Today ended up being a national holiday in Haiti so the school was closed. I told the class I was here to teach and would teach if they wanted to come in. All 7 insisted on having class and one even stayed at a classmates home last night in order to be at class because he lives far away. The reason he needed to stay over was because the roads were going to be blocked around Haiti. The people were planning to protest today while everyone was off of work. The country has been in an economic crisis and the people are frustrated with the government and the upper class for "misplacing/not accounting" for billions of dollars. The protests ended up being mostly peaceful and allowed our day to go as planned.

The 8 of us sat in the quiet building and worked on manual skills for the thoracic spine, SIJ, and lumbar spine. We had to stop many times to explain critical thinking for patient care and the students even brought example patient situations from their recent clinical rotations. The discussion became so deep that we ended up still behind when lunchtime arrived. I would much rather be behind because of learning and passion than get done and students not learn anything.

During lunch I had a great discussion with one of the students about his path to physiotherapy school. He graduated from an english grade school and started his career as a translator for a non-profit. He went back to school as a rehabilitation tech and is now in the final year of the physio program. He talked about his professional goals, teaching, continuing education, and further formal education. The passion in is voice to grow and change was inspiring.

After lunch we had to plow through the treatment for pathologies of the thoracic spine, lumbar spine, SIJ, hip, knee, foot, and ankle. To make it reasonable, I selected three of the most common pathologies seen in the country for each body part. I provided them 2-3 common treatments for each based on current research and explained how to deviate based on the irritability and severity of the patient. This concept to deviate based on a specific patient and thinking on your feet was very challenging but something the students were eager to learn. As we progressed down the body, they began to think of the treatments and even get creative with their patients.

At one point in the afternoon the students began to express their frustration again about clinical rotations and the current treatment thought process of clinicians in Haiti. I let them vent but also wanted to provide a positive spin to keep them motivated. They went as far to say that they think the progression will regress if something is not done. I explained that the profession is strong, but I could see where updating the practice expectations, patient-therapist alliance, and research informed care could catapult it into the forefront of the medical field.

I also tried to give them ways to manage interactions with their instructors for their next rotations in the summer to help allow them to integrate what they have learned in school to the current practice patterns in a respectful manor. We discussed how they are the pioneers as first graduates of the physio program. They need to keep focused on a higher level approach to care and use what they have learned instead of following the "way it has always been" mindset. They will feel like outsiders in the workforce but if they keep doing it and more graduate, the workforce will begin to have more of the critical thinking therapists and less of the traditional style of care.

After class, I played a little more basketball with one of my students but also another from the 2nd year class. Could only play 4 one on one games before I was exhausted in the 85 degree sun.

After basketball, I did a little yoga, had traditional rice and beans with turkey for dinner, and sat with the Dean to discuss the second week of the course as well the the future of the program. 

I am very excited for the physiotherapy progression in Haiti with this program leading the charge!


Day 4 I can finally say I had my first Prestige after 4 years and all the taste hasn't changed.