By Madeleine Hines, DPT
I found HVO while I was searching for an organization that did sustainable service travel for physical therapists. I read the websites of many organizations that assisted medical professionals in voluntourism, but HVO’s mission and model stuck out to me. After chatting with a representative at CSM, the biggest physical therapy conference in the country, I wanted to jump right in!
I chose HVO’s project in Guatemala, as I was looking for something that would be good for a first-time volunteer, and I thought the flexibility of topics in the Guatemala project allowed for this. I was also excited about getting to see many different cities within the country, since this project partners with institutions operating in multiple locations. During my assignment, I was able to visit four cities: Antigua Guatemala, Santiago Atitlan, Xela, and Guatemala City.
I thought there was a big advantage to multiple locations, because I was able to reach many more students and therapists than if I had just stayed in one location. This was especially helpful for some of the more remote locations, such as Santiago Atitlan, where continuing education is not often offered, or students would have to travel far for education. The downside is that I only spent a small amount of time with each group. On a personal level, I loved seeing the diversity of Guatemala—seeing different environments and meeting people from different cities and areas of the country. Each location was beautiful in its own way and very different from the others!
Most of my teaching was a lecture and/or lab to a large group of students, who were either physical therapists or physical therapy students. I taught on a variety of topics and in a variety of locations, from a small makeshift classroom in a local organization’s space to a ballroom of a hotel at a conference. I got lots of positive feedback on my topics, and many of the questions asked during and after my presentations showed that the students were engaged with the material at whatever level of knowledge they had.
I think I taught new, interesting, and actionable information at most of my sites, including types of information some of the students had never gotten before, such as tests and benchmarks patients must hit before they move to the next phase of rehab after ACL surgery. I think the PTs were able to use that information right after that presentation, and I was able to help students think about clinical decision making in a slightly different way.
I think the connections with the students, despite the language barrier, and the depth of the topics had a big impact on me. I had done service travel before and taught physical therapy topics in the clinic, but the fact that those two things were so easily combined was meaningful to my career and future self. I was surprised at how easily I was able to connect with the students over our shared knowledge and passion for physical therapy despite so many differences.
