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Student Finds
McCarty Center A Unique Learning Experience
"It's excellent.
It's incredible that there is a place like this.
The staff seems to really love what they do."
And so goes the answer to the question: What
are your impressions of the J. D. McCarty Center.
The answer was given by Jennifer Savage, a physical
therapy doctoral student from Elon University
in Elon, North Carolina.
Savage is another in a
long line of clinical students who choose the
McCarty Center for their pediatric rotation
because of the unique learning opportunity it
presents to students.
"Students who do a
clinical rotation here get a total emersion
into children with developmental disabilities,"
explains Sue O'Hare, director of physical therapy
for the McCarty Center. "Students get lots
of time to see what treatment approaches work
and what doesn't work. They learn to deal with
parents, patients and staff. Working with kids
is different from working with adults."
Savage, who will be doing
an eight-week rotation here at the McCarty Center,
is from Charlotte, North Carolina. She has a
bachelor's degree in biology from Lipscomb University
in Nashville, Tennessee. "I have always
wanted to work in healthcare," Savage said.
"I thought I wanted to go to medical school
for a while, but changed my mind. I worked as
a licensed massage therapist for five years
after I graduated from Lipscomb. I later decided
that I wanted to go to physical therapy (PT)
school. While I was applying to schools I volunteered
with physical therapists to get my required
observation hours. I later took a job as a rehab
tech. I worked as a rehab tech for about a year
and half. That job confirmed for me that I had
chosen the right career path."
The McCarty Center has
been a part of teaching therapy students for
longer than the oldest employee can remember.
That goes back at least 25 years. "The
McCarty Center is a unique learning opportunity
for me," said Savage, "because you
get to see kids over a long period of time and
you get to see them in a variety of therapy
settings, not just in a PT gym."
Savage will graduate in
December 2010. While she would like to work
in pediatrics as a new graduate she will be
open to any opportunity that presents itself
after graduation. "Kids are a joy to work
with," Savage said. "You have to be
really creative when working with them. They
are easily distracted so you have to keep it
interesting for them. Sometimes you have to
trick them into work through play. After all,
that's a child's job is to play."
The J. D. McCarty Center
is Oklahoma's center of excellence in the care
and treatment of children with developmental
disabilities from birth to age 21. Founded in
1946, the McCarty Center treated only one diagnosis…cerebral
palsy. Today, this pediatric rehab hospital
has treated more than 70 different diagnoses
in the developmental disability category. In
an average year, the McCarty Center will treat
children from 70 of Oklahoma's 77 counties.
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Jennifer Savage, a physical
therapy doctoral student from Elon University
in Elon, North Carolina, gives some guidance
to seven-year-old Bryce Rose as he pedals
a Journey Prone Bicycle down the wide and
colorful hallways of the J. D. McCarty Center.
Rose is one of the patients that Savage
has been assigned to work with will doing
her pediatric clinical rotation at the McCarty
Center.
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