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“It’s really exciting to see the students’ progress in their clinicals from one year to the next," says Stephanie Saito, PT, DPT, assistant professor and director of clinical education. "A few change their minds about what they want to specialize in. We had a student who wanted to be a trainer, and he was good at it. But he worked at an outpatient orthopedic clinic that wasn’t all high-level athletes, and he loved the fulfillment of getting regular people back to their day-to-day or recreational sporting activities."

DPT students have myriad opportunities for clinical work, which enable them to practice time management and soft skills, such as completing documentation, giving orders and communicating with patients and their family.

Clinical hours and pro bono clinics

First-year students can do a practicum in which they provide wellness assessments and training to ABSN (accelerated bachelor of science in nursing) students. Many Mount students obtain additional hours of clinical experience through their volunteer work in the program’s pro bono clinics. “The pro bono clinics provide students additional opportunities to work on their skills and competencies, and they are great confidence boosters,” says Lowe. “Many patients are from our surrounding communities and have run out of their insurance benefits, and we bring them in to our pro bono clinics.”

The Mount community is welcome to participate in the clinics as well. Lowe hopes that participation will expand especially after the Wellness Pavilion opens. Dawn-Marie Ickes, MPT, PhD, is an assistant professor and coordinator of wellness programming. She had four Mount community members in her Pilates clinic over the summer: two staff, one faculty and a CSJ. Others have taken part in the three-part Wellness Assessment, and some return after six months or a year to be retested to measure their progress.

Other clinics include sports physical therapy under associate professor and director

Abbigail Fietzer, PT, DPT, PhD, and a neurological clinic directed by associate professor Craig Newsam, PT, DPT. Each director oversees teams of students that run assessments, develop a treatment plan, and work with the patient on treatment or exercises, depending on the problem or goal. “The idea is to build self-efficacy while learning about the needs of others,” says Ickes, “by designing wellness-based interventions rooted in what is meaningful and necessary to that population.”

Wellness Pavilion

The DPT department is excited about the opening of the Wellness Pavilion, scheduled for fall 2024. It will feature an Advanced Training Lab for DPT students to conduct screenings and provide physical therapy to clinic patients, club sport teams, and Mount students, faculty and staff. They can also use the Ahmanson Education Center, along with faculty and wellness staff, to provide health and wellness courses or workshops.

“I think our presence in the Wellness Pavilion will help put physical therapy on 
the undergraduate students' radars.” — Abbigail Fietzer, PT, DPT, PHD

The philosophy of the DPT department mirrors that of the Wellness Movement: "Our program does a really great job of making sure that we treat our patients as whole people, not just an injury or a body part that we're targeting," says Fietzer.

"I think that's one of the beauties of our program. That, and we really drill clinical reasoning skills into our students." Fietzer welcomes the Pavilion as another clinical site for DPT students to conduct trainings serving the undergraduate students. "I think our presence in the Wellness Pavilion will help put physical therapy on the undergraduate students' radars," she says. "I'd like to expose them to it so more students consider physical therapy as a potential career."

Neuroskills clinic

The volunteer pro bono clinics at the Mount are an excellent opportunity for DPT students to gain exposure to treating myriad physical ailments and working with different patient populations. Under the watchful eyes of a faculty member, they learn to collaborate over patient care, to communicate with the client, and to document the treatment plan and their observations.

On one afternoon in the neuro clinic, a group of three students cared for each client. Both are young: Steve Zalvidar suffered a brain injury in 2013 following an assault when he tried to break up a fight. He has been coming to the clinic for five or six years. Cameron Cantrell is in his early 30s and was a newlywed when he suffered a stroke less than a year ago.

Each team of students put their client through a variety of exercises designed to challenge their balance, coordination, strength and response time. The teams seamlessly rotated responsibilities, like a well choreographed dance, between being responsible for patient safety – as balance was an issue – for managing the props and for observing and documenting results.

The DPT students also obtain experience in communicating with their client’s family members: Zalvidar’s mother, Teresa, consistently accompanies him to his sessions, while Alexi Lobdell, Cantrell’s wife, is also a constant presence. She maintains a spreadsheet of all his exercises and monitors his progress. “These two patients’ family members are great examples of how important support is to one’s recovery,” says clinic director and associate professor Craig Newsam, PT, DPT.

Both women expressed gratitude for the Mount’s pro bono clinics, designed to help community members who had maxed out on their insurance coverage and who cannot afford to pay for long-term therapy. They also appreciate the many students who have rotated through the clinic to work with their family member.

“They’re so grateful that they want to participate in any opportunity to get the word out about our clinic and to share their loved one’s stories,” says Newsam. “But our students also benefit tremendously from participating in these clinics. It really helps them grow on their journeys to becoming physical therapists. It’s a win-win for everyone.”