Ten students and two faculty members from the California Baptist University (CBU), California, USA took part in the global health initiative program also known as student exchange program conducted
at the University of Santo Tomas College of Rehabilitation Sciences (UST-CRS) from July 8 to 28, 2018.
This program served as an opportunity to expose the students of CBU to different practices in the field of allied health sciences in both the clinical and community based rehabilitation here in the Philippines.
Faculty members Dr. Marshare Penny and Dr. Jessica Miller and students Michelle Holguin, Christen Lutz, Erin Mclean, Megan Sands, Dominique Sisco, Briana Bouchet, Nicole Defiebre, Elizabeth Gehrig, Sandra Gomez, and Nancy Gonzalez represented the CBU group.
College of Rehabilitation Sciences Dean Assoc. Prof. Anne Marie Aseron,
MSPT, and faculty members of the Sports Science Department were present to welcome the CBU group.
The CBU team visited the CRS affiliation centers, namely, the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City, the Apolinario Mabini Rehabilitation Center at the UST Hospital, Manila, and the REACH Foundation Inc., in Mandaluyong City.
At the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department of the Philippine Heart Center, the CBU students were exposed to different rehabilitation protocols for patients who had stroke and cardiac conditions. They were given the chance to observe and assist the staff of the center in managing
and providing therapeutic exercises to their patients.
In UST, the group visited the Apolinario Mabini Rehabilitation Center at the UST Hospital, where the CBU students were exposed to Physical Therapy Sessions in a private hospital setting. The CBU students were paired up with the UST-CRS interns under the Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Speech-Language Pathology programs. Rotating in the Center with the UST interns, the CBU students were able to assist the interns and observe them as they provided services to the patients. They were able to observe how the private hospital system works in the country.
They also conducted interviews of the staff. At the REACH Foundation Inc., in Mandaluyong City, the California-based group had the opportunity to observe how a community based rehabilitation center focuses on pediatrics.
