So, update in order - this one is mainly job related...
I finally managed to land a job near Daytona. I've been at Florida Hospital - Deland's outpatient clinic for 4 weeks now and I am loving it!! :) Orientation was a fabulous start, where they kept on emphasizing Christ centered compassionate care (it is owned by Adventist Health Systems), talked about the start of Adventist Health (basically the brothers that originally made Kellogg's corn flakes were in charge of the 1st Adventist "hospital" and the health system still holds to the idea of healthy eating, exercise and fresh air. I mean, really? Can I have a better fit in values in a place to work for? I think not. So we get to have lunch for free and I get to eat some pretty amazing salmon that's like $3.40, add in broccoli, carrots and a bottle of Aquafina for <$6 (and good crushed ice...you know the kind...). The salmon was better than the salmon I had at Red Lobster a week before.
Now I get over to my clinic (which is about 6 miles from the hospital...so I don't get to partake much in their amazing cafeteria...) and there are 2-5 therapists (all ladies - I'm filling in for the only man out on medical leave) there each day depending on the day of the week. They all seem to get along, work as a team, joke around, and learn new things and try to show me new things. Thus far, those main "new things" are Graston technique with the tools (which are $2700 to buy) and Kinesiotaping. (yes, that's the stuff you're seeing on all the Olympic athletes right now) So I'm getting to learn the basics of both of those (probably almost as well as I would in class which would be about $500 each for a class), and I've gotten to share some Strain-Counterstrain (Positional Release) with them...well, my book atleast...never taken a class on it! It's been great! Being here reminds me the good ole days of working at Laburnum...we had a good team and a lot of fun :)
The patient population is quite fabulous, too. I've gotten to work with a 6 year old up to those in the 80's, from orthopedic to neuro. We get 45 minutes to treat, 60 minute evals without any overlap, and a little documentation time! Probably my biggest challenge actually has been on the neuro side - particularly Parkinson's disease. Thankfully there just happens to be a free series of modules on APTA's Learning Center right now that I have been able to go through to get a few new ideas!
This has been an excellent change and about face from my time spent in Ft. Myers where I didn't have many patients, no other therapists at my clinics, and a small set of diagnoses. YAY! :)
