Introduction to Bridging Therapy

My name is Cortney Steele and I am a Pre-Physical Therapy student at Messiah. The project I am involved in with the Collaboratory is called Bridging Therapy. This project was created by Jo Dickson and Dena Steiner and aims to evaluate and study the effectiveness of the physical therapy rehabilitation program of the Center for the Advancement of the Handicapped in Mahadaga, Burkina Faso. Since many people with disabilities in sub-Saharan West African communities are often neglected, abused, and left to fend for themselves physical therapy and other common treatments are neither available to them, nor known about by friends and relatives. One of the project’s goals is to educate and reach out to the community. Over the last few months we have developed a techniques manual. The manual and other resources were assembled in hopes to enable the expansion of current rural PT programs or the commencement of a rehabilitation program to a health clinic. During my time in Mahadaga I hope to receive feedback on the manual and other resources. Also, I plan to look into what further resources our project could provide for the physical therapists of Mahadaga such as test score sheets, goal sheets, and other necessary structural resources. I’m very excited to travel to Mahdaga to learn and serve the people in the community.

-Cortney