Global PT Day of Service: How To Give Back As A Physical Therapist

By Beth Olson, PT, DPT, LSVT BIG certified

Physical therapist

Have you ever wanted to do more for your community and give back to those who helped you get where you are today?

Perhaps you’ve struggled to find such an opportunity, but what if I told you it is just waiting for you to discover it?

Sit back and let me tell you a story.

In February 2015, two physical therapists, Efosa Guobadia, DPT, and Josh D’Angelo, DPT, were emailing back and forth, asking themselves those very questions. They asked the most important question “What if?” there was one day where those of us associated with PT came together and did something good for our community around the world. From that question, they developed the PT Day of Service, which has gained traction in the United States and, to date, 55 other countries around the world.

The PT Day of Service is a day where all of us associated with the physical therapy profession: PTs, PTAs, our families, our patients, even our friends, can come together and provide a service to your community.

So now you might be asking yourself: “What counts as a service?”

Per the PT Day of Service website, a service is anything you can do that helps to make your community better. It could be working together to clean up a community park, helping out at a local food bank, or volunteering in a pro bono clinic. This year’s Day of Service is scheduled for Saturday, October 13, 2018.

So many people, especially in our country, have a preexisting notion of physical therapy’s definition. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met someone for the first time and they give me the look. You know, that look that says, “Here we go. Let the pain and torture, I mean, physical therapy begin.”

It’s my job to advocate for my profession and to change people’s perceptions of what physical therapy can really do for someone.

For instance, does the general public know that we can treat people in a variety of settings, from the hospital to their own home?

Does the general public know that we can help them get access to durable medical equipment?

Do we really do a good job telling people about all the awesome things we can do for them?

CHANGING THE PUBLIC’S PERCEPTION OF PT WORLDWIDE

Usually, I have to advocate for the world of physical therapy one person or a few people at a time. Imagine what we could do as a group, across the world, reaching out to advocate for our profession to many people at once. We have the perfect opportunity to live up to the American Physical Therapy Association’s vision statement- transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience- by being a part of this experience.  Imagine being able to truly transform society and their perception of the world of Physical Therapy!  If you really want to be a part of the movement to change the public’s perception of our profession, here’s your opportunity: PT Day of Service!

It’s so easy to be overwhelmed – almost to the point of being burned out and worried about how you’re going to get it all done, especially when you’re first getting started out in your career. When you reflect on the underlying reason of why most of us are in this profession, at its most basic, it’s that we want to help people.

We want to help people be stronger, more independent, more pain-free. We want to help our patients or patients get back to being able to live good, healthy, and quality lives. We want them enjoying themselves and their family and friends. Being a part of the PT Day of Service can be your opportunity to get back to the reason you got into this profession in the first place of helping people even if it’s not necessarily with your professional skills.

BECOME AN AMBASSADOR IN YOUR COMMUNITY

So, let’s get back to talking about the PT Day of Service. The go-to people for planning and coordinating an area’s event are called ambassadors. They start from the ground up, recruiting volunteers, finding event sites, and getting the word out about what we’re doing and why. This is an awesome way for us to not only give back to our community, but also an effective way to get the word out there about who we are as a profession, and a platform to advocate for ourselves and the many different areas we can help or treat.

In my hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, my colleagues and I have helped in several small ways so far. For several years, we’ve participated in our annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s, helping to raise awareness and funding, as well as supporting our patients that also came to the walk. We’ve also participated in advocating for our profession on a state legislative level, again raising awareness of our profession and how we serve our patients.

You can make a difference by joining an event, or even better, becoming an ambassador and creating an event for your area. Find out more about the PT Day of Service, areas where events have already been planned, and on how to become an ambassador. You can also read more about the co-founders, Guobadia and D’Angelo, their vision for PT Day of Service, find out which other countries are participating, and get some ideas for how we can all be able to give back to our patients, communities, and profession.

I hope you’ll join me on Saturday, October 13, for this awesome opportunity to advocate for the profession of physical therapy. If you can’t participate on this particular day, that’s okay! You can always get out into your community with your colleagues on a different day, same concept. Just remember this: It’s our job to not just be a physical therapist, physical therapy assistant, or anyone else related to physical therapy. It’s even more important to advocate for our profession, as well as give back to all the people who have helped us in the past, the present, and the future.

This year, we are becoming more involved with #PTDOS.