Tag: physical therapy

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COVID-19 UPDATE 3: Mental Health with Alex Sterling

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Alex Sterling is a Clinical Counsellor based in Victoria, BC, Canada. She shares with us some excellent tips on how to help support your friends, family members, clients and your own mental health during this time and as we move through the pandemic together. She has ample experience with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and shares with us some very tangible advice to help decrease the risk of either our clients or ourselves developing PTSD.

Global Mental Health is being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in some of the following ways:

  • Feelings of isolation and being unsafe
  • Nervous systems are heightened
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Anxiety and worry
  • Amplifying pre-existing mental health issues

How physiotherapists can help support our clients during this challenging time:

  • Provide pro-social responses to those experiencing trauma. This means meeting them with a positive social response, especially if they have contracted COVID-19. This decreases the person’s risk of developing PTSD.
  • Help people to focus on routine
  • Help people focus on what they can control
  • Help people adjust their expectations at this time and normalize the fact that we might not be as productive and successful given the current situation

Tips for physiotherapists and all health care workers to help them take care of themselves psychologically at this time:

  • Include yourself in the equation of care
  • Recalibrate expectations of yourself
  • Tune into body and notice ebb and flow of energy. Allow yourself to adjust how much energy you’re using that day depending on how much energy is available to you.
  • If you’re having a low day, find moments while at work to ground yourself. This could mean checking in with your body while you take 2 minutes to wash your hands. Or you could find a moment to get fresh air or check-in with someone emotionally. It is them really important to allow yourself to process your feelings once you’re home from work.
  • Remind yourself why you’re doing something to help you get through the tough moments
  • Be intentional with self-care during and after your shifts

An amazing insight on how to process our fear, stressor or trauma in the moment to help decrease the incidence of PTSD:

  • Acknowledge when you are feeling an intense fear/stressor response and allow the process to happen. Allow the tears to come, allow yourself to shake, and then allow your nervous system to calm back down. This will allow the stress hormones and the cascade of fear response to come back to equilibrium. If this doesn’t happen, these stressors pile up on top of each other and the nervous system won’t return back to equilibrium. Allowing the nervous system to come back to equilibrium is important for long term mental health.

Krysta’s e-mail: globalphysiopodcast@gmail.com

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COVID-19 UPDATE 1: with Mike Landry and Phil Sheppard

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An update on the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and the role of physiotherapy. Tune in for some practical ways to get involved in this global health emergency.

Website: www.ptcovid19.org
Twitter: @ptcovid19
E-mail: globalphysiopodcast@gmail.com

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GP037: Voluntourism with Emily Eglitis and Dr. Mohan Sharma

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Voluntourism is a popular way to volunteer time and resources abroad. It is usually when an individual combines travel with some form of volunteer work. Listen in to understand the intricacies of these voluntourism opportunities and to learn that, despite best intentions, these trips are usually harmful. Emily speaks from the point of view of a physiotherapist who participated in a volunteer trip for 3 months in Nepal. Dr. Mohan Sharma speaks from the perspective of a neurosurgeon who works at a teaching hospital in Nepal.  The combination of their insights from both sides of the coin are invaluable. I’m so proud of this episode – please, please have a listen! I wish this was information that every single person knew before considering on an international volunteer mission.

Emily’s blog: https://emilyeglitis.com.au/blog/
The exact blog post with  the resources mentioned in this episode: https://emilyeglitis.com.au/2019/12/20/5-considerations-for-volunteers/

Contact me: globalphysiopodcast@gmail.com
Visit the Global Health Division: https://physiotherapy.ca/divisions/global-health-division

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Coronavirus and Physiotherapy: Managing in Complexity with Mike Landry

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Bonus episode discussing the COVID-19 pandemic. This episode contains lots of useful information for anyone interested in learning more about the COVID-19 virus. In particular, Mike shares insights on how we, as physiotherapists and rehabilitation professionals can be involved in the management of this health crisis. As physiotherapists we can be leaders in the control of spread of COVID-19. We can also help mitigate the potential secondary effects of contracting the virus, being quarantined and/or being socially isolated.

How can we, as physiotherapists, help slow the rate of transmission of the virus to decrease the burden on the healthcare system? These were Mike’s 3 tips:

  1. Physiotherapists should position ourselves as part of the early intervention team for infectious diseases and other disasters.
  2. Lead by example – be the models of the future. Follow all regulations, including social distancing.
  3. Go out of our way for our patients in this precarious moment. Let’s put extra effort into reaching out to our patients to let them know what our infection control protocols are and how they should approach attending their physiotherapy appointments. Offer alternative health care strategies if possible, such as Telehealth.

Let’s step up for ourselves, our clients, our communities and our world! We can be leaders during this complex time.

Cairn Physiotherapy (Krysta’s Telehealth company): cairnphysiotherapy.ca
Krysta’s Instagram: @krystawark @cairnphysiotherapy
GHD: physiotherapy.ca/divisions/global-health-division
Contact me: globalphysiopodcast@gmail.com

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GP036: Mind-body Medicine with Dr. Crystal Frazee

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Join me in welcoming Dr. Crystal Frazee to the podcast! We talk all about mind-body medicine and how Crystal integrates this into her practice. She believes that there is a place for mind-body medicine in every physiotherapist’s practice. She provides real-life examples on how this approach has helped her clients function in their lives and reconnect to themselves. She runs an online business from home and we talk about how this model of health care is so applicable to global health. Those individuals needing this care can access her from anywhere with the internet or access to a phone. If any listeners are interested in moving their practice virtual, her advice is to automate the business as much as possible, find your specific client population, define your niche and be CONFIDENT! We love how Crystal thought outside the box to bring much needed health solutions to a wider patient population.

Resources:
Crystal’s website: mindfulpainrelief.org
Crystal’s e-mail: crystal@mindfulpainrelief.org
Krysta’s e-mail: globalphysiopodcast@gmail.com
Global Health Division: https://physiotherapy.ca/divisions/global-health-division

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GP035: Year in Review on Balance with Phil Sheppard

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Tune in as Krysta and Phil reflect on what 2019 was like for them both personally and professionally. They talk about lessons they learned and how they will apply them in 2020. They also discuss the important topic of barriers to participate in global health (GH) work. From financial, to social, to self-imposed pressures. Phil provides insights into how he overcame these barriers to really seize a career in GH work. Thank you all for another amazing year for the Global Physio Podcast!!!

Contact me: globalphysiopodcast@gmail.com
Thank you to the Global Health Division (our sponsor): https://physiotherapy.ca/divisions/global-health-division

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GP034: Train the Trainer with Anik Goulet

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Anik has had an extensive career in Global Health from her first experiences in Haiti, to Afghanistan, Kenya, and more. Her career has the common thread of education including clinical education and training the trainer. Her description of what life can be like on deployment is both captivating and informative. Through her global health work she has gained a deep appreciation for her life and continues to work towards improving health globally. Don’t miss out on this wonderful episode!

Resources:
Anik Goulet’s e-mail: anikgoulet(at)gmail.com
Krysta Wark’s e-mail: globalphysiopodcast(at)gmail.com
Global Health Division (our sponsor): https://physiotherapy.ca/divisions/global-health-division

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GP033: Health Governance with Dr. Raphael Lencucha

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Raphael has done extensive work in the area of health policy and governance including mental health policy in Canada and Tobacco Control Policy across many countries such as Brazil, Philippines, Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Indonesia and is recently starting a project in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In this episode you will learn about health governance and how we as rehabilitation professionals can influence policy. We cover the very important topic of mental health and agree that everyone who works with people needs to consider the psychosocial component of the individuals they are working with. He emphasizes the special ability of rehabilitations professionals to understand the environment in which an individual lives and how to optimize their participation in activities of daily living.

His participation in research started through the study of social relationships of individuals living with schizophrenia. He went on to develop an interest in tobacco control and how this impacted public health. He passionately discusses trends in tobacco control and that there is often a pursuit of profits over public health. You absolutely cannot skip this episode! A very informative interview filled with captivating insights.

Resources:

To e-mail Krysta: globalphysiopodcast(at)gmail.com

Our amazing and official sponsor: https://physiotherapy.ca/divisions/global-health-division

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GP032: Bioethical Considerations with Dr. Matthew Hunt

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Follow along as Matt describes his career trajectory in Global Health and how he ended up researching bioethics. He shares many words of wisdom and excellent advice for anyone pursuing a career in Global Health and humanitarian work.

Resources mentioned:

Here are some books about rehab and ethics:

Kornblau, B. L., & Burkhardt, A. (2012). Ethics in rehabilitation: a clinical perspective. Slack Incorporated.

Purtilo, R., Jensen, G. M., & Royeen, C. B. (2005). Educating for moral action: A sourcebook in health and rehabilitation ethics.

And about global health ethics:

Pinto, A. D., & Upshur, R. E. (2013). An introduction to global health ethics. Routledge.

Benatar, S., & Brock, G. (Eds.). (2011). Global health and global health ethics. Cambridge University Press.

Website Matt mentions that covers health ethics geared towards humanitarian aid: www.humanitarianhealthethics.net

To e-mail Krysta: globalphysiopodcast(at)gmail.com

Our amazing and official sponsor: https://physiotherapy.ca/divisions/global-health-division

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GP031: Evaluating Health Equity with Chantal Camden

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Chantal Camden discusses her efforts in helping provide equitable access to health services for children. She enlightens us on the various barriers to access of services that some children might face and it may surprise you that it’s not just financial and location dependent. She talks about a project she is working on to help remove some of these barriers. We ultimately discuss health equity. The World Health Organization states that health equity means: “ideally everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential and that no one should be disadvantaged from achieving this potential.”

To participate in the research study we discuss on the episode, please follow this link:
https://is.gd/SCOOPPPSTUDY

To e-mail Chantal: chantal.camden(at)usherbrooke.ca
To e-mail Krysta: globalphysiopodcast(at)gmail.com

Our amazing and official sponsor: https://physiotherapy.ca/divisions/global-health-division