Why Physical Therapy?
The field of Physical Therapy has been an intriguing area for me ever since I ruptured my ankle in high school football and became very limited on what I could do from an athletic standpoint, which was my big passion at that time in my life. I felt as if my abilities had been stripped away from me right out of thin air, and when I worked with my local therapist for a couple weeks, I started to regain my strength. This restoration of balance to my life inspired me to learn more about the field and pursue a career as a physical therapist. I sat down with one of the Physical Therapists for whom I currently work for, and asked several questions relating to their career, what they do on a daily basis, and how they got involved in their career. I also asked questions about what their job has done for them ever since they started working in the field and so on. I asked Wendy Dauzet, PT, about how her inspiration came about for wanting to be in the field. “Mainly for the social interaction with other people and for wanting to help people in ways that other professions, such as a nurse, couldn’t.” She felt as if being a physical therapist would make her job much more interesting, and ultimately make her more happy, which she claims it has.
Wendy works in the Acute Care Rehab Department at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, and she also serves as one of my mentors. I get to witness her help people whenever I walk into work, and she is a constant reminder of why I wish to work in this field. I asked Wendy what the best part about her job was, and she replied “the patients”. She said that the people that she gets to treat and help get better with their physical abilities, and seeing change with the treatments that she perfroms are the reasons she gets out of bed in the morning. She looks forward to “the smiles on peoples faces” when they realize the improvements in their disabilities or injuries. Wendy and I also talked about the, in her words, “grueling” application process of getting into physical therapy graduate school. She states “as long as you stay on top your priorities when it comes to deadlines and gathering all the essential documents and references that you need, it already speaks volumes to the committees who make the final decisions on who is awarded seats in new physical therapy graduate classes.”
From this interview, I can honestly say that, if I
was very interested in this field before, than I now have double the interest.
Everything that I hoped to hear from my questions was answered in an efficient
way. Wendy is not the only person that I get to see perform “miracles” if you’d
like to call them, and for that I am truly appreciative of the experience that I
been able to collect while preparing to apply for physical therapy graduate
school. Even if my plans down the road do not pan out as I’d like them too,
this experience will benefit me in everything I do in my life adventures, not
just physical therapy.
Therapist Interviewed:
Wendy Dauzet, PT
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center
Acute Care Rehab