Hello there friends! This week marked week 6 of 7 of my time here Louisville, Kentucky interning at the Frazier Institute. This week is my second-to-last week at the center but that didn’t stop me from continuing to learn more about the work that we’re doing. I’ve obviously learned a lot about research, spinal cord injuries, and activity-based rehabilitation. However, there are some things that I’ve only been able to learn from being here and working with participants and patients every day.
View of a standing frame: chairs are for knee trainers to sit in when they support a participant’s knees
Working with human participants is completely different from any other research that I’ve been a part of. The human aspect of it creates a lot more situations that might be uncomfortable for both you and the participant. At first, I was really nervous about making anyone uncomfortable when I was having to touch participants to do things like placing electrodes. I didn’t want anyone to feel like I was invading their space. One of the physical therapists has a really good piece of advice on this: she says that soft touches are creepy. When you are helping prep someone for a session, it’s much better to be decisive with your actions rather than be timid because that’s often something that will make someone more uncomfortable. So over time, I’ve learned to be a bit more confident with my actions, but to also ask the participant and others working with me for help when I’m unsure.
Another thing that I’ve learned more about is trying to anticipate needs. Everyone in the gym is really good about advocating for themselves and asking for what they need, but I’ve also learned to try and recognize when someone might want me to grab them some water during a session. At first, I would always ask other techs if something I was doing was correct. Now, I’ve learned to talk directly to the participant because their comfort and safety always comes first and they know what they need more than anyone else.
The thing that has been the most helpful, though, is how approachable everyone here is. Participants don’t hesitate at all to tell me when I’m doing something wrong. At the same time, they’re all more than willing to help me learn and explain to me what I can do better. Ultimately, the participants have been some of the most helpful mentors that I’ve worked with. Not to mention how much I’ve enjoyed getting to know all of them as people. Like I touched on last week, the people here have really made this internship for me.
Outside of the 9th floor, this week I saw even more music (unsurprisingly)! On Wednesday my coworkers took me to my first Waterfront Wednesday. It’s hard to compare music I saw this week to last week’s punk-rock-country-experience, but I enjoyed them both equally. It was really nice to get to spend some time with my coworkers outside of work AND I had the best pink lemonade of my life!
This week was also the last day of one of the other interns on the floor (R.I.P. to the Twinterns). In order to send him off, we had cereal which was another highlight of my week.
Elizabeth and I enjoying one of many bowls of frosted flakes!
Next week is my last week here and I can’t believe it. The next time I write to you I’ll be on my way home…and while I miss my mountains, I think I might miss the ninth floor just as much. I’ll be spending the next seven days soaking up every last bit of Frazier. Until then, ciao!
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