Finished!

I have finished my internship at Toñito and am officially a Rehabilitation Assistant! I have learned a ton on my placement and I will continue to come as a volunteer as I love the people and the experiences as well as practicing my spanish.

The latest thing I wanted to highlight some that I have yet to mention is around body mechanics. We spent the better part of 2 years of classes learning about proper body mechanics. It has been hard for me to apply this knowledge here as the plynths do not adjust in height, and many of the positions we are in during therapies are awkward no matter how hard you try to maintain proper body mechanics. As a result I tweaked my back, and the main Rehab Assistant didn’t come to work on Friday because she also threw out her back. I think with more modern equipment, transfer belts, proper transfers of patients, this problem could be addressed.

I have met some great people one of whom invited me to her home in the mountains. The following is not therapy related, but about my time in Ayacucho and a child’s point of view of life there.

I learned a lot from my friend’s nephew who lives in the house where she lives in the mountains. He invited me to take his dog out for walk, and being a dog lover I accepted. I learned more about his family and this previously very dangerous region in our halfhour walk to the center square, than in an entire day with his mum and dad. (He really liked to talk!) The region is known for its problems with terrorism but as of late, the problems have settled somewhat. As the boy and I walked with his dog, he told me about his fears of terrorism. His father was in the military that helped fight the problems. Most problems are drug related and occur outside the city in the surrounding areas. I asked him if he gets scared and he said yes, all of Ayachucho is scared. It was interesting to get the point of view of an eight year old that is growing up in this atmosphere. He is obsessed with talking about terrorism and wanted to know about terrorism in Canada. Any chance he got to pull out his imaginary guns and make machine gun sound effects, he would take it (which I suppose is typical of many 8 year old).

With the mother who had invited me to the mountains, I helped her continue therapy with her daughter who is my favorite patient. Even though it was a vacation for all of us, the work still had to get done! I have been working with this 2 and a half year old and her mother on specific goals since I arrived here in Peru. I am happy to say that the patient is now crawling very well, and the next step is to focus on exercises for walking!!