Fellow APTA Virginia members,

 

I hope you are all fully recovered from the holiday rush and hopefully past the stress and strain of the first of the year and the various issues that impact our patients. APTA Virginia has been very busy working on several key things to start 2020 off in the right way.

 

Happy New Year from your APTA Virginia SSIG! We hope you all had a joyous holiday season!

With that being said, we have a lot of exciting information to share with you.

By Sydney Symons, SPT Class of 2022 & Ashley Jones, SPT Class of 2022

 

Motorized wheelchairs are not an easy investment for a family with a child who is physically disabled. Such wheelchairs cost anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 and, naturally, kids outgrow them in just a few years. This is a heavy burden on any family, and consequently, kids who can’t walk independently go without a way to move easily. Dr. Cole Galloway, PT, PhD, FAPTA, and founder of Go Baby Go, saw this need and sought a solution. The Go Baby Go Program, now a nationwide project, modifies motorized ride-on toy cars to make them an affordable “wheelchair” of sorts.

by Kate Lomaka

 

The APTA Virginia Central District had a great meeting at the end of January learning from Chris Fosdick, PT, DPT, who covered the emerging use of diagnostic ultrasound in PT practice. Ultrasound can be a strong diagnostic and therapeutic tool to assist with empowering patients' buy-in to their rehabilitation journey. It requires a strong background in anatomy and physiology for accurate interpretation, so Dr. Fosdick recommends brushing off those old textbooks, grabbing a handy ultrasound unit and consistently practicing to enhance one's skills with ultrasound. Thank you, Dr. Fosdick, for your knowledge translation and clinical insight!

 

The Central District wishes Chris Fosdick, PT, DPT, luck as he moves to Northern VA to begin a new chapter in his career. With his departure, his service as Central District secretary will come to an end. Thank you for all your dedication and work to support the District and its members. We are happy to announce that Kate Lomaka, PT, DPT, will be filling the secretary position. It was announced at our January meeting, with joined excitement from members in attendance.

 

Please join the Central District on February 18th for their next meeting, where Dr. Cristin Beazley, PT, DPT, CBIS,  will discuss rehabilitation post-concussion.

Treating Airway Obstruction

Speaker: Mark Misiaszek

Location: Inova Center for Personalized Health Fairfax, VA

 

Topic: The Effects of Cognitive Loading on Unplanned Turning Among People with Parkinson's Disease

Speaker: Caity Bryson

Location: George Mason University Gait Lab

 

Topic: Burnout in PT - Work Harder On Yourself Than You Do On Your Job

Speaker: Daren Moat, PT

Location: Inova Physical Therapy Center Alexandria

 

Topic: House of Delegates Discussion

Speakers: 3rd Year Marymount Students

Location: Marymount Physical Therapy Program

At this point, only two more meetings are scheduled in 2020. The schedule for the Fall 2020/Spring 2021 meetings will be determined sometime in Summer 2020, as academic calendars for the schools should be published then. They are:

 

February 26th 2020 University of Lynchburg

April 8th 2020 Radford University