Compassion, passion, and love encompass the physical therapy clinics within the Municipality of Villa Nueva, Guatemala, the Jairo Rodríguez Municipal Physiotherapy Clinic in Mercado Concepción (Jairo Rodriguez) and Colonia la Felicidad Physiotherapy Clinic (La Felicidad). Eduardo, a physical therapy (PT) student in La Felicidad, shared the unmeasurable impact of the clinic, the leaders, the students, the patients, and the collaborations between the two clinics and beyond. The beauty is found with each patient interaction, each student to student co-learning, and the heart shared by the clinic leaders, Nohemi and Katty.
Eduardo, with a smile, shares his energy for walking into the clinic waiting room to greet the next patient. The biggest impact comes from that walking in with a smile on his face, looking the patient in the eye, greeting them by name, and extending a firm handshake. From that moment, they know they are in a place of care, love, and trust. This initial moment expands the healing and transformation beyond the physical to the emotional and spiritual and to the development of relationships and formation of community that inspires and activates physical therapy students and patients alike.
Each touchpoint in the clinic opens possibilities for personal and community transformation. The touchpoints go beyond the clinician-patient relationship to clinic leaders and local student interactions and the collaborative engagements between the two clinics and with Move Together. Nohemi, clinic leader at La Felicidad, and Katty, clinic leader at Jairo Rodriguez, daily transform and expand the vision and awareness of the positive impact of physical therapy for the people of Villa Nueva and the world. These two dynamic, passionate leaders place their full heart into maximizing the effectiveness of the clinic but more importantly, planting a seed for transformation and growth in each of the local PT students who work and learn through their clinics.
Katty and Nohemi’s desire and passion for continuous growth transmits to the students. Students then transmit it to their patients, leaving patients feeling loved and cared for and hope for personal transformation, Through this cycle of personal loving care, lives and communities are truly transformed. Eduardo shared the impact of the clinic on the people of Villa Nueva. The people have trust and respect for the clinic function and transformation and that drives them to persevere through financial and transportation challenges. They are blessed by the Municipality of Villa Nueva’s medical access, allowing them to receive care at low to no costs, and are determined to resolve transportation challenges to make it to every session every time. Not only does their determination express the positive impact of access to quality rehabilitation care. They also express their gratefulness and trust through their tears of joy, written cards, and thankful comments.
The patient’s gratefulness is a true testament to the love, compassion, passion, and community within the clinic and the desire to collaborate and grow with others within and beyond the clinic walls. The student PT lives are further enriched by the collaborative interactions between the Jairo Rodriguez and La Felicidad clinics. The clinics come together with their unique personalities and processes for a common purpose to serve the people of Villa Nueva and all of Guatemala with compassion and love. These collaborative endeavors advance access to quality rehabilitation medicine throughout Villa Nueva and Guatemala. They open ideas to what can be and what is, and in humility and openness, a bidirectional learning occurs as each clinic and each person within see new, different, and similar ways to engage with patients and grow with one another.
In January 2020, collaboration and bidirectional growth transcended the two Villa Nueva clinics as they welcomed the traveling Move Together familia into collaborative learning and treatment through transcending bidirectional growth. All three groups came together at the Jairo Rodriguez clinic for five days of collaborative treatment and bidirectional learning and sharing. Community formed and common bonds established between the students from the clinics and the US, as well as the professionals. Eduardo expressed his gratefulness for the students and professionals in helping transform his life. The bidirectional sharing of known techniques and ideas between local and US students and professionals transcends individual knowledge for a collective and communal sharing and learning. Each person, from student to professional, left inspired, encouraged, and transformed by the love, compassion, and knowledge shared throughout the week.
Not only were students and clinicians inspired, but the patients and community are energized and full of smiles for what’s to come in their lives, communities, and the world. The collaborations between Villa Nueva and Move Together provides assurance and trust among the people. The trust, assurance, and awareness that quality care is being provided through the clinics. This supports the spreading of the life-changing impacts and transformation of physical therapy throughout Villa Nueva and around the world. Lives transformed as people can do more than they imagined before walking into the clinic. They are reenergized and activated to engage more with family and within their community.
People and communities are truly activated to engage more deeply with the joys of life and spread the word about the positive transformative impact of physical therapy. This activation expands awareness of the access to rehabilitation medicine within Villa Nueva and surrounding communities. Furthermore, the collaborations between the two clinics and Move Together plant seeds in all who encounter the clinic and the people. These seeds are continuously fertilized and grow into trees with many branches that reach near and far. Each person who encounters the compassion and love within the clinic from patients, to local Guatemala students and clinicians, and people traveling from near and far receive a seed and are fertilized to go out into the world to fertilize and plant more seeds for an unmeasurable rippling effect of quality rehabilitation care around the corner and around the world.
We are honored to be part of the collaborative and community efforts of the Municipality of Villa Nueva’s physiotherapy clinics! Thank you for your welcoming and opening heart!
We love to hear and share your thoughts and your stories of the transformative impact of your collaborative and community engagements with our various programs. Please share in the comments below or email stories@movetogether.org.
If you would like to learn more about our programs and how you may get involved or support the Move Together mission to increase access to quality rehabilitation medicine around the corner and around the world, check out our program pages linked above and follow us on social media.
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We are grateful for each person here and look forward to future collaborations and growth!