Practicum Project

I'm at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton for my Practicum. Our class is in the Third week of Practicum #1, we somehow managed to have 6 doing Prosthetics and 6 doing Orthotics. Good Balance in the Class. Everyone sounds like they are having great experiences and can't wait to show off all we've done!

Cheap Swim Fins! If you can't buy an Activity Leg it is Important to work with your Prosthetist to Figure out how to make things happen. Prosthetists at the Glenrose helped me figure out this Swim Fin.

1 down, 1 to go

We made it! Exams are now finished, and we've now moved onto our 3 week practicum. After putting in many hours, late nights and early mornings we completed our 7 exams, 6 of which were within 3 days. The hardest part was not being able to watch the playoffs, however it seems the Canucks played better when we weren't watching. It was a very strange feeling saying goodbye to the class. You don't realize how close you become until you start saying goodbye to everyone. Most of us will be returning for ISPO in August and will have a chance to reunite and hear about all we've learned over the summer, and have some fun on the side. So far the work term has been very interesting, and have even had the opportunity to see the makings of a wooden transfemoral socket.

All in all, it's been a great year and it's nice to be able to enjoy the nice weather and fresh air once again

Playoff Tension

With the Oilers out of it this year there's not much of a reason to follow hockey anymore (there's a slight chance I'm the only one with this opinion)... so our attention was turned to the Intramural Volleyball Playoffs on Thursday. After a great start in the first set we battled through another two but weren't able to pull out the win. On the upside, if there was an award for the tallest and shortest player on a team we'd easily win both!

We've finally made it to the end of the year and seem to have gotten through the last of the big assignments, but there's still a few grueling days of "P&O Playoffs" to get through with 7 exams in 4 days....the playoff beards are already making an appearance! The final few days of class will be spent on the last of the patient castings and fittings for foot orthoses, and a whole lot of studying. So far the foot orthoses fittings have been going great and we've been tying in lots of new knowledge about the foot with our regional anatomy course. Next week should be interesting with our first fitting of a UCBL foot orthosis and a few other unique designs.

There may not be a good team to cheer for in the hockey playoffs this year, but there's still some bragging rights up for grabs as we head off to our placements and the start of summer. Two games into the P&O sportsnet hockey pool and there's already a 13pt gap between first and last (this is where you end up when you pick Flames players). Well, time to get back to the books. Keep an eye out for the 2007/2008 P&O Volleyball team, we're making a big comeback....Petra has promised a 4ft vertical by September!

severe cerebral stress

Well, we knew it was coming, but perhaps we didn't know it would be this intense. I'm talking about the onslaught of assignments and tests that we have been bombarded with since spring break and the AAOP conference week in San Francisco. We have truly been testing the limits of what our minds can absorb in the way of new knowledge. Since returning from San Francisco we have done pathology presentations, wrote yet another eye popping anatomy exam (nervous system - some of us more nervous than others), began fabricating our first ever Foot Orthoses for each other, and -everybody's favorite- caught up on some missed Materials classtime! Needless to say, we are being stretched. Yet, if we dare to acknowledge the fact, it is a good thing. As usual we are learning tons of new things.

Though we have only been back in class for two weeks since our big break, believe me, we are desperate for a break. So thank God for Easter!! After the long weekend we'll be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel..... and hopefully avoid this....

The AAOP conference was a great experience. There was so many things for us to learn, observe, and ask questions about. We met some great people in the field and benefited from the experience.
Thank you to each clinic and individual who helped to make this trip possible for us.

Photos from San Francisco

Alcatraz

The view from the Marriott Hotel (where the conference was)

Lisa checking out the fresh crabs at Fisherman's Wharf

The famous bush man of San Francisco. He hides behind the branches and then pops out and scares people as they walk by. Ask Lisa about this . . .

Coit Tower, seen from Lombard Street.

March Madness

Well, the last few weeks have been extremely busy. Just over a week before our spring break, we finally raised enough money for our trip to the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists’ annual meeting in San Francisco. (Thank you sooo much to all of you who supported us!!) We then had a quick rush to book flights, hostel accommodation, and conference tickets. The time was tight (especially since we had midterm exams to deal with at the same time), but we got it done. Yippeee! We’re going to San Francisco!!

The first two days of our spring break were spent helping out with the CAPO Exam Preparation Course that took place at BCIT. Interns from all over Canada came here to spend 3 days to get advice on how to handle their Certification Exams. Most of us students played the role of Mock Examiner for the CBCPO Mock Oral Examination. We were each given a list of questions on various topics to ask the interns. Even though this course was meant to help out the interns, it was also an awesome learning experience for us. It gave us a preview of what is coming down the road for us in future years. So now we have a better idea of the type of questions that will be asked during the oral exams and can already start to focus on how to answer them.

After the mock exams, most of us separated to our home cities to have a couple days to see family and friends before we would gather together again in San Francisco.