February 28, 2020 San Ignacio, Belize, Central America
ISL Blog Guest Author: James A. Taylor DO
During a 5 day whirlwind tour of the charming town of San Ignacio, nestled near the border of Guatemala in Western Belize, Dr. Matt Booth DPT, PT, an American Physical Therapist, lead a cast of specialists to teach, train, and test 12 local physicians in the hot-new treatment for pain with stunning success.
There’s more here than meets the eye.
Tara Butler is a student at Oklahoma State University, with her heart set on pediatric physical therapy. This past summer she served for four weeks at a home for orphaned children with disabilities in Costa Rica. Her internship with ISL sharpened her vocational direction, provided her with deep self-learning and was an enjoyable time of cross-cultural learning. We interviewed her to get some more details about her ISL Global Internship experience:
What was the most meaningful part of your experience?
Emily Jones, ISL’s Essay Contest Winner, shares how her experience in Costa Rica affected her patient approach at home in Alabama:
My ISL Experience
In my ambition to become a physical therapist, I chose to volunteer with ISL because I felt the unique experience would help me become a stronger candidate for physical therapy school. Although there is no doubt that my trip to Costa Rica has done that, it has also rekindled my passion for helping people in need,
I cannot believe I have been able to gain so much experience as a physical therapist and I could not ask for better people to experience this with. With only 8 girls, we were able to get to know each other and become close friends. For the first 3 days we assisted the PT team at Santiago Crespo Calvo Nursing Home and learned how to use the equipment and got a crash course in Spanish.