Excellence in Action! – Student Mentorship: Swinging Through Therapy

A patient admitted to our facility with a wrist fracture, which prevented her from performing her favorite leisure activity, golf, with her sons.  Due to decreased strength and range of motion (ROM) in her wrist and fingers, she was unable to grip and hold a golf club without pain.  Many times, the pain was so severe that she ended up dropping the club.

During therapy sessions, COTA Student Amanda carefully listened to the patient’s interests and concerns.  Amanda saw how upset the patient was about missing the golfing season with her sons, and decided to do something about it!  She was able to modify the grip on the golf club so that the patient could grasp it correctly.  Amanda applied utensil grip and duct tape to secure it around the end of the golf club for easier use.

The patient was thrilled to be able to finally grasp the golf club correctly and to play golf with her sons once again.  She has expressed the idea of possibly re-gripping all of her other clubs to help her perform better when swinging until her wrist and hand are completely healed.

Innovation and Service Excellence are two of TMC’s Core Values.  By placing the needs and desires of the resident at the forefront of their care, Amanda and her Clinical Supervisor, Ashley, were able to provide person-centered, functionally-based care.  Student Mentorship is an important way that TMC’s therapists serve their local communities.  It also provides us an opportunity to share our culture with future therapists who desire to make a positive difference in people’s lives.