The Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts Pro Bono Physical Therapy Clinic

1. The Little Workers of the Sacred HeartsPro Bono Physical Therapy Clinic Who We Are Where We Are Our History How to Volunteer Other Ways to Help How to Refer Our Staff Contact Us Clinic Hours and Dates FAQs

2. Who We Are • The Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts is a Catholic religious order that provides medical service to the poor as well as other charitable services. • The volunteers of the physical therapy clinic consist of local physical therapists licensed in the District of Columbia, students from local physical therapy programs (such as George Washington University), medical students from Georgetown University and physicians and other medical professionals primarily through the Spanish Catholic Community Center of Catholic Charities. • Learn more about the great work that the Little Workers do here and around the world at www.medicalmissionaries.org

3. Where We Are • The physical therapy clinic is based out of a convent, which is home to the Little Workers, and is on the corner of 15th Street and Otis Street in Northeast DC. It is about a 10-15 minute walk up Otis Street from the CUA/Brookland Metro (exit Brookland side of Metro). It can also be accessed by Metrobus H6 from the Brookland Metro stop toward Fort Lincoln/Brookland. Get off at 14th and Otis Streets and walk East 1 block to 15th street.

4. Our History • A doctor/Sister who treats at a free medical clinic through the Spanish Catholic Community Center discovered a desperate need for physical therapy services for her uninsured patients. The patients were mostly Spanish-speaking and were having difficulty keeping their jobs and paying for medical care because they suffered from chronic injuries that severely limited their functional abilities. She would perform their surgeries and follow-up care, but they had no way of accessing the physical therapy services that would surely help them return to a more functional and better quality lifestyle. In 2006, this doctor/Sister (Sr. Deirdre Byrne) formed a relationship with a new PT (Katie Drummond) and a rudimentary pro bono PT clinic was in the making. Several other dedicated PTs (Alexa Stevens, Yvonne Francis, VanetteLagera and Gloria Rogers) and PT students from GWU (Lauren Wohl, Liz Makoid and Cat Denny) were pivotal in turning a one-room structure attached to a convent into a functional physical therapy clinic equipped for evaluating and treating a growing waitlist of patients. The clinic opened its doors on September 22, 2007, and has been treating patients 1-2 days per week ever since… as long as there are PTs available to treat them.

5. How to Volunteer • If you are ready to volunteer or would like to receive a tour of our facility, please contactone our clinical coordinators, Sr. Anitta Mathew, or Sarah Melissa Asbrey. • If you would like to receive more information, or would like to talk to a PT who treats at the clinic regularly, please contact Alexa Stevens, MSPT. • If you are interested in performing foot screenings at one of our Diabetes Eye/Foot clinics, which are typically on the 3rd Saturday of the month, you please contact Katie Drummond, PT, DPT.

6. Other Ways to Help • Donate equipment: Getting rid of equipment/supplies? Consider donating them to help serve our patients who have nothing. See our wish list for suggested items. • Donate time: Do you own a clinic or have access to a gym for your patients? Are you an aquatic therapist with access to a pool? Consider donating time at your discretion to open your facilities to the uninsured population.

7. Our Staff • Medical Director: • Sister Deirdre Byrne, MD • PT Clinical Directors: • Alexa Stevens, MSPT • Stephanie Coleman, MSPT • Katie Drummond, PT, DPT • PT Education Liason: • Gloria Rogers, PT, MMS • Chief of Opthalmology Clinic: • Dr. Dan Finkelstein • Chief Nurse: • Sister Anitta Mathew • Clinical Coordinators: • Sister Anitta Mathew • Sarah Melissa Asbrey

8. Contact Us • lwsacredheartclinic@gmail.com • 3620 15th Street, NE, Washington DC 20017 • (202) 526-0130

9. Clinic Hours and Dates • Clinic hours are generally 10am-1pm on Saturdays by appointment only. All patients are given an appointment time of 10am and are treated on a first-come first-served basis. • Based on volunteer availability, we are open on some Friday afternoons as well.

10. Frequently Asked Questions • Does the clinic offer insurance to its volunteers? What kind of liability would I assume treating patients pro bono? • As healthcare volunteers, we are all covered to some degree under the Federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997. The law provides all volunteers (including clinician volunteers) of nonprofit organizations and government entities with protection from liability for certain harms caused by his/her acts or omissions while serving as a volunteer. As with practically all such state laws, volunteers who qualify for the VPAs protection are shielded from harm caused by simple negligence so long as it is within the scope of the volunteer’s duties. As with most states laws attempting to reduce volunteer liability, the law does not prevent people from bringing law suits nor does it provide for defense cost reimbursement to volunteers, While our clinic does not pay for additional professional liability insurance for its volunteers, it is recommended that all volunteer physical therapists carry their own individual plans, which can be found at a reasonable rate through HPSO (www.hpso.com). • How many patients will I be scheduled to see? • Due to the wide variety of backgrounds and experience levels of our PT volunteers, we typically schedule evaluations for 1 hour and follow-up visits for 30 minutes –however many of each will fill in a 3-hour time slot. Any PT who would like to treat more or less than this needs simply to let our clinical coordinator know when signing up to volunteer, sot that the appropriate number of patients can be scheduled . As much advanced notice as possible is necessary in order to accommodate this. • Will I be supervising students? • Most likely, yes. Our clinic has developed a strong partnership with the DPT program at George Washington University. Through this partnership we have many dedicated PT students of varied levels of experience who volunteer at our clinic on a rotating schedule. A PT usually has 1-2 students who join them during therapy evaluations and treatment sessions, but a PT will never be asked to directly supervise more than 3 students at a time, as the DC law delineates. • What is a typical day in the clinic like? • The PTs typically arrive a few minutes before 10am. We try to schedule at least 2 PTs every Saturday. Every patient has a 10am appointment time and is treated on a first-come first-served basis. When the treatments and evals are finished around 1pm, the Sisters provide lunch and refreshments for the volunteers to thank them for their time and service. • How are referrals made? • Area physicians who treat in free clinics (such as Community of Hope and the Spanish Catholic Community Center) are asked to email their request for a referral to lwsacredheartclinic@gmail.com with “referral request” in the subject line. A pre-fabricated screening form from our clinic can be used. If this is not available, the email should include at least the following information: name and contact information of the patient, name a contact information of the professional making the referral, primary impairment/diagnosis, precautions/contraindications, patient’s primary language. Our clinical coordinator will respond to the request and provide the physician with available dates on which the patient can be seen. • What resources, equipment and modalities are available to the patients? • We currently have a mat table, two plinths, a therapy ball, several foam rollers and TENS units, free weights, a treadmill, an UE bike, an ultrasound/estim combo unit, cold packs, dry heat, a VHI cdrom exercise program that translates into several languages, parrafin, some theraband, and a liimited number of arch supports, ankle supports and lumbar supports. Our wish list is always evolving, so please check it out on our website. • What is a typical patient like? • We primarily serve the local “working poor” population referred from free medical clinics in our area.. These patients often have chronic musculoskeletal conditions requiring physical therapy in order to return to a functional lifestyle.. Due to our referral base, many of our patients speak Spanish as their first language, however translators are available to assist the therapists with communicating across language barriers.

11. Frequently Asked Questionscontinued… • I do not want to treat on a Saturday, but have time to treat on another day of the week. How do I volunteer? • Simply contact one of our clinical coordinators to discuss your availability and whether or not patients can be scheduled on that day and time of day. • Do I have to be licensed in Washington DC? • Yes. • What is the Diabetes Eye/Foot Clinic? • On typically the 3rd Saturday of the month, from 10am-1pm, the clinic runs a Diabetes Eye/Foot Clinic. At this clinic, physical therapists, physical therapy students, an ophthalmologist, medical students, nurses and Spanish translators team up together to provide free eye and foot screenings on patients previously diagnosed with Diabetes referred from the Spanish Catholic Community Center. The purpose of this service is to help educate and screen individuals who may present with complications affecting their eyes and feet that are associated with their Diabetes diagnosis, such as peripheral neuropathy. • What will my first day be like? • On your first day, we ask that you bring a copy of your current Washington DC PT license. You will be scheduled with a PT who has treated at the clinic before and can provide you with a brief orientation before treating patients. Our clinical volunteers will pull the charts and help you with anything you need (scheduling follow-ups, translating, finding equipment/supplies etc.) . If you would like to tour our clinic prior to your fiirst day, simply set up a time to stop by with one of our clinical coordinators or one of our PT Clinical Directors. • I have no experience in an outpatient PT setting. Is that okay? • We encourage and our patients benefit from having PTs from a variety of backgrounds/settings and levels of experience. The larger our network of PTs, the more we can use our resources when clinical cases warrant their expertise. New grads are welcome! If your lack of experience in an outpatient setting makes you hesitant to volunteer, we have experienced PTs at our clinic with whom we can schedule your first day until you become comfortable to treat on your own. • What kind of commitment must I give? • We understand that giving up a Saturday morning is not an easy task; however even volunteering for just one 3-hour day does a great service to the poor in our community who would otherwise never be treated. We have several PTs who come back after their first day to treat on many other Saturdays and even regularly 1-2 days per month. Any time you can offer is extremely valuable to us. • I hear the clinic is in a convent. What does that mean? • Our clinic is run out of part of the building where the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts call their home. The room used for the clinic has been used for several other purposes in the past, including a children’s preschool classroom. • Can I provide pro bono PT services to these patients in my own clinic? • There are often occasions when a PT is unable to volunteer at our clinic but owns their own outpatient clinic or works at a clinic that iswilling to extend clinic hours or accept additional patients on a pro bono basis. There are also several occasions when we evaluate a patient at our clinic and discover that he/she would benefit better from the equipment, location , frequency, expertise, etc. that another clinic may provide. Due to the generosity of these PTs, we have been able to refer and thus provide better service to these patients. If you are interested in providing services to our patients in your own clinic, let our clinical coordinator know. When we find a patient that would be a good fit for your facility, we can evaluate the patient and send the evaluation along with the referral to your office, where you can continue to treat the patient on a pro bono basis.

12. Our Wish List • PT volunteers! • Theraband of all resistances/colors • Hydrocollator with accessories • Heel wedges & arch supports in size large • Laminated spine picture • standing mirror • rocking board • cones • Airex mat • Graduated steps • Stretch out strap • Braces – such as back braces and some knee and ankle that will fit larger adults, SI Loc braces • Mobilization belt Updated: 3/19/10

14. Diabetes Eye/Foot Clinic • On typically the 3rd Saturday of the month, from 10am-1pm, the clinic runs a Diabetes Eye/Foot Clinic. At this clinic, physical therapists, physical therapy students, an ophthalmologist, medical students, nurses and Spanish translators all team up together to provide free eye and foot screenings on patients previously diagnosed with Diabetes referred from the Spanish Catholic Community Center. • The purpose of this service is to help educate and provide treatment for individuals who may present with complications affecting their eyes and feet that are associated with their Diabetes diagnosis, such as peripheral neuropathy.