The campus physical therapy practice PT@The Beach celebrated its grand opening Monday with food, drinks and the cutting of a blue ribbon at its door.
The opening welcomed students and faculty to enjoy food and drinks while conversing with PT@The Beach staff.
The clinic, which took nearly two years to establish and has been open since September, provides students, faculty and staff with physical therapy services through faculty from the Department of Physical Therapy.
“This practice provides an academic setting for students in kinesiology and physical therapy,” said James Buenaventura, director of PT@The Beach.
Buenaventura, who runs his own private practice in the South Bay, said the new center was made possible with the help of Kay Cerny, chair of the physical therapy department, and Kenneth Millar, dean of College of Health and Human Services.
Millar and Cerny were given the honor of cutting the small blue ribbon in the entryway of the PT clinic prior to opening the facility for everyone to tour.
Unlike its neighbor, the LifeFit Center @ The Beach, PT@The Beach is open to people of all ages. However, Buenaventura said, the clinic’s services are limited to those who have movement or functional limitations, such as issues with walking, going up or down stairs and aches or pain.
Curleen Trotter, a health care administration major and an administrative assistant at the PT center, said that since its opening, the number of patients seeking treatment has remained relatively consistent at about six to eight per week.
Buenaventura said the center also offers students in the physical therapy doctoral program a new way to study by allowing them to observe faculty, such as Buenaventura, work with patients in the clinic.
Physical therapy doctoral student Sam Hua, who fulfills his class’s lab requirements at the center, said it provides real-world experience as well as extra practice.
“This practice teaches us students many things, both in watching and application,” Hua said.
The center also allows pre-physical therapy students to work with clinicians as physical therapy aids, as well as complete internship requirements for graduation, Buenaventura said.
Another physical therapy doctoral student, David Weberg, said he is excited that students can now get valuable hands-on experience on campus through the center.
“The best thing is to know that they offer an internship for the students and being able to sit in the treatments and learn,” Weberg said.