PRI Integration for Geriatrics - (Chapel Hill, NC) It was an awesome weekend presenting "PRI Integration for Geriatrics" to an awesome group in beautiful North Carolina. As a group, we explored the possibilities of the course's new title and the new subtitle, "Restoring Alternating Function in the Immobile, Frail and Chronic". By the end of the weekend, we had identified a lot of great applications for immobile populations, frail populations and chronic populations across a large spectrum of conditions and age groups. It was eye opening for all of us and a great validation that the course's new name really does reflect who this material is for.
A big thank you to Susan Henning, PT, PRC and her wonderful team at the host site Advance Physical Therapy. She was a great lab assistant and a kind, generous host throughout the weekend. She has assembled a fantastic team of professionals in their dynamic integrated clinic. Thank you Joe Belding, Jean Massé, Lisa Mangino, Shella LoBianco and Beth Elder for being an important part of a great learning weekend. Honestly, to have 4 out of 6 staff members at the host site currently certified in PRI and the other 2 interested in the process of getting certified is very uncommon and even a little intimidating for a presenter with an introductory affiliate course like this. But your feedback confirms that this material was a nice combination of introductory and advanced concepts that challenged you and also rewarded you for being there. I love to be able to connect with and challenge both first time attendees and also experienced PRI clinicians with affiliate course content and all the new assessment and treatment ideas.
This weekend also provided me an opportunity to meet some people from my early PRI faculty days and associate with some of the people they are now able to mentor and influence. Rebecca Williams, PT from Pinehurst, NC, who has incidentally become a good friend of our very own Jen Poulin, reminded me that she attended one of my first ever courses as a PRI faculty back in 2001, a Protonics course in Columbia, SC. That course was also my first opportunity to meet and teach another longstanding PRI contributor and good friend, Kyndy Boyle. Wow, a lot of positive things have happened with this institute since those early days, and mostly because of the people we were fortunate enough to meet along the way. I also met 2 PTAs this weekend who are currently employed by a therapist I first met and taught when she was a student in PT school, Tracy Lyn Schuster, DPT. Madison Blythe and Hailey Parsons, you two did a great job with the material and Tracy Lyn would have been very proud of you. And thank you Madison for suggesting Merritt's Grill for lunch on Saturday. That place could be one of my all time favorite places to eat lunch anywhere in the country.
Lastly, I want to thank my friend JR Glenn for coming over from Columbus Ohio to attend the course and also to help me work through one of the long-standing emotional issues in my life - an inability to get over the hard feelings I have for the 1991 Duke University Men's Basketball Team. I attended UNLV in the early 90s and the 1991 Blue Devils prevented my Running Rebels from being back to back National Champions and I haven't forgiven them for breaking my heart. JR was kind enough to drive me from Chapel Hill across town to Durham to face my unhealed wounds at Duke University. We visited Krzyzewskiville, Cameron Indoor Stadium and then I got to see the 1991 National Championship trophy with my own eyes. After working through the pain of it all and reminding JR that the trophy should not be in a glass case in Durham, but instead in a glass case in Las Vegas, I let go and began the healing process. I'm optimistic about my ability to get over this barrier in my life. I'll definitely keep you posted. Go Rebels!
