PT in the Spotlight: Susan Michlovitz, PT, PhD, CHT

Every year since 2004, a team of volunteer physical therapists, hand therapists, occupational therapists, hand surgeons, and other healthcare providers have traveled to Guatemala with Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation (GHHF) – a nonprofit organization that specializes in the treatment of congenital defects and hand injuries – to help improve the quality and availability of healthcare for the people of that country. Physical therapist Susan Michlovitz, who was part of the medical mission teams in 2007 and 2008, shares her rewarding outreach experience.

Hooked on Volunteerism
Michlovitz first got hooked on the concept of volunteerism in 2003 when, as the recipient of the Vargas International Hand Therapist Teaching Award, she spent a week at the Navajo Nation in Chinle, AZ, providing patient care and education. A private practitioner at Cayuga Hand Therapy in Ithaca, NY, and adjunct associate professor of rehabilitation medicine at Columbia University, Michlovitz describes her career, which has spanned more than 3 decades, as one “rich in clinical practice, teaching and research.” She concludes, “It was long time to give back.”

Soon after her outreach experience with the Navajos, Michlovitz got involved with GHHF through her colleague Lynn Bassini, MA, OTR, CHT. A native of Guatemala, Bassini is an occupational therapist and private practitioner in Brooklyn, NY, and the founder of GHHF.

GHHF Volunteers Educate and Deliver Patient Care in Guatemala
Preparation for the 12-day GHHF medical missions to Guatemala begins far ahead of the actual trips for each of the volunteers, says Michlovitz, including fundraising efforts to cover the costs. The preparation continues when the team arrives in Guatemala and spends the first 2 days on teambuilding. This helps ready the group for the long hours ahead, she says, of working in “close quarters with less than ideal facilities and supplies and random schedule changes.”

Although patient care is a large focus of the GHHF missions, education is an important part as well. That’s why, during 2 days of each trip, GHHF team members join Guatemalan surgeons and therapists to lecture and lead workshops in a bilingual educational seminar offered free of charge to therapists, physicians, and students in Guatemala City.

Following the seminar, the first day of patient care involves a 10- to 12-hour long marathon of screening to determine candidates who require surgery or treatment. Cases typically include congenital differences, neurologic problems, musculoskeletal trauma, burns, and spinal cord injuries. Families line up from early in the morning, waiting to be seen by the GHHF volunteers.

According to Michlovitz, the next 4 days are a whirlwind of surgeries and post-op therapy. “The ideal times are when we can work with the Guatemalan therapists in teaching and in joint clinical decision making,” she observes. In her work with GHHF, Michlovitz also hopes to help expand that culture in Guatemala. Many PTs work under very close orders of physicians, she explains, and their decision-making roles are still very limited.

The Need for Specialized Care Is Great in Guatemala
The need for the type of specialized care GHHF missions provide is great in Guatemala, says Bassini, for a number of reasons including:

• There is widespread poverty in the country, and most families can’t afford medical treatment.
  
• A lack of prenatal care is also a large factor, which can result in higher infant mortality, as well as more congenital differences.
  
• There currently aren’t enough hand surgeons to meet the needs of the Guatemalan population.

GHHF Volunteers Have a Positive Impact on Guatemalan People
During the 2007 GHHF medical mission trip, 5-year-old Yahir Alejandro was one of the many patients who received treatment. Yahir was born with a severe hand deformity – the digits on one hand were fused together. Upon evaluation, a GHHF doctor identified bones and a few developing fingers on Yahir’s hand and performed corrective surgery. And that means a much brighter future for Yahir, points out Bassini, a future in which he’ll be able to support himself and a family. Bassini shares an excerpt from a heartfelt letter written by Yahir’s father, who speaks in broken English, expressing his gratitude to GHHF:

The following also illustrate the impact GHHF has had in just the last 5 years:

• 423 therapy patients have been examined and treated
  
• 195 surgeries have been performed on patients in Guatemala
  
• 2 children have been brought to the United States for extensive hand surgeries
  
• More than 1,725 physicians, therapists, and students have attended GHHF’s 2-day educational conferences in Guatemala City

In addition to again being part of the upcoming GHHF medical mission team in 2009, Michlovitz continues her volunteerism by treating people in her community who don’t have health insurance at the Ithaca Free Clinic. Through volunteering and sharing her healing skills with others in need, Michlovitz says, “I get back so much more from the experience than I ever imagined.”

For more information about Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation and how you can get involved, visit their Web site at http://www.guatemalahands.org.