This summer I have been working at Jacob’s Ladder, a pediatric rehabilitation clinic in Chesterton, Indiana. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first 3 weeks working there. I am majoring in Healthcare Leadership and am struggling to find what path I want to go into in Healthcare.
Before I started my job, I was excited to work in a clinical setting to really find out, or at least point me in the right direction of a path in my profession. I was also looking forward to using the resources and guidance CAPS provides to reflect on my experiences daily. One thing I realized immediately was that my work was going to take patience and a lot of effort.
A lot of the time, I am doing research for grants, for my organization and organizing the reopening of providing aqua therapy sessions. This is long hours researching equipment, set up, location, and other key aspects for information for grants and aquatherapy.
The other part of my job is shadowing physical therapists during their sessions with children and helping out at some of their camps, especially the wheelchair wars camp, every Friday morning. This is one of my favorite parts of every week and I always look forward to it. I have created a great relationship with one of the campers, Maverick. He is a 6 year old, with trouble walking. I really enjoy my time, working through obstacles and trying, failing, and succeeding. I am only with him for 2 hours every week, but I am always in a great mood after every Friday when I finish working with him. His persistence and positive attitude is infectious and has really helped me reflect on my own actions and decisions, which is a big part of CAPS experience.
As I see Maverick, and the other children, with physical and mental challenges, come to sessions everyday, and continually work to improve and get stronger, I think back to myself, and times I have been ungrateful or taken opportunities for granted. CAPS has pushed me to be more thankful and reflective, everyday that I take time to reflect on both administrative work and therapy. I have been blessed with opportunities in sports and academics my whole life, and I feel that it is easy to often take it for granted, complain, and not give it my all. My experience so far at Jacob’s Ladder, especially with Maverick, has really helped me grow and realize how important it is to be thankful for every opportunity in life, and give it my all, just as Maverick does.
–by Colin Graves, Jacob’s Ladder