OPENING DAY: PHOENIX PT WILL SERVE COMMUNITY

OUTPATIENT CLINIC AT MESSIAH UNIVERSITY’S WINDING HILL CAMPUS

HOSTED AN OPEN HOUSE AND RIBBON CUTTING FEB. 2

The interprofessional clinic, located at the same site as Messiah’s accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master of Occupational Therapy programs, now provides comprehensive physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT) and athletic training (AT) services to a diverse population of patients in the local community. Phoenix’s personnel will work with Messiah educators as it trains and develops the next generation of licensed physical and occupational therapists and certified athletic trainers and bring high-quality, intergenerational AT, OT and PT care to the Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, area.

After months of anticipation, the staff is excited to open its doors to serve not only the Messiah community, but also the surrounding region.

“We at Phoenix are thoroughly enjoying welcoming patients and utilizing our skills to make meaningful change in the lives of our clients. For me, personally, this new venture has truly been like coming home. I feel so blessed to have been embraced with open arms,” said Kelly Thomas Clancy ’06, director of Phoenix Physical Therapy.

The clinic is just one part of Messiah’s Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) under the leadership Kristen Slabaugh, coordinator of DNP programs. IPEC, the standard for clinical education and preparation, helps prepare future health professionals in addition to their regular training and the graduate and undergraduate levels in AT; counseling; human development and family science; nursing; nutrition and dietetics; OT; PT; and social work.

“We get students to learn their own discipline and learn the roles and responsibilities of other disciplines and how they can collaborate,” said Slabaugh. “We have to teach them to work in a team.”

IPEC hosts events year-round, including disaster drills, case studies and guest speakers. For example, students from multiple disciplines would learn through a simulation what would happen to a patient who had a stroke. Doctors, nurses, social workers, case managers, dieticians and therapists all would be involved in the care.

“It helps students see what other programs do, and in a real-world setting,” said Slabaugh.

The Phoenix Clinic is just one example of how Messiah is growing in its programming capacity and intentionally integrating across disciplines.

— Anna Seip

From left: The event included Olivia Pratt, patient care coordinator at Phoenix PT; George Book ’97, M.A. ’16 West Shore Chamber of Commerce president and CEO; Kelly Thomas Clancy ’06, Phoenix PT clinic director; Rob Pepper ’92, Messiah University executive director/assistant to the president for innovation and university partnerships; Franco Madaffari, Phoenix PT senior vice president; and Robert Kohn, Phoenix PT CEO.