Thanks to the generous response of our donors to this campaign, we have already reached our $4,000 goal! With your help, we would like to see this campaign surpass $5,000.  Every additional donation will allow us to provide more supplies to the ForU clinic, provide more medical equipment, and mitigate team expenses while in Jamaica. We have just a few days left in our Momentum campaign. Our ultimate goal in this endeavor is to help those in need while gaining real world skills that relate to our education in physical therapy. Please help us by spreading the word about our efforts and this Momentum page. Thank you!

What We are Doing

This spring, 14 students from the Emory Doctor of Physical Therapy Program will be traveling to St. Elizabeth Parish in rural Jamaica. They will be accompanied by four neurologic physical therapy residents and four general physical therapists. Partnering with a local clinic, Friends of the Redeemer United (ForU), the students will offer a week-long stroke camp that allows eight to ten stroke survivors the opportunity to participate in seven full days of PT services including gait and balance training, interventions for the upper extremities, therapeutic exercise, home assessments, and community reintegration. Students and clinicians will work in collaboration allowing patients to receive comprehensive therapy each day during the camp. This will be the Emory DPT programs’ eighth year sending students and clinicians to St. Elizabeth Parish.

Need for Physical Therapy

Because the only rehabilitation hospital on the island is in Kingston, many patients who need intensive rehabilitation after a neurologic injury are unable to get it. The ForU rehab clinic offers low-cost outpatient PT services ($5/visit) and is one of the only physical therapy clinics in the rural parish of St. Elizabeth. The clinic is staffed by two American physical therapists living in Jamaica full time, two long-term volunteer physical therapists, and four Jamaican clinic staff. The clinic also provides home visits, nursing home visits, and consults in the local hospital.

How Your Support Helps

Your gifts will go to the Physical Therapy Program Fund which, in part, supports our service trip. Your donations will allow us to purchase and provide wheelchairs, wheelchair cushions, walkers, braces, and additional medical equipment to patients in need. Donations can also assist with in-country transportation cost and room and board for our team during the trip.