Physical therapy assistant course opens up new career possibilities

If you have patience and a passion for wellness and working with people, Flathead Valley Community College’s new physical therapy assistant program may offer that dream job of your New Year’s resolution.

Physical therapy assistant student Jamie Lynn called her training “a wonderful and challenging experience.” She completed the first year of prerequisite classes, then was accepted for the program’s first class that started this fall.

She said she would definitely recommend it to others.

“However, it is not a walk in the park,” she said. “I feel fortunate that I have a strong foundation that I am building from. There is a ton of material to cover in only 24 weeks of classroom time — the rest of our time is spent working in the field.”

Assistants, supervised by physical therapists, work directly with patients.

With earnings from $16 to $20 an hour in the Flathead Valley, these positions pay an above average wage for the investment of a minimum of two years in an associates of applied science degree.

Calling the career a mid-range professional opportunity, program director Janice Heil said physical therapy assistants make a decent living with benefits. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2010-11 edition, demand for physical therapy assistants grew faster than average, particularly in acute care hospitals, skilled nursing and rural settings.

Heil cautioned that some graduates will need to look outside the valley for jobs. Physical therapy assistants earn a higher wage in more urban areas.

“They can make over $30 an hour, depending on location and demand,” she said.

Major changes anticipated in the medical field should benefit people in this field. Physical therapy assistants fit perfectly in an era of cost-cutting.

“In the realm of health-care delivery, it’s considered a cost-effective way to deliver physical therapy,” Heil said.

Assistants make considerably less money than physical therapists because they don’t spent six to seven years getting their education.

At Flathead Valley Community Colleges, it takes a minimum of two years to complete the five semesters usually required for physical therapy assistants.

In the first year, students take prerequisite courses such as anatomy and physiology, writing and math. Students then apply for 12 spaces available in the physical therapist assistant program.

“It’s a competitive application process,” Heil said.

As a physical therapist with 27 years of experience, Heil said the best candidates like people, have good communication and critical reasoning skills, flexibility, professionalism and patience with people of all ages. They must also meet specific physical requirements such as being able to lift 50 pounds.

“Once they are in the program, they have three more semesters of what we call the technical program,” she said.

Those courses include theory and exercise, anatomy, rehabilitation, orthopedics, pathophysiology and kinesiology. Pathophysiology involves the study of changes in normal mechanical, physiological and biochemical functions while kinesiology studies human movement.

Heil said students learn interventions, precautions and modalities such as ultrasound and traction.

“They go on three different clinicals totaling 16 weeks,” Heil said. “That’s where they apply the skills that they have learned in classes.”

Julie Robertson serves as the academic clinical coordinator. Both she and Heil hold master’s degrees in physical therapy.

 Robertson keeps track of students gaining clinical experience in the Flathead Valley as well as in Eureka, Ronan, Polson and Missoula.

Physical therapy assistant student Lynn had her first clinical experience at St. Luke Hospital in Ronan. She said she had a wonderful clinical instructor with many years of experience to share.

“I absolutely love it,” she said. “This facility is truly patient-centered and team-oriented. Being a rural clinic, they see many different kinds of diagnoses, some ordinary and some rare.”

Next, she goes to inpatient rehabilitation at Kalispell Regional Medical Center and then to Advance Rehabilitation Services, an outpatient clinic in Kalispell. After her final semester, Lynn qualifies to take a national license examination, assuming the community college achieves accreditation.

The college was able to launch the program after achieving Candidate for Accreditation status. As the first class completes the program, accreditors come back in early summer to evaluate progress in a new dedicated space in the nursing and health sciences building.

The college next submits a lengthy report to the accrediting agency.

“They vote on our program either in the summer or fall,” Heil said. “Then we find out our accreditation status and [if accredited] students can sit for the exam.”

As a student, Lynn gives the program and instructors high marks. She called it very academically challenging.

“We have two incredible instructors who are 100 percent committed to the program and to us as students.”

Applications for the second class of physical therapy assistants open this month.

People interested in more information may visit the community college website, www.fvcc.edu, or call Heil at 756-3373.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.