Costa Rica: Hogar Manos de Jesus

For the next 4 days of PT, we went to a nursing home near Cartago called Hogar Manos de Jesus, which means Hands of Jesus Home. There were so many cute residents there.

 This is Tuto. He had cataracts and was nearly blind. We did some gait training and leg strengthening exercises with him. He doesn't get a chance to walk very much since he needs assistance and the nursing home is understaffed. So we did as much as we could with him while we there.

 This is Enid. She had a left below the knee amputation and was uncomfortable walking with her prosthetic leg. We did a lot of gait training with her to make her feel more confident with her prosthetic. She was especially nervous about going up and down ramps, so we worked on that a lot. I wish I knew more about prosthetics because she was having some pain due to pressure points from he prosthetic, but there wasn't much we could do about that.

This was my favorite patient, Mike. He was so nice! He knew some English and liked to show off by counting in English and saying some phrases in English. He had had a stroke 4 years prior that had affected his right side and had confined him to a wheelchair. It was so sad because if he had gotten physical therapy right away, he would probably be able to walk today. Instead he had developed contractures in his legs and in his right hand that severely limited his range of motion. Yet he was so cheerful and friendly despite his condition. We gave him exercises and stretches to preserve the ROM and strength he had left. We also gave him a tennis ball to stretch out his hand. He took it and carefully put it in a little plastic bag of personal items that he kept with him at all times. It was so cute.