DPT Students Prepare for Service Trip to Ecuador

In November, fourteen DPT students from FPU’s Goodyear, AZ Center will travel to Cuenca, Ecuador to provide medical care to the local people and to displaced Venezuelan refugees there. The students will join an international interdisciplinary team through a partnership with HEARTFIRE missions.

The students have received specialized training in operating room etiquette, sterile technique, body language, humanitarian training, and suturing. They will accompany patients from pre-op through the operating room and on to recovery under the direction of HEARTFIRE Co-Founder and Surgeon, Dr. Jeff Dyer. Students will perform Acute Physical Therapy Evaluations in the post-anesthesia care unit under the supervision of FPU Assistant Professor Dr. Sheri Donaldson, PT, DPT, NCS.