Volunteering at Physical Therapy Clinics

[chung2509]

How did current applicants approach this? I did a websearch and did not come up with much. Did you randomly go into a clinic or hospital and ask to volunteer there? Is there only one supervisor that is always in charge of you or multiple ones?

thanks

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[callmecrazy]

A good place to start is with a hospital or hospital system, if you have one nearby . Most of them have their own volunteer coordinator or a volunteer coordination office that will place you in a clinic.

I am currently volunteering through two hospitals. Both of them had volunteer coordination offices that I contacted directly (found contact info via the hospitals website). I had to fill out an application to volunteer, and then they matched me with a placement based on my availability and what type of setting I wanted to be in. I also have 3 opportunities per year to be reassigned to another clinic, making it easy to see a variety of patients. They really make it very, very easy for you.

And as far as supervisors are concerned, it varies at each place. One of my placements has 2 coordinators and at least a dozen therapists each time I'm there. The other has one therapist and one aide, and that's it. Since I'm going through the volunteer office, there is a person there that is considered the supervisor of all the volunteers.

 

[kcgregor]

I've found listings in Craigs list in the medical section. I don't know where you live but in southern california there is an internship program for serious pre-health science people. It's a pain to get in though (an application with three essays and a group interview).

 

[darkangel77]

Well, I'd start by looking around hospitals in your area, then finding out the number to their physical therapy department. When I volunteered at a hospital, I just called them and they got me set up (UWMC in Seattle) right away.

If you're looking for outpatient clinics/nursing homes etc, you could always ask the therapists at the hospital where they would recommend.

But as far as I know, most physical therapy clinics have a volunteer coordinator, or if not, you could always just call and ask if they need volunteers