South Dakota LEND Trainees and Discipline Heads Travel to Guatemala for Clinical Outreach

South Dakota LEND trainees, Kylie Hamman (Audiology), Abby Myers (Physical Therapy), and Kaylee Schmidt and Emily Bruinsma (Occupational Therapy) joined clinical outreach ventures to Antigua and Santiago Atitlán in Guatemala during spring break 2023.  The groups were led by LEND discipline heads Patti Berg-Poppe (PT), Shana Cerny (OT), and Liz Hanson (SLP), and were also joined by former discipline head, Lana Svien (PT-retired), all from the University of South Dakota.

The OT group worked with children at the Los Gozosos Orphanage in Antigua, Guatemala, where they  consulted with teachers and staff, provided training, and spent four days playing with and supporting children with a variety of disabilities. The PT and SLP/Audiology group worked with an organization, ADISA, in Santiago Atitlán, that provides an array of services and supports for children with developmental disabilities and their families in the region. PT students screened and provided clinic, home, and aquatic intervention recommendations for more than 20 children in two clinical locations, while SLP/Audiology students (including undergrads in Communication Sciences & Disorders) provided speech-language and hearing testing for 32 children with developmental disabilities, delivered 20 communication systems (obtained through fundraising prior to the trip) and taught local therapists how to conduct hearing screenings.

Kylie Hamman (SD LEND Audiology Trainee) teaches therapists to do hearing screening at ADISA, Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala.

SD LEND Occupational Therapy group – Shana Cerny (Discipline Head), Kaylee Schmidt and Emily Bruinsma, OT Trainees in Antigua, Guatemala.

SD LEND PT and Communication Disorders group – Kylie Hamman (Audiology trainee), Patti Berg-Poppe (PT Discipline Head), Abbie Myers (PT Trainee), Liz Hanson (SLP/Research Discipline Head) at Ruins of Iximché, Guatemala.