Young physiotherapist goes above and beyond in his duties

ELTON Newton always knew that he wanted to pursue a career in the medical field as he found great satisfaction in helping others. But it was his own experience in hospital that convinced him that this was indeed the field that he wanted to be in.

During the two days that he had to be admitted in the hospital, the 25-year-old used the opportunity to speak with doctors and nurses, thus gaining a good grasp of what the work was like.
“I’ve always known that that was my purpose in life, and then in 2016, I was in hospital, so I got some firsthand knowledge. I wasn’t confined to one room, so I got the opportunity to talk to doctors and nurses and walk around with some of them. That was a good experience for me. After that, I was more convinced that this is what I wanted to do,” Elton shared during an interview with Pepperpot Magazine.

Having attended Bladen Hall Multilateral, Elton did CAPE at President’s College and then signed up to do Medical Rehabilitation at the University of Guyana (UG). “When I signed up for UG, I did it a little late, so some of the programmes that I wanted to do had already exceeded the quota for the semester, so physiotherapy was the other option,” he recalled.

His aim was to switch to another programme after the first year. However, he was sent out on clinical attachment for six weeks and got to work with many patients in need of physiotherapy. He no longer wanted to pursue anything else. “From there, it stuck with me, and I wanted to complete the programme, so I spent three more years finishing it,” he said.

There were specific things about physiotherapy that Elton especially appreciated. “Physiotherapy isn’t just looking at the person. It looks at the family, the caregiver, the community that the person came from, and how we are going to reintegrate them into some of the activities that they did before. Being a part of that is so rewarding.”

Being able to work with patients for a period of time enables you to see their progress and how happy it makes them, he explained. “It also makes you grateful for what you have because you work with these patients who had so much independence, and all of a sudden, it is taken away from them,” he shared.

One patient, in particular, he recalls suffered with Scoliosis and Kyphosis. This individual wasn’t able to move because of intense pain and Elton was able to work with him for three months.
“For the first two months, we weren’t getting any results. We were trying and changing until we stuck with one programme for three months every single day. I saw him two times a week. Sometimes it was stressful and you felt like giving up or handing him over to someone else but I stuck with him,” he recalled.

Eventually, the patient went to him one day and said he was not feeling any pain and that he could now do some of the things he did previously. “That experience always stuck with me, and it showed that it takes a long time before you might actually see results. He also pushed me to do more research and come up with modifications to help him.”

With these and other such experiences, Elton has no regrets about joining the field even though it was not something that he wanted to pursue. In fact, come next year, he plans to advance his studies in Physiotherapy so that he can help people on a wider scale.

Elton, now attached to the Rehabilitation Department in the compound of the Palms Geriatric Home on Brickdam, made sure to point out that physiotherapy is a service that is being offered by the Ministry of Health in all administrative regions.

“We look at conditions ranging from sports injuries, back pain, shoulder problems; anything to do with joint and soft tissue injuries. We look at neurological conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries. We also look at educating patients and family members,” he shared.