Ben Metz – Physical Therapy Internship

My name is Ben Metz and I am an intern at NovaCare in New Holland working with the Physical Therapists and the Physical Therapy Assistants. I work for NovaCare about 3 times a week for 2 hours at a time.

When I am at the office, I typically am running around helping the PTs and the PTAs as much as I can. Typically, that means cleaning equipment and rooms when they are done being used. Another thing I will help them out with is getting hot packs or heating pads and electrical STIM units at the end of each hour for the last ten minutes of the patient’s appointments. Then, when the patients leave, I am cleaning the rooms by whipping down the tables and armrests of the chair and changing the pillowcases on the tables. Normally I do these things when I get there, at the end of the first hour, and at the end of the second hour before I leave.

I have grown from this experience because I have the chance to work on my people skills every day. I also have fantastic mentors that help teach me about everything they are doing which gives me a head start on the career path that I would like to go into. They teach me about certain parts of the body and how they work. They also go through how the specific exercises work and how they are helping improve either mobility or strength and they also do a great job with just explaining why these things are and should be done. Through this knowledge that I have been given, they let me work with the patients directly and they have me take them through their exercises on a day to day basis.

Throughout this journey that I have been given at Nova Care, it has really helped me learn about the field of Physical Therapy. They have really done a good job of explaining the career path which has given me the ultimate gift of helping me decide what I want to do later in life. This experience has made me make a decision that Physical Therapy or something along the line of Physical Therapy is what I want to do later on in life.