Lilly Burger – Physical Therapy Internship

Hello, my name is Lilly Burger. I’m currently a senior at Garden Spot High School, and this semester I’m interning at NovaCare Rehabilitation located in New Holland. This experience has been amazing, to say the least. Before interning here I had been pretty sure that I wanted to go into physical therapy as a career, but I wanted to take this opportunity to find out if this really is the career for me. Every day I get to find a new aspect of the job that I love, and it has confirmed for me what I plan to study in college.

On a typical day, I start with sanitizing all the equipment to make sure it is clean for the patients. After that, my routine is pretty variable. My day may include observations where I watch a session in their indoor pool, an evaluation, a discharge, or something a little rare like a functional capacity evaluation. It may also be more hands-on where I help patients or direct them to do certain exercises depending on their program. It is certain though that I get to talk and interact with patients every day. This is a large part of the job, and I love getting to chat with all different types of people. Other than that, I will help get modalities which include heat, stim, or ice for patients. I will also call patients back from the waiting room, and welcome them in as I get them started with their session. Finally, after the patient is all finished with their session I will clean up their rooms and equipment to help prepare it for the next person.

Through this experience, I have really gotten to learn a lot about the career. NovaCare has built such a great environment both for patients and staff. Being able to go there and help patients every day is really something I’m thankful for. I get to learn so much daily, and that can range anywhere from getting to learn about different injuries, to what exercises fit certain people’s programs, and all the way to just being able to talk to anyone and make them feel comfortable and welcomed.

Overall, this has confirmed that I want to go into physical therapy as a career. Before, I had been pretty confident that this is what I wanted to do because being able to help people get better and being in a social work environment is something that I valued. This internship has certainly supported that. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to intern at NovaCare, and I will definitely use all the skills and knowledge that I learned both in my future career and in life.