Experiential Learning

The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Core Values include Altruism, Compassion and Caring, and Social Responsibility, and Arcadia University strives to integrate these core values throughout the DPT curriculum. During the first year of the curriculum, students participate in ten hours of service with two partners. This offers DPT students the opportunity to meaningfully interact with members of their community, while reflecting on the social determinants of health through a developing PT lens. Some of our first year service partners include:

During the second year of the DPT curriculum, students participate in PT787. In this course, students collaborate with individuals in novel settings (i.e. telehealth, community-based programming, pro bono) who are underinsured, living with complex progressive neurologic diagnoses, and/or living with chronic conditions, who are not frequently represented in typical clinical education settings. This requires a breakdown of traditional content silos that is very unique to Arcadia’s DPT program. You can learn more about our patient populations through:

All Arcadia entry-level DPT students also have the opportunity to apply to participate in a Global Health Elective, during the second year of the program. The Global Health Elective gives students the opportunity to collaborate with a long-standing international partner, complimented by didactic work that explores the ethics of short term international engagements, the local culture, the local language, and population health topics. You can learn more about our long-standing international partners here:

An example of Arcadia’s successful efforts to collaboratively expand healthcare accessibility in our global society is that of a program run by Arcadia University graduate, Jodee Fortner ’99. Fortner lived in Arequipa, Peru, and regularly hosted teams of physical therapists, Arcadia students and volunteers who provided services and equipment for children with disabilities. After seven years, Jodee has returned to the States and the Arequipa clinic is fully staffed by Peruvian physical therapists. The fact that the clinic is self-sustaining is a credit to Jodee’s efforts to “work herself out of a job.”

One current elective site is in St. Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, where Dr. Brooke Riley ’04, has directed the Friends of the Redeemer United clinic since graduating from Arcadia University’s PT program. The local clinic was established by Dr. Karen Sawyer and Karen Koch (Arcadia class of 1996) in 2002. In conjunction with local SPTs and clinicians, it provides predominantly out-patient services and home visits to people with musculoskeletal and neuromuscular diagnoses. Several times per year, the clinic runs an Intensive Neurologic Clinic for Jamaicans with stroke or incomplete spinal cord injury, highlighted in the video below.