Riverview placement is a perfect fit for OT/PT student who loves working with seniors

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Fleming College occupational therapy assistant/physiotherapy assistant students Peterann Gray (left) and Mina Tran (right) are pictured here with their instructor, Natasha Annette-Lawrence. Four Fleming students are participating in a seven-week placement at Riverview Manor.

Mina Tran says working as a PSW provided insight into the benefits physiotherapy can bring seniors. Now she wants to deliver those same benefits

Mina Tran says it was while working as a personal support worker (PSW) that she saw physiotherapy assistants making a difference in seniors’ lives. The positive impact physiotherapy was having on people piqued her interest, Mina says.

Mina, a fourth semester, second-year student in Fleming College’s occupational therapy assistant/physiotherapy assistant (OT/PT) program, says seeing the benefits residents garnered from physiotherapy inspired her to take a career path towards becoming a physiotherapy assistant.

“I watched physiotherapy assistants (working with seniors), and I worked with the same (seniors), and I saw the way the physiotherapy assistants helped people increase their (mobility) so they could participate in activities, and I liked that,” she tells The OMNIway.

Mina says she has always wanted to work with the senior population, so doing a placement at Riverview Manor is a perfect fit for her.

“I like to interact with the residents,” she says. “I have experience working with the elderly and I love it. I love it more working here (at Riverview Manor).”

Mina is one of four OT/PT students doing a placement at the Peterborough long-term care home. Mina, along with fellow students Peterann Gray, Holland Jans and Rosie Do, is getting the opportunity through a seven-week placement to enhance her skill sets by working with residents who have a variety of different care needs.

By engaging with long-term care home residents, the students, who are at Riverview Manor as part of their occupational therapy placement, are working with people who have varying combinations of physical, social and cognitive needs.

The students started their seven-week placement at the Peterborough long-term care home on Jan. 8.

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