This is written in support of Jennifer Wentworth as a nominee for the Clinical Faculty Award offered through the New England PTA Consortium. Jen routinely accepts one PTA student annually. She works in a public school system and is the only PT on staff. Despite the lack of coworkers, Jen demonstrates an incredible level of commitment to innovation and professional growth for herself and her students. She has worked with the high school students to build standers for elementary and middle students who did not fit into traditional standers. As a CI, she encouraged SPTAs to identify recommendations for modifications and use of the devices. Jen learned about the TAAP program (Treadmill for Students with Autism and Apraxia) and piloted it with students in one elementary school. This required the buy-in of the principal, teachers and classroom aides. She secured a grant to fund the purchase of a treadmill, designed space in a small room to implement the program and instructed classroom aides in support of this program. School personnel reported significant improvements in the students’ classroom performance when using this program. The outcome of Jen’s work has been a success story for students and school personnel. PTA students benefited from cooperation across the school environment and the success of these innovations. For many years, Jen has taken CCRI students from a variety of backgrounds. The uniform response of the students has been, “This is the best affiliation that I have been on! Jen is amazing!” Jen provides appropriate challenge and support and ensures that CCRI graduates are ready for employment in the public school setting. She is flexible and has accommodated unexpected student illnesses without sacrificing the quality of the experience. She is incredibly approachable; the students feel comfortable working under her tutelage. Students truly “blossom” on affiliation with Jen; she consistently pushes students to perform at their best and avoid complacency. I am especially impressed by her innovation regarding the student program. Every year, when I do the student visits, she has something new to share. The CCRI students benefit so much from seeing her as a role model in the profession. Jen encourages students to develop resources for parents and/or school personnel. She completes a needs analysis and students create their projects based upon an identified need and their specific interests. This may include a pamphlet for parent education on orthotics, or recommendations to parents on using the Wi for visual motor development at home. She listens to the students, and fosters growth in their specific areas. I look forward to the midterm site visit, as I know the student will be doing something challenging and unusual. As a PTA program, we are incredibly fortunate to have a clinical instructor like Jennifer Wentworth. I can’t think of another CI who is so well respected, appreciated and genuinely liked by the students. I appreciate your consideration of Jennifer Wentworth for the Clinical Faculty Award; she has earned this award.

My clinical instructor made my second clinical rotation extremely informative. In the past 6 weeks she has really taught me a lot. I not only admire her for her professionalism, she also a very kind and whole hearted person toward her patients and employees. I admire her ability to really connect with patients and be able to sit down with them and know them at a personal yet professional level. She has been a PTA for 10 years now and has a lot of experience. I feel that I learned a lot working with her for these 6 weeks, and she gave me the ability to create my own personality and techniques as an SPTA. Rachel is very good at teaching wether it comes to documentation, how to speak with patients, how to progress patients in their treatments, and knows when a patient should rest rather than continue with therapy. I have thoroughly enjoyed this clinical experience, and I do not want it to end. Rachel really deserves this award, she was a wonderful clinical instructor!

My clinical instructor made my second clinical rotation extremely informative. In the past 6 weeks she has really taught me a lot. I not only admire her for her professionalism, she also a very kind and whole hearted person toward her patients and employees. I admire her ability to really connect with patients and be able to sit down with them and know them at a personal yet professional level. She has been a PTA for 10 years now and has a lot of experience. I feel that I learned a lot working with her for these 6 weeks, and she gave me the ability to create my own personality and techniques as an SPTA. Rachel is very good at teaching wether it comes to documentation, how to speak with patients, how to progress patients in their treatments, and knows when a patient should rest rather than continue with therapy. I have thoroughly enjoyed this clinical experience, and I do not want it to end. Rachel really deserves this award, she was a wonderful clinical instructor!

Cheryl Picard is an excellent PTA. She is outgoing and brings life to the physical therapy field and the rehab department at Kent Regency. Her care and compassion for her patients inspires me. She does over and above what a therapist needs to do. She is a great teacher. She goes the extra mile to make me, the student, feel comfortable but also challenges me in the treatment area to encourage grow in me as a student. She never hesitates to explain rationales and answer any questions. She allows time for feedback on my performance on each day. Cheryl Picard deserves recognition for all that she does for her company and patients.

I'll start off by acknowledging that this submission is late, but plead with you to make an exception for this exceptional CI! From day one Norm welcomed me and made it clear that he was ready to make sure that I had the most educational experience possible. He went out of his way to insure that I was exposed to a wide variety of patients, diagnoses, and interventions. Not only was Norm committed to making my experience great but he was also extremely patient with me (especially since it was my first clinical) and really took time to thoroughly answer all my questions. Being out on clinical for the first time, I was very nervous, but also relishing this experience that was so different from classroom/lab instruction. Seeing real patients with real limitations and real dysfunction was very eye opening. Norm was there to guide me in more than just textbook protocols. From him I learned a tremendous amount about the psychology of providing a physical therapy treatment. You can know all of your interventions by the book, but if you can't put the patient at ease, or at times distract them, or make them laugh, it could jeopardize the treatment. I watched him bring people to tears, but by the end they were patting him on the back and thanking him. You can't learn that from a textbook or in the classroom. Another area that I felt like he excelled in was body mechanics. At first I was worried that it would be hard for me to learn by watching him. At about double my weight and almost a foot taller, Norm is a much bigger person than I am. In many cases what worked for him was absolutely not going to work for me. Despite this, he always had suggestions on how I could position myself for better leverage in order to achieve the same result. Finally, I want to praise Norm for his excellent communication skills. He was always very clear with what he expected of me. As I acclimated to the clinic and his expectations grew, there was a very open line of communication that made me feel very confident. He gave great constructive criticism that enabled me to hone in on exactly what I needed to improve upon, and also suggestions on how I could progress. To wrap up - I feel incredibly lucky to have been placed with Norm for my first clinical. He is a wealth of information and clearly he enjoys sharing it. I left there so much more knowledgeable and skilled than when I walked in, and I know I put in a lot of hard work, but I would have never learned as much as I did had I not had such an incredible teacher.