BANGOR, Maine — A Husson University health clinic is offering free physical therapy sessions next week to those who could really use them. In turn, students will be getting some much-needed experience.
The free evaluations will be open to the public. Students in the physical therapy program at Husson will get patient experience by conducting tests.
The bonus: if participants need follow-up treatments, but cannot afford to pay or have little or no insurance, Husson’s SOARing Healthcare Clinic will cover the cost.
"The check-ups can identify an issue now, to help to prevent it from getting worse," Dr. Kimberly Steinbarger, assistant professor at Husson School of Physical Therapy said.
Physical therapy students at Husson University like Kyle Artkop are ready to get to work.
"People are going to come in and they are going to be looking for information. You can help, educate them, and show them things and build that relationship with someone," Artkop said. "That's a huge part of becoming a physical therapist, so it's amazing!"
On Monday and Tuesday next week, Artkop and other students will welcome the public for free appointments between the hours of 4 pm. and 7 p.m.
Although some struggle to identify the cause for their discomforts, for others, the injuries are apparent.
Dr. Kimberly Steinberger is a professor at Husson. She said seeing a physical therapist should be something more people do. In that, "a quarter of our adults have arthritis and that needs to be monitored, probably half of us have a chronic disease of some sort and that also needs to be monitored."
She encourages taking joint care and mobility issues seriously.
"You see your dentist every year and your doctor every year, You also need to see your physical therapist to check on your physical health and mobility."
Sarina Dow is already signed up for next week's free clinic. Dow’s suffered a knee injury recently, but insurance wouldn't cover the cost of further treatments.
Sarina Dow was in a knee brace for three months and had acute pain when she walked.
She explained that her insurance decided it wasn’t going to cover the necessary tests to get her injuries "looked at properly to make sure that things were going to be able to get fixed."
She said she's grateful that the pro bono SOARing Eagles Clinic at Husson provides help for anybody who needs it. She will be taking advantage of the free assessments and recommended treatments at the clinic.
And students like Artkop are happy to help. He said the whole point of doing this is to help.
"Being involved with the patient and working through that is kinda of just a miraculous event and is honestly a fantastic experience. And they can’t teach you that in class," he said.
The clinic will accept day-of appointments but encourages reserving your spot by calling to register with Husson’s SOARing Eagles Healthcare clinic at 207-941-7181 or by emailing steinbargerk@husson.edu.