MCC starts physical therapy program; New regimen will train students in five semesters

Special to the River Cities Business Journal

A new Physical Therapist Assistant Program is scheduled to begin this fall at Mohave Community College.

The program is expected to help meet government projections for increased demand for physical therapist assistants in Mohave County over the next 10 years.

“The U.S. Department of Labor expects the demand for physical therapist assistants to increase by 29 percent between 2006 and 2016,” said MCC Chancellor Michael Kearns said. “This program will help our students qualify for a high-demand job and assist the therapists in meeting their communities' needs by providing highly qualified assistants.

“MCC also hopes to bring awareness to county residents of the many physical therapy services available by having students, under the supervision of the faculty, actively participate in health fairs and other community projects,” he said.

Rhonda Schnabl, director of the Physical Therapist Assistant Program, said, “With the combination of sports-minded outdoorsmen and women as well as an aging population in Mohave County, the physical therapy field will see an increased demand. With the MCC graduates entering the local work force at an above-average pay scale, the five-semester program offers students a relatively speedy route to a good income.”

The program, approved in June 2007 by the MCC Governing Board, will educate students who will work under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist.

Graduates can expect to provide care to patients suffering from injury or disease that results in a loss of motion within a joint, weakness, pain, wounds, abnormal walking patterns and general debility.

Licensed PTAs carry out individualized plans of care developed by the licensed physical therapist to help people regain the highest possible level of muscle and joint motion.

They work with children, adults and the elderly and can expect to find work in hospitals, physical therapy clinics, skilled-nursing facilities, home health care and rehabilitation centers.

The program will be located on the Lake Havasu City campus of MCC. The only prerequisites will be appropriate assessment placement in English 101 and Math 121 or successful completion of Transitional Math and Transitional English. The program will fulfill the requirements of an associate of applied science (AAS) degree.

Students will participate in lecture/classroom activities, lab activities and clinics where they deal directly with patients.

The lab activities incorporate principles learned in the classroom lecture. To participate in the clinical education portion of the curriculum, a list of skill competencies must be successfully completed.

The clinical education allows students to work with a licensed physical therapist or physical therapy assistant at his or her work setting for 40 hours a week for four to six weeks.

“We have the complete backing of physical therapy providers in Mohave County,” Kearns said.

Schnabl, a Wisconsin native, earned her masters of physical therapy in 1998 from the Medical College of Georgia. She has worked as a physical therapist in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, Wyoming and Arizona.

MCC is currently seeking accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) of the American Physical Therapy Association. The program has submitted an “Application for Candidacy of a Physical Therapist Assistant Education Program,” which is the formal application required in the pre-accreditation stage.

Submission of this document does not ensure that the program will be granted candidate-for-accreditation status nor does it assure that the program will be granted initial accreditation.

MCC administrators and the program faculty are working as a team to meet the expectations of the accrediting body, and Schnabl recently attended a two-day accreditation workshop hosted by CAPTE.

For more information about the program, call Schnabl at (928)-505-3347.