Kristin Marie Pifer
When
the following interview was conducted, Kristin Marie
Pifer, Laguna Pueblo, PT had just she completed the
Master of Science degree in physical therapy at the
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. At her
graduation she received three awards: the Herbert J.
Levy Humanitarian Award, the Jody Delehanty Award, and
the Physical Therapy Rural Scholarship. The faculty
nominated her for the humanitarian award; her
classmates nominated her for the Jody Delehanty Award.
A brief update of Kristin's career and life follows
this article.
Beginning
a New Career
Congratulations
on your graduation and your awards.
I was blown
away by the awards. Any one of my classmates would have
deserved them. I felt very privileged. I was in a wonderful
class.
I’m
sure you were very deserving of these awards. What did you
do after graduation?
I moved home to
Albuquerque to study for my boards. In July I married my
husband, Judah Pifer. We moved to Tucson where Judah is a
first year medical student at the University of Arizona
School of Medicine. I took the national boards and passed
them. I interviewed for jobs and was offered a few
positions. I decided to work for Healthsouth Rehabilitation
Institute of Tucson. I started out doing out-patient work.
I got wonderful exposure to a wide variety of patients. Now
I’m doing in-patient care at the same facility. I’m working
primarily with patients with Parkinson’s Disease and a few
who have had strokes. We also have some patients who have
had total replacements of their knees or hips. A few
patients have had cardiac surgery. We give them endurance
training. Some other patients also need endurance training
because they’ve had pneumonia or another condition that has
weakened them.
The Tucson Medical Center and University Medical Center
refer patients to us. These patients need additional care
before they go home or before they go to another facility.
We try to help these people become more independent. I’m
really enjoying the fast pace of this work.
That’s
terrific.
What led you to decide to go into the field of physical
therapy?
When my great
grandfather died, my great grandmother moved from the
reservation to live with us. I was in middle school. She
was my roommate. Every morning when I woke up, she’d be
doing her leg exercises in her bed. Her legs would stick
straight up in the air. She was an amazing lady. Ever since
then I’ve been interested in the human body, especially in
the elderly population.
Recently Dad told me that my other great grandmother had a
role on the reservation as a healer. She wasn’t a
bonesetter, but she worked with people with illnesses or
soreness. She touched and healed. She talked to people and
let them have release.
I thought I would like to go into the health care field,
probably as a physician. Then in high school I played
basketball and ran cross-country and track. Like most
athletes, I had knee injuries. I had surgery and had to go
through some physical therapy. I worked with an amazing
physical therapist. She helped me reach my goal of playing
in the state basketball tournament. I fell in love with
physical therapy because she worked miracles on me, helping
me get stronger and back on my feet. Unfortunately, our
team got second place. But just being able to play was huge
for me.
I decided to get to know the profession by volunteering. I
got a job working as a PT technician in a hospital while I
was completing my undergrad work at Northern Arizona
University in Flagstaff, Arizona.
What
did you do as a physical therapy technician?
I worked under
the supervision of a PT at Flagstaff Medical Center in the
hospital. I got to have a lot of patient care. They would
tell me what the patient’s situation was, for example if
the patient had total hip surgery or total knee surgery, or
if the patient was recovering from a stroke. They would
tell me what the goals were for the patient, what exercises
I needed to work on with the patient, and whether I needed
to help the patient practice walking with an assisted
device, like a walker. I also worked in the rehab gym with
more complex patients, such as people with spinal cord
injuries and traumatic brain injuries.
I met wonderful people at the hospital in nursing, physical
therapy, and, speech therapy. Since the Grand Canyon is in
that area, I got exposed to patients from a lot of
different cultures. The Grand Canyon is in the heart of the
Navajo Nation. Unless you have an interpreter right there
when you’re working with someone who speaks Navajo, it’s
hard to get your point across. Some of the other staff and
I tried our best to learn Navajo.
Good for you.
Some of the
Grandmothers laughed at us. We couldn’t quite pronounce
everything correctly, but they knew we were trying.
I
imagine they appreciated that.
Yea. It was a
lot of fun.
What
percentage of the people you worked with were Native?
About 20 or
25%. The rest were visitors from a whole bunch of cultures
who had broken bones and head injuries because they were
trying to get the best view of the Grand Canyon.
How
long did you work at the medical center?
I worked there
for two and one-half years. Before that I worked with
people with developmental disabilities at the Hozhoni
Foundation for the Handicapped in Flagstaff. It was a
pretty big challenge to work in a group home setting with
people with a wide variety of developmental disabilities.
For about a year, I worked there on weekends. I needed to
make a little money, and I wanted to be in the health care
field. I enjoyed working with people with developmental
disabilities because my Mom is director of the Association
for Retarded Citizens of Albuquerque. Now it’s called ARCA.
Was
your mother an influence in your getting into the health
field?
Absolutely, my
entire family has been a huge influence and support.
Unfortunately a lot of our family members have had health
problems. I always wanted to know more about certain
disabilities and diagnoses. I got plenty of exposure
through my family.
Through my mother’s work I got comfortable with people that
are a little bit different than you or I. I wanted to be of
assistance to them in any way possible. I wanted to make
their lives as independent and rewarding as possible. That
led me to physical therapy because a lot of a PT’s work is
promoting wellness and improving physical abilities.
In the last year of the physical therapy program I worked
with children with development delays. We tried to get them
on track, so when they’re older they won’t have
difficulties in their every day life. We want them to be
able to play with other kids and be able to do all the
wonderful things that kids do.
Can you please describe the master’s program in physical
therapy that you did at the University of Colorado.
You go 24
months straight through with no breaks except for Christmas
and a few days between quarters. That doesn’t leave time
for much else. In the program at the University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center there are 24 weeks of clinical
education. You spend the rest of the time in the classroom.
The clinical work is interspersed with the classroom work.
That’s good because when you’re out there, you realize why
you need more class work. The last quarter is all clinical.
You are gradually given more independence.
We also had practicals throughout the coursework in
orthopedics and neurology. We were presented with cases in
which either a classmate or instructor would be the
patient. We practiced problem-solving and developing goals
and treatment plan, just like we need to do in clinical
settings. Our program stresses evidence-based practice. We
needed to keep up on new research and journal articles.
I learned so much not only from our wonderful instructors
but also from my classmates. They all came in with
different experiences and perspectives.
I’m interested in rural health, so I had three rural
clinical affiliations. I spent two weeks in the town of
Bayfield in Southern Colorado. That experience helped me
see what I needed to learn. I went back to school for a
quarter. Then I returned to Bayfield where I was able to
apply what I learned. I also did a rural affiliation in
Wyoming.
For
your last clinical experience, you were selected to work at
the prestigious Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation
Center in California. What was that like?
I felt very
privileged to participate in such a wonderful program and
learn and grow so much in my last clinical affiliation. The
patient population was very diverse. I worked primarily on
the stroke gerontology unit, but I was also exposed to
people with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries
and other neurological problems. The program is all
in-patient [hospitalized patients].
There was a wonderful team approach to rehabilitation. The
team included physicians, physician assistants, OTs
[occupational therapists], speech therapists, nurses, PTs,
family members, and care givers. The patient was also seen
as a member of the team.
How did the team work together?
We met weekly
as a whole team, but we also communicated with each other
every day. If there was a family conference, we also met
together.
My understanding is that you had a special student position
at Rancho.
They have a
slot for students who are interested in cultural
sensitivity and have a background in incorporating cultural
sensitivity into patient care. The application process is
competitive. I felt very lucky to be selected. While I was
at Rancho, I presented information about cultural
sensitivity to an audience that included PTs, OTs, a few
speech therapists and a PA. I shared my background and
talked about things like needing to find out from patients
what their goals are and what they want to focus on for
rehabilitation. I talked about the need to be open and
receptive and incorporating cultural needs. We also
discussed how the patients’ goals aren’t always what we as
therapists want.
Did
you and the other students at Rancho have any other special
learning opportunities?
We had classes
where we learned from experienced staff members and from
each other. We presented patients that we needed help with,
and we got ideas from the group. We also problem solved
together.
Therapists who specialized in areas, such as movement
disorders, also made special presentations to us. It was
wonderful because usually after the presentation we could
try out the new ideas with our patients.
What
are your long-term dreams for your career?
Some day I hope
to work on a reservation in a rural area. My program
required at least one clinical in rural or underserved
areas. The three affiliations that I did showed me and the
other students that we’re needed. I picture myself in a
four-wheel drive vehicle on a reservation. Depending on how
family life goes, I’d like to do that some day. I think my
husband would too.
Would
you encourage our readers to consider a career in physical
therapy?
Yes. There are
so many opportunities. You can work in hospitals,
out-patient centers, home health care facilities, nursing
homes, pediatric rehabilitation centers, and schools. You
can work with so many different populations – orthopedic,
neurologic, pediatric, geriatric. You can be an educator or
researcher. Some graduates have told us how they’ve created
their own jobs. There are so many avenues. You can move
around and do different things during your career. You can
change if you feel uncomfortable, or you can change because
you want to grow more.
The students, faculty, and professionals I’m meeting seem
to all have a love for life. They find joy in being
physical and living a healthy life. They have a zest for
working with people.
They
sound like wonderful people to be with.
Yes.
What
kinds of courses would you encourage students to take if
they want to become physical therapists?
Anything that
will expose them to a lot of the sciences. I got my degree
in exercise science with a minor in chemistry. A lot of the
students in my physical therapy program had degrees in
kinesiology and physiology. You need a lot of the
biological sciences and chemistry along with physics. But
there were students in our program with degrees in
performing arts and liberal arts.
Do you think there is any special need for Native American
physical therapists?
People who
speak the language and understand the culture are much
needed and appreciated by people who may be underserved.
It’s important to be able to identify with and be
compassionate with and understand what’s important to the
culture. I think being Native American and serving Native
Americans would be ideal. There certainly are people,
though, who aren’t Native who go out of their way to
communicate the best that they can.
When I was working at Flagstaff Medical Center, some
patients had different ceremonies that maybe not all the
staff could understand. We tried to be sensitive to the
importance of the family being present. We tried to honor
and incorporate their traditions, like having their
container of tea from the medicine man on their bedside
table. Getting well involves so many dimensions.
What
advice would you give to readers who would like to consider
careers in physical therapy?
As early as
possible, get some exposure to the PT profession or to
other health care professions, so you know what you’re
getting into. During high school or even middle school, you
can do volunteer work in clinics or hospitals. You probably
won’t be able to have as much patient contact as you’d
like, but, particularly if you shadow a practitioner,
you’ll get enough exposure so you can make an educated
guess as to whether you want to make the huge commitment
that’s needed.
Don’t take science courses lightly. There are vital part of
your education and every health care field. In college find
out what prerequisites you need for a masters or doctoral
program. Sign up for those courses.
Thanks
for sharing your story.
This article
was originally published in the Spring 2003 issue of
Winds of Change. (The cover
artist is Burgess Roye, Ponca.)
Update
2007
Kristin is on leave from her work with Healthsouth
Rehabilitation Institute of Tucson where she continued to
focus on patients with neurological problems, such as head
injuries, stroke, and Parkinson's Disease. Many of her
patients had been in the hospital and needed care that
would enable them to return to their homes. Kristin was a
team leader and worked with occupational therapists and
speech therapists in caring for patients.
Currently, Kristen is enjoying being a full-time mother to
Preston James who was born in March, 2007. When Preston is
older, Kristin intends to return to work part-time.
Kristin's husband, Judah, finished medical school and is
now doing a residency in orthopedic
medicine.