Gabriel Somarriba – PT, DPT, EdD – PT Profiles, USAHS
Gabriel Somarriba, PT, DPT, EdD, teaches in the physical therapy program at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS) campus in Miami, Florida. For Gabriel, part of what makes physical therapy distinct is time: few other careers allow a clinician this much one-on-one time with patients, several times a week, across a full plan of care.
Gabriel also sees the program through a community outreach lens. Miami’s cultural diversity, many nonprofits and large health systems give students a wide range of patients early, so they make an impact on the community while still learning the curriculum.
Prospective students curious about the Miami campus will get a sense of how the city itself shapes clinical education there.
Transcript
Gabriel Somarriba – PT, DPT, EdD – PT Profiles, USAHS
[00:00:00] Gabriel Somarriba (PT Faculty): Very few careers you get to spend this amount of time with patients. If you look at other careers, you see that the amount of one-on-one time they get to spend with their patients is very limited. 10, 15 minutes and you move on. Here we get to spend a considerable amount of time, multiple times, many times, several times a week, that really make your patient a human. Like, it makes it a very humanistic approach, right? You become not only their physical therapist, but you become part of their family for that plan of care. [00:00:34] Gabriel Somarriba (PT Faculty): I view it from a community outreach, right? Who can we impact? When you live in a city that is very culturally diverse, when you live in a city that has numerous not-for-profits, when you live in a city that has large, uh, big healthcare. So what I view from that is the opportunity for us to impact the community. So what we’ve been able to develop here and what we’ve been able to create is a lot of community opportunities, right? Our students get to see many different type of patients from the community. So as you’re learning, as you’re learning your curriculum, as you’re learning all of the academics piece, you immediately get immersed, are able to see these individuals. And we’re making, even as students, we’re making a big impact to the community.
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