Rose (Rosie) DeFeo – PT, DPT, EdD, PCS, ATP – PT Faculty Profiles, USAHS

Rose (Rosie) DeFeo – PT, DPT, EdD, PCS, ATP – PT Faculty Profiles, USAHS

[00:00:00] Rosie DeFeo (PT Faculty): PT is physical therapy. We are the experts of movement. Our biggest role is to assess how a patient is moving throughout their daily life and support them for continued independence, whatever that may be, with different supports as necessary. But our goal at the end of the day is to help our patients fulfill their, their life roles in the best way that they can and as independently as they can.

[00:00:22] Rosie DeFeo (PT Faculty): I got into physical therapy, and I got really interested in it when I was a teenager. One of my best friends was in a terrible, terrible skiing accident. Ended up in a coma, ended up in the neurological ICU. When she moved on to rehab, one of the biggest exciting things is we were finally able to see her. So we would go to her therapy sessions in, in a pediatric hospital. And all I can remember is even when she was at her lowest and maybe not functioning the best, the therapists were amazing at trying to make things fun and engaging and trying to get all of her team, her family, her brothers, all of her friends on board to help her through the rehab process. And I think that’s one thing that I was like, “Oh, the PT is the one who’s spending the most, or the OT, the rehab sciences, are the spending the most time with the patient themselves to get better.” You know, the doctor’s checking in, the nurses are checking in, but really having that hands-on, all-day-long collaboration, I think is what sold me on it, and I was like, “I’m in.” And then in a children’s hospital where I get to play all day long, I’m totally in.

[00:01:27] Rosie DeFeo (PT Faculty): It’s the partnership you make with the patient, right? Because they have to be on board, so you have to do your job explaining to them why this is so important for them, for their future goals, for moving forward.