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| Vol. 23, No. 1 |
| January 15, 2001 |
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HCC-Offers Rehab Training By DON FAUGHT Houston Community College-Southeast
Two HCC-Southeast programs emphasize rehabilitation training and train primary caregivers for two types of rehabilitative treatment: physical therapy and occupational therapy. Patients routinely encounter physical therapy assistants and occupational therapy assistants who work under the direction of professionals in their respective fields. Chances are these health care assistants are graduates of Houston Community College's two-year Physical Therapist Assistant and one-year Occupational Therapy Assistant programs. Currently, more than 25 graduates of the two-year program and the same number from the one-year program, which offers an optional second year, are employed in major Texas Medical Center institutions. As part of their education, physical therapist assistants are trained in the application of therapeutic modalities, such as application of heat and cold, massage and electricity; exercise; prosthetics and orthotics; and functional activities in rehabilitation and treatment. On the job, they frequently are the individuals who manipulate and move equipment. Similarly, Occupational Therapy Assistant students become proficient at offering services to patients whose lives have been disrupted for various reasons, ranging from injuries to the natural aging process. Initiated in 1973, the Physical Therapist Assistant Program was nationally accredited in 1975, and last year, was re-accredited for eight years.
HCC began offering the nationally accredited Occupational Therapy Assistant Program, one of the oldest in Texas, and the only one in Houston, in 1971, the year the community college was created.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/01_15_01/page_06.html |
