September 14, 2017

UCJC Clinical Exchange Students Have Memorable American Experience at SLU and Bishop DuBourg HS

Our Experience in the United States
By: Pablo Merino and Juan Miguel Rodríguez Pérez

Our trip to USA more than worthwhile. We experienced what being an athletic trainer is, which similarities and differences exist between physical therapist and athletic trainers, and how important both are. As main differences, we can say that as an athletic trainer, you’ll have the opportunity to manage as well emergency and first aid. We were lucky enough (sadly, not the athletes) to experience problems that ranged from simple bruises to fractures or concussions that cerebral edema complications. We also had the opportunity to learn how to put on stiches and knots on…bananas!


Athletic trainers are very different from anything we know in Spain. They take care from first aid to return to play as well as prevention and counselling, also spotting psychological issues that that players may be withstanding, using very different approach to what we know in Spain. You’ll be surprised in the way injuries are managed here, not better or worse, just different. Just make sure you have your taping, stretching and functional exercise notes handy!

It is also a great opportunity to practice your English, to laugh about each other’s funny accents and weird words spoken. As travel-lovers, we enjoyed spending our weekends and some holydays visiting some of the most emblematic USA places such as Nashville, Memphis, Chicago, Las Vegas, Yosemite Park, Grand Canyon, San Francisco or Los Angeles. We had the chance to enjoy sports we don’t have back in Spain such as Football (American, not the true one though) and Baseball. But, spoiler Alert! Sadly, as far as we got to know, you won’t be allowed to visit any stadium offseason. 
We were able to share knowledge across east to west and vice versa. 


This experience was so enriching not only professionally but personally. We had the very luck to meet Nate Jarman, Severyn Jarman, C.J Butler and Cat Chua. This people here were not only happy to teach and learn with an open mind, but embraced us both with open hearts. 

This experience has taught us far beyond what physical therapy and athletic training is, showing us what a great country and people the USA can harbor. I can assure this experience would’ve been so very different (in a bad way) if these people hadn’t been there, inside and/or outside the professional environment. I would like to cash in on this words to thank Tammy Pastor for taking care of us in SLU no matter it wasn’t her job at all, and drove us around college Athletic Trainer experience. And last but not least, thanks Dr. Tony Breitbach and Alvaro García-Romero for making this experience come true!

Nuestra experiencia en los Estados Unidos
Por: Pablo Merino y Juan Miguel Rodríguez Pérez

Nuestro viaje a Estados Unidos ha merecido mucho la pena. Hemos experimentado lo que es ser un Athletic Trainer, pudiendo comprobar las similitudes y diferencias que existen entre el fisioterapeuta y el Athletic Trainer, así como cuál es su papel en el deporte y lo importantes que son. Como principales diferencias, podemos decir que un Athletic Trainer tiene la posibilidad de manejar situaciones de emergencia y primeros auxilios. Tuvimos la suerte (no se puede decir lo mismo de los atletas) de ver situaciones que van desde pequeños hematomas a fracturas y conmociones cerebrales con las complicaciones del edema cerebral. También tuvimos la oportunidad de aprender cómo coser y grapar heridas abiertas… en plátanos!!!

Los Athletics Trainers son muy diferentes a lo que tenemos entendido en España. No solo se encargan de la asistencia de primeros auxilios durante el partido, para la vuelta al terreno de juego, sino que además realizan la prevención y el asesoramiento individual de cada atleta, detectando también los problemas psicológicos que les pueden afectar y utilizando un enfoque muy diferente de lo que sabemos en España para solucionarlo. Uno se sorprende de la forma en que las lesiones se manejan en EEUU, no mejor ni peor, sólo diferente. Solo hay que asegurarse de tener a mano todos los conocimientos y apuntes sobre estiramientos, ejercicio funcional y propiocepción.
También es una gran oportunidad para practicar el inglés, para reírse de los acentos divertidos y las palabras extrañas que puede llegar a decir cada uno, con la correspondiente risa de los americanos. Como amantes de los viajes, cada fin de semana, y algunos días de vacaciones después, hemos disfrutado de multitud de aventuras visitando algunos de los lugares más emblemáticos de los Estados Unidos como Nashville, Memphis, Chicago, Las Vegas, Yosemite Park, El Gran Cañón, San Francisco o Los Ángeles. Tuvimos la oportunidad de disfrutar de deportes que no tenemos en España, como el fútbol (el americano, no el verdadero) y el béisbol. Pero una cosa más (Alerta), lamentablemente no se permite visitar cualquier estadio de estos deportes fuera de la temporada. 

Esta experiencia no solo fue enriquecedora profesionalmente, pudiendo compartir multitud de conocimientos, sino también personalmente. Tuvimos la suerte de conocer a Nate Jarman, Severyn Jarman ATC, C.J. Butler y Cat Chua, a los que agradecemos muchas cosas. Esta gente no solo nos enseñó cada día cosas nuevas, siempre con una sonrisa, sino que nos acogió desde el principio y nos trataron siempre como a uno más.  Además de la fisioterapia y el Athletic Trainer, nos han dado la oportunidad de conocer como es ese gran país y la gente de EEUU.
Puedo asegurar que esta experiencia hubiera sido muy diferente (peor), si estas personas no hubieran estado allí con nosotros, dentro y/o fuera del ambiente profesional. Me gustaría sacar provecho de estas palabras para agradecer también a Tammy Pastor ATC su trabajo y por acogernos y cuidar de nosotros en SLU.  A pesar de que no era su trabajo ni su obligación en absoluto, nos llevó por la universidad para que pudiéramos experimentar lo que es ser un Athletic Trainer. 

Por último, y no menos importante, dar las gracias a Dr. Tony Breitbach y Álvaro García Romero por hacer realizad esta gran experiencia. 

September 09, 2017

UCJC Clinical Exchange Students Live and Learn in the USA at SLU and Webster Groves High School

Our Experience in Saint Louis
By: Kike Aranda Lopez and Jorge Atienza Gomez

We are spanish physiotherapists from the Master in Physical Therapy in the Sport program at Camilo Jose Cela University of Madrid, and thanks that we had the opportunity to do clinical training at Saint Louis University, in the USA.
Our experience started at 28th July, when we arrived in St. Louis. It was a good chance for us to improve our knowledge, a good life and professional experience.

We spent the Month of August at Webster Groves High School as Athletic Training Students, with our preceptor and friend Sean Wright ATC. Sean is an excellent professional who taught us a lot of things. Moreover, we were also with Paul and Dimitri, two SLU AT students with a brilliant future. At WGHS we prepared to the athletes for their practice, taping and stretching; watched their practices and games; and rehab in the Athletic Training Room.

In that time we could see some concussions, traumatic injuries like ankle and knee sprains and muscular injuries. We had to wait in the AT room until the athletes finished their classes. It was a good experience, because we had to speak in English with all the people, and that was a very good choice to improve it.


Because of our schedule, we only had the chance to be at one football high school game. We were with Sean at the field, with the players and coaches, helping in all that we could. Was an amazing atmosphere with the band and the cheerleaders also. Webster Groves HS won, let’s go Statesmen!

Also we had the lucky to be with the college athletes, in the soccer and volleyball teams, with Ben Heimos ATC and Tammy Pastor ATC at SLU. They worked with us, and we assisted with them with rehab.

In only one month, we have made a lot of friends in the USA, we have met great people, and all of them have been very nice with us. It has felt like in home, and we were very sad when we left.

We want to say thank you to Paul and Dimitri to be awesome with us, to all the AT's that have been with us for all the help, specially Sean, SLU faculty member Dr. Tony Breitbach, who took care to us these month, and to UCJC faculty member Álvaro García-Romero to give us this opportunity to go to USA.


Nuestra experiencia en Saint Louis
Por: Kike Aranda López y Jorge Atienza Gómez

Somos dos chicos españoles que estudiamos un máster en la universidad UCJC de Madrid, y gracias a ello tuvimos la oportunidad de realizar las prácticas clínicas en la Universidad de St. Louis de USA. 

Nuestra experiencia comenzó el 28 de julio, cuando llegamos a St. Louis. Una oportunidad que sabíamos que iba a ser muy enriquecedora en cuanto a conocimientos, experiencia de vida y profesional, y así ha sido.


Estuvimos trabajando todo el mes de agosto en el Webster Groves High School (WGHS) como Athletic Trainers junto con nuestro tutor y amigo Sean Wright ATC, todo un profesional del cual hemos aprendido muchas cosas. Además, estuvimos junto con Paul y Dimitri, dos alumnos de SLU con un futuro brillante.

Nuestro trabajo en el WGHS consistió en preparar a los deportistas para sus entrenamientos, mediante vendajes y estiramientos, observar los entrenamientos, sobre todo de football, por si había alguna lesión, además de tratar a los deportistas de la escuela lesionados.

En este periodo tuvimos que enfrentarnos a conmociones, lesiones traumáticas como esguinces de tobillo, rodilla y dedos, además de otras lesiones musculares.

Las lesiones las tratábamos en la sala de Athletic Trainer, en la cual, los deportistas llegaban al finalizar las clases. Fue una buena experiencia, ya que tuvimos que interactuar con todo el mundo en una lengua diferente a la nuestra, lo que nos sirvió para mejorar nuestro inglés.

Por desgracia solo pudimos estar en un partido de Football en el High School. Estuvimos con Sean a pie de campo, con los jugadores y técnicos, dando asistencia al que lo necesitase, a la vez que observábamos cada jugada del encuentro. Fue increíble el ambiente con la banda y las cheerleades incluídas. Por suerte ganaron los Websters ¡Vamos Websters!


Además de la experiencia en el High School, tuvimos la suerte de poder estar con el deporte universitario en SLU en el equipo de Soccer y de Volleyball con Ben Heimos ATC y Tammy Pastor ATC de Athletic Trainers. Se portaron muy bien con nosotros y nos hicieron partícipes el poco tiempo que pudimos estar con ellos.

Para terminar, queremos decir que nos llevamos grandes amigos de Estados Unidos, hemos conocido grandes personas y todo el mundo nos ha tratado muy bien, nos hemos sentido como en casa, y nos dio mucha pena cuando todo esto acabó. Agradecer a Paul y a Dimitri por el trato que nos dieron desde el primer día, a todos los profesionales con los que hemos estado por todo lo que nos han ayudado, sobre todo a Sean Wright, a Dr. Tony Breitbach por preocuparse tanto por nosotros y hacer que todo esto sea posible y a Álvaro García- Romero, el director de nuestro máster, por darnos la oportunidad de poder haber ido a Estados Unidos.

September 07, 2017

SLU AT students Jenna Ginsberg and Alex Hubbs named as 2017 honorees of SLU's Bauman Scholarship in Athletic Training


Athletic Training Program Announces Recipients of Prestigious Bauman Scholarship

By: Corey Mauer, SLU Doisy College of Health Sciences

The Saint Louis University Athletic Training Program recently named two students – Alex Hubbs and Jenna Ginsberg (MAT Class of 2018) – as recipients of the Clarence “Bob” Bauman Endowed Scholarship in Athletic Training. The scholarship is granted to two outstanding Athletic Training students and provides a grant applied toward tuition in the final year (Professional Year 2) of study.

Hubbs, who hails from Liberty, MO, thought it was a great privilege to be awarded the SLU Athletic Training program’s prestigious graduate-level scholarship.

 “It was an honor to learn I had received the Bob Bauman Endowed Scholarship,” Hubbs said. “Bauman did so much for the athletic training profession in the St. Louis area and his legacy lives on through this scholarship opportunity for athletic training students.”

 Ginsberg is a native of Geneva, IL, serves as the social media chair for the Saint Louis University Athletic Training Society (SLATS) and, during her undergraduate years, was a pole vaulter for the SLU track and field team. When she found out she would be a recipient of the Bauman Scholarship, Ginsberg was thrilled.

 “I was incredibly happy to learn I had received the scholarship,” Ginsberg said. “I have worked very hard at my studies and it feels good to have that hard work pay off.”

 Bob Bauman, for whom the scholarship is named, passed away in 1999 after helping take care of Saint Louis University athletes for more than 50 years (1928 - 1979); his hard work and dedication earned him a place in the Billiken Hall of Fame. Bauman's work was not limited to Saint Louis University; however, he also served as an athletic trainer for the St. Louis Cardinals for nearly 50 years.



Bauman passed away nearly two decades ago, but his influence and legacy is still felt by the university’s athletic training students today.

 “Bob Bauman was at the forefront of exceptional patient care provided by athletic trainers and he is held in high regard among our program and other athletic trainers in the area,” Hubbs said. “His work providing medical care for the athletes of SLU and the St. Louis Cardinals solidified him in the Billikens Hall of Fame, and I hope to emulate his great characteristics in my own practice some day.”

 “After reading about the work that Bob Bauman did and the way he made such a positive impact on the lives of those he worked with, I feel very honored to have been awarded a scholarship based on the traits he represented,” Ginsberg said.

 Saint Louis University Athletic Training Program Director Anthony Breitbach, PhD, ATC, believes that Hubbs and Ginsberg will go on to be tremendous assets to the Athletic Training community.

 “We are proud to recognize excellent students such as Alex and Jenna with this scholarship,” Dr. Breitbach said. “Their outstanding performance in the classroom and their dedication to the profession of Athletic Training provides a living legacy to the tradition began by ‘Doc’ Bauman at Saint Louis University.”

View story on SLU website: https://www.slu.edu/doisy/doisy-news/at-bob-bauman-scholarship-2017.php

Saint Louis University is a Catholic, Jesuit institution that values academic excellence, life-changing research, compassionate health care, and a strong commitment to faith and service. Founded in 1818, the University fosters the intellectual and character development of nearly 13,000 students on two campuses in St. Louis and Madrid, Spain. Building on a legacy of nearly 200 years, Saint Louis University continues to move forward with an unwavering commitment to a higher purpose, a greater good.