October 2020 - PTA Focus

 
Carol J. Stokes, PTA

Hello and Happy PT Month! My name is Carol Stokes. I am a 1996 graduate from the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC)/Boyce Campus PTA Program. My Interest in physical therapy began when I was a teenager and babysat for a neighborhood family that had a child with Cerebral Palsy. I spent everyday after school helping care for the child. After several of his surgeries, I attended physical therapy and learned how to assist with transfers and gait training using a wheeled walker and teaching him wheelchair mobility. Watching his recovery and progress sparked my interest in the field of physical therapy.

I applied and was accepted to the PTA Program in 1994, elected treasurer of my class by my peers and joined the APTA as a student that year. I attended the PPTA Annual Conference in October and always felt welcome and a part of a great association. The APTA/PPTA offers fantastic educational resources and opportunities to learn and advance as a PTA as well as to collaborate and network with PTs and PTAs from the state.

After graduation in May 1996, I began working as a PTA in a skilled facility where I was an integral member of the Rehab Department. Physical therapy worked closely with OT and Speech to improve the resident’s function and overall health and return them to their prior functional status. I was part of a dedicated team and truly blessed to have had the opportunity to learn and be mentored by the knowledgeable physical therapists that helped mold me into the PTA I am today.

Due to the Balance Budget Act of 1997 and the changes in reimbursement for therapy services, the skilled facility where I worked decreased the Rehab Department staff drastically. As a result, I found myself out of a job and feeling hopeless. I attended the PTA Program Alumni Poster Night at CCAC that fall 1998 where I talked with Dr. Johnson and Dr. Bannister and asked them to please let me know if they heard of any openings for PTAs to please pass them along. I received a call from Dr. Johnson in January of 1999 with an opportunity to become the Associate Academic Coordinator Clinical Education (ACCE) for the PTA Program. I began working for the PTA Program in 1999 and will be celebrating my 22nd year with the program. I am also and active member of Three Rivers Academic Consortium (3RAC) where I held the position of treasurer from 2003 through 2020.

As the Associate ACCE, I have been able to connect with numerous clinical facilities, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, and assist students with their clinical education. Assisting students and guiding them in their clinical education is both rewarding and challenging at times, just like treating patients in a clinic. I’m fortunate to have the professional relationships and contacts to make my position as Associate ACCE fulfilling.

In 2016, I received the PPTA Steven Kolumban Award and was one of 50 Distinguished Alumni honored at CCAC’s 50th Anniversary Gala. Receiving these recognitions would not have been possible without the support of Dr. Norman Johnson and Dr. Stephen Bannister as well as the doors that have been opened by being a member of the PPTA. I am truly thankful for the opportunities and relationships that I have gained as a PPTA member and Associate ACCE.

I honored and humbled to have been asked to be the PTA Focus for October and wouldn’t be where I am without the support of my husband and 3 children.