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The Student Service Board was established in fall 2020 to serve as a resource for student service organizations and provide a foundation for students to take leadership of established pro-bono services within the Pittsburgh community. The purpose of the board is to transition leadership from department faculty members and licensed clinicians to student-run opportunities for three current clinical experiences and three community service organizations, as well as various community health events. Its mission is to help physical therapy students better understand the needs of the communities they will serve as future clinicians. 

Meet Our Student Service Board

President: Luke Cancilla
Vice President, Operations and Finance: Phil Forsythe
Vice President, Volunteer Coordination: Maddie Wells 
Vice President, Community Outreach: Erin O’Connor 
Vice President, Communication and Alumni Relations: Hannah Altsman 
Faculty Advisor: Bonnie Jean Virag

Community Health Events Team
The Community Health Events Team plans a variety of outreach and volunteer opportunities for students in the DPT program as well as the SHRS community. In the past, the leadership team has held food and supply drives, provided volunteer opportunities for students with the Homewood Children’s Village, and hosted runner screenings for athletes participating in the Pittsburgh Marathon. The team also offered musculoskeletal screenings for community athletes by working with club teams at Pitt and community recreational teams. 

Have ideas for community events? Please email Erin O’ Connor.

Pitt Adaptive Training
Pitt Adaptive Sports is a virtual community offering online group workout sessions for adult athletes of varying diagnoses, most commonly spinal cord injury and amputees. Pre-pandemic, we worked closely with athletes from local competitive sports teams, including the Steel Wheelers. We are passionate about providing workout sessions during this uncertain time in a safe setting and an inclusive atmosphere.

Mighty Penguins
Mighty Strong, our strength and conditioning program for Pittsburgh’s sled hockey team, has had to adapt to the changes due to COVID-19. We went from holding in-person workouts to conducting virtual Zoom sessions, which allowed for a realm of different opportunities. Virtual sessions allowed us to record and share workouts with athletes, as well as increase the frequency of our sessions. As time passed, we were able to have a few in-person sessions equipped with social distancing and masks. 

Parkside Manor: Senior Fitness Classes
As part of a program that was initiated six years ago by a former student, Pitt PT students visit Parkside Manor once a week to conduct a free one-hour exercise program for its residents. Parkside Manor is an independent living apartment complex for seniors located in Brookline that serves the lower socioeconomic community. This exercise program focuses on improving strength, endurance, and functional mobility while also providing residents an opportunity for social interaction. All equipment required for the class is provided by the students.

Birmingham Free Clinic
The Birmingham Free Clinic is a multidisciplinary pro-bono clinic located in South Side that provides free health care to patients that are uninsured or medically underserved individuals in the Pittsburgh community. Physical therapy students have been providing services there for the past five years. The clinical instructors include many of the UPMC PT residents from multiple specialties as well as some of our own Pitt DPT faculty members! Our patients are typically seen for musculoskeletal impairments and a large percentage of them are non-English speaking. We are planning to expand interprofessional collaboration with other health care disciplines at Birmingham and options for telehealth services.

Wellness Pavilion at the Homewood Community Engagement Center
The SHRS Wellness Pavilion (WP) at the Homewood CEC is a multidisciplinary space located in Homewood that serves the wellness and educational needs of the community. We have been busy collaborating with other SHRS and Pitt programs and schools such as prosthetics and orthotics, nutrition, counseling, and pharmacy. While COVID-19 delayed the start of in-person activities at the Wellness Pavilion significantly, we still managed to launch DISCO (view video above), our diabetes management and educational course designed with pharmacy, nutrition, and counseling this spring. Additionally, our students spent time filming and editing videos showing off the amazing new space as well as designing a back-pain movement screening and education workshop. 

Student Presentation at 2020 Pro-Bono Network National Conference
A group of second year DPT students (Maddie Wells, Erin O’Connor, Phil Forsythe and Luke Cancilla) who were instrumental in the development of the Pitt DPT Student Service Board had the opportunity to present at the 2020 Virtual Pro Bono Network Conference. This conference is an opportunity for students and faculty from across the U.S. to get together and discuss the various service organizations and pro bono services that each University has to offer. It is an opportunity to connect with each other as a physical therapy community as well as learn from each other in order to better serve our local communities.

The Pitt DPT students’ presentation, titled Students Taking the Lead in Service and Pro Bono Care: Addressing Community Needs and a Changing DPT Program, highlighted the new Student Service Board and how this model is serving our student service organizations as well as providing a foundation for students to take leadership of our new and established pro bono services. Students highlighted how our Board is working to address community needs and remain sustainable. These needs included  a cohesive identity, a way to adapt with a transitioning DPT program, and the leadership transition from department faculty to students. By developing the Pitt DPT Student Service Board, PT students are now successfully taking the lead through a sustainable model that integrates existing student service organizations while providing a foundation to allow our program’s established pro bono services to continue to grow and thrive.

The Importance of Pro Bono Care
Read about how a trip to El Salvador helped Luke Cancilla, SPT ’21, shape his identity as a physical therapy student and future clinician.