Ithaca College

Students from the theatre department took on different roles last week to assist sixth year physical therapy students to get hands on experience working with patients with neurological impairments as part of a cross-departmental collaboration. 

Six student actors -- Aaron Roberts, Jose Useche, Alexandra Nicopoulos, Lydia Flock, Tyler Sapp, and Brooke Shilling -- participated across three lab sections of Neurological Rehabilitation II to portray different levels of recovery after traumatic brain injury from a motorcycle accident and various stages of Parkinson’s disease. 

Assistant Professor Sarah Fishel and Associate Professor Laura Gras of the Department of Physical Therapy met with the actors prior to the labs to teach them about the pathology and impairments they would display in the exercise. The student actors were then given a description of their cases in writing and shown videos of people with these diagnoses. 

The actors portrayed three different stages of recovery during each lab, allowing the physical therapy students to practice interacting with patients in a coma, experiencing agitation, and re-learning how to transfer and walk. In one instance, a student actor even played the part of an anxious mom, adding an extra wrinkle to the treatment. 

Inviting actors to portray patients with neurological impairments is becoming more common in medical schools, but is just starting in PT schools. Feedback for the IC program thus far has been extremely positive, allowing PT students to get a realistic simulation while giving the theatre students an opportunity to play a different type of role.