Wayne UNC Health Care Orthopedic Physical Therapy Clinic and Teammates Recognized by Craven Community College Physical Therapy Assistant Program

Craven Community College (CCC) Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) Program has named Wayne UNC Orthopedic Physical Therapy (OPT) as 2019 Clinic Site of the Year and OPT Director Scott Gibson as Site Coordinator of the Year. Scott and the clinic earned the recognition for their roles in placing the program’s second-year cohort for clinical education.

“Scott and his team embody the excellence we strive for when looking for placement for our students,” said CCC Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education Valerie Meadows. “And the team consistently provides our students with a clinical education experience that is in a beautiful setting, is supportive clinically, academically and emotionally to our students and represents adherence to the high standards outlined by the American Physical Therapy Association.”

Each year the CCC PTA Program sends a cohort out into the local physical therapy clinics, hospitals, nursing homes and specialty facilities for their clinical education experiences, which are required by the program’s accrediting body. Scott serves as Site Coordinator of Clinical Education for OPT, placing students with clinical instructors, assuring adherence to academic standards, monitoring the relationships between the clinical instructors and their students and being available for consultation to help students.

Valerie also mentioned that CCC PTA students experienced unique challenges this academic year due to Hurricane Florence that could potentially have impacted them personally and professionally. “Scott and his team handled these challenges by going above and beyond to be exceptionally supportive of our students to ensure their ultimate success,” said Valerie. “Because of this, our students walked away humbled and thankful beyond measure, of the wonderful learning experience they had received.”

“My team works very hard to provide exceptional student affiliation experiences while preparing the students to be professionals,” said Scott. “Being recognized for providing that level of experience is very humbling and unexpected for me.”