2023 Round-up
29/12/2023
McGowan Physio has celebrated its 3rd Christmas being open just over 2 years since October. The clinic has welcomed many new and familiar faces over the past year and most memorably opened its door for its first international educational meeting and course in September.
January and February
The year started as we hoped it would go on with a lot of education and a lot of exercise. Group classes were back in full swing and we had a number of transition year students in each getting to shadow and experience a day in the life of McGowan Physio. In February, Niamh ran an online workshop on Hypermobility, HSD and hEDS. The workshop was directed at patients and family members of those impacted by the conditions.
March
March was our favorite month of the year. It was the month we got Cookie, the clinic therapy puppy. For any of you who have met Cookie you will agree that she has made a fantastic addition. We hoped that Cookie would make a positive impact but it is hard to put into words the difference she makes in the clinic on a daily basis. She calms anxiety, instills confidence and ensures smiles all round.
April and May
With the brighter evenings came our Easter scoliosis camp. This was a big hit and always the best part of the day are the new friendships that are formed. A few weeks later Niamh headed up to Donegal to provide an education session on Scoliosis to a large group of HSE physios.
We love to see our young people thrive and to celebrate all of their unique talents and in May a previous patient of ours, Cillian, gifted us with his gorgeous artwork. The piece inspired our library section in the clinic.
We got to meet the fantastic Padraic in May this year. Padraic is a UCD physio student who completed a two week placement with us. He impressed us so much we asked him to become part of the team.
Padraic officially started with us as our S&C coach. He provides 1:1 sessions as well as taking our adult and teen group strength classes.
June and July
As June is Scoliosis Awareness Month it is always a busy time for us at McGowan Physio. We introduced 2:1 reformer Pilates with Daniella. This has been a super addition as many parents and teens avail of the option of doing the session together.
As a team we enjoyed a day updating our first aid training. Working with people it is so important that this skill set is always up to date. As physios we are to update our training every two years. At McGowan Physio all of our employees have first aid training.
There was another Scoliosis Camp over the summer. The camps incorporate a mix of education and exercise as well as getting to know other young people with scoliosis.
The summer was the start of our busy preparations for the big course and meeting in September. We enjoyed a visit from Garikoitz Aristegui Racero of Barcelona Scoliosis Physical Therapy School (BSPTS).
August and September
The rest of the summer was spent busily preparing for The BSPTS course and the arrival of our international colleagues. The course ran smoothly for 6 days at the end of September while simultaneously the 2nd Annual teachers meeting for BSPTS took place. The clinic was a hive of activity over the 6 days. 17 young people volunteered as models for our learning and there were over 25 scoliosis specialist physios present as well as Dr Manual Rigo. It was a great success and we look forward to hosting more courses in the future.
Garett attended the Universitas 21 Health Science Annual Meeting and won the podium prize and poster presentation. The title for his presentation was, “An evaluation of patient educational multimedia design in musculoskeletal healthcare: A systematic review’. We are thrilled with the hard work Garett has been doing and all of the progress he is making with his PhD.
October, November and December
We welcomed Rachel Howe and her team to complete part of Rachel’s study on Pet therapy research. Cookie made a special appearance on the day and the 5 young volunteers were excellent and engaged throughout.
We celebrated our 2nd birthday and our team continues to grow with the addition of Roisin Flynn. Roisin is a highly experienced Occupational Therapist and we are delighted to be able to add this service to the clinic.
The run up to Christmas is always special at McGowan Physio. The buzz and excitement is felt by us all. We are very grateful to all our wonderful patients and families for the gifts and cards they send us and give to us at this time of year. Thank you.
Reflection
2023 has been a year of teaching and learning. We hope that this continues into 2024. We have lots of exciting change coming in 2024 so watch this space. As always we are keen for your feedback and keen to provide any additional services you wish we could deliver, so please get in touch. A warm and sincere thank you from our team to each of you. We appreciate you selecting McGowan Physio to help you on your health, fitness and wellness journey.
We hope that you can look back fondly on progress made in 2023 and look forward to new goals and further health success in 2024.