POTSDAM -- Canton-Potsdam Hospital made a gift of $7,500 toward a trip to Bangladesh by next year's graduates of Clarkson University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program on a mission of mercy.

Made on behalf of the hospital’s Physical Rehabilitation Department, the donation will support a group of students graduating in May 2017 as they provide physical therapy services to the underserved community of Savar, Bangladesh, through the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP). The trip will take place shortly after graduation next month.

Dr. Lori Maria Walton gave a visiting lecture at Clarkson University on her work with the Hope Foundation for Women and Children in Bangladesh, which brought the for such services need to the attention of the students.

Walton connected the volunteer student group with Dr. Valerie Taylor, a physiotherapist and founder of CRP, who has been recognized as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her work with disadvantaged communities in Bangladesh. Through the CRP, the Clarkson group will diagnose and treat disorders of movement, function, and activities of daily living caused by disease, injury, aging, or over-activity, helping to restore and rehabilitate proper function of the musculoskeletal system for people who normally have little access to such services.

The trip will allow the new graduates to expand their cultural competency skills and ability to function in unfamiliar and less well-equipped environments. According to Courtney M. Popsie, one of the students organizing the trip, Bangladesh is considered one of the most densely populated countries in the world and is characterized by shortages and inequities in its healthcare workforce.

“Learning to adapt to the unfamiliar is something we assist patients to do,” said physical therapist Dr. Terri E. Simzer, director of CPH’s Physical Rehabilitation Department. “CPH and Clarkson collaborate on the education of future healthcare professionals and several Clarkson University instructors practice as clinicians in our physical therapy clinics. CPH is very supportive of enhanced educational opportunities for students,” said Simzer.

“We’d like to begin our careers with a ‘one world’ mindset that will benefit our practice and future patients as well as the people who visit the CRP in Bangladesh,” said Popsie. “We’re grateful to Dr. Walton and Dr. Taylor for welcoming us, and we’re grateful for the support from CPH,” she added.

Those wishing to support the mission trip to Bangladesh may contact Courtney Popsie at popsiecm@clarkson.edu or Clarkson University Clinical Professor of Physical Therapy Stacey L. Zeigler at szeigler@clarkson.edu.