Physiotherapist, Schools – Burnaby

Overview:

Under the administrative direction of the Manager, Clinical Services, the Physiotherapist provides services to mentally and physically disabled school age children; provides comprehensive rehabilitation services to school age children within the City of Burnaby, as well as, information to clients, family members, school staff, school officials, other health professionals, and the community. This service facilitates the integration of students with special needs by providing assessment, consultation, education and intervention.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provides physiotherapy services promoting physical function, fitness and motor performance to contribute to the child's overall cognitive, perceptual, social and emotional well being.
• Provides physiotherapy assessment to determine functional and developmental abilities of children with special needs in Burnaby schools and plans, implements, evaluates, and as required, modifies rehabilitation programs and services to meet those needs and to maximize opportunities for independence.
• Provides in-service education to students, teachers, other school staff and other health care professionals regarding the special needs of children within the classroom and other topics related to rehabilitation.
• Assists school officials in planning and implementing programs to teach non-handicapped students about the needs of students with developmental difficulties.
• Provides physiotherapy assessment and recommendations to assist in developing gross and fine motor skills activities tailored to the needs of the individual child.
• Attends school conferences to develop plans to meet rehabilitation needs with parents, teachers, and other health care professionals.
• Assesses function and ability of individual children; develops, implements, teaches and evaluates individual therapy programs and prepares and maintains client charts, records of assessments and goals of treatment delivered.
• Assess educational and community environments to prevent, modify or alleviate barriers in order to facilitate the functioning of children with special needs and suggests modifications to improve accessibility.
• Establishes and maintains liaison between parents, schools, physicians and a variety of community agencies and organizations in the health care field such as general hospitals and rehabilitation centres.
• Provides information and training in a variety of areas including, overviews of disabilities and their effect on school performance, back care, proper techniques for lifting, handling and transferring students with physical disabilities, disability awareness and implications for other students and teachers in the school.
• Recommends specialized equipment or modifications to promote independence; designs or modifies a variety of self-help aids and rehabilitation equipment to meet the needs of individual disabilities.
• Recommends and/or collaborates with others for seating and positioning to provide student(s) with suitable and comfortable equipment.
• Prepares and maintains a variety of reports and records related to the work.
• Prepares individualized care plans for students, trains, and monitors non-health care providers in following the plan as laid out.
• Provides rehabilitation services through an interdisciplinary approach.
• Attends meetings and serves on committees as requested.
• Performs other related duties as required.

Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy. Two (2) years' recent, related experience including one (1) year in pediatric rehabilitation.

Current full registration with the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC. Eligible for membership in the Physiotherapy Association of British Columbia (PABC).

Valid Class V B.C. Driver's License and access to a personal vehicle for business-related purposes.