The best part? Their paths crossed again as they were helping others.

After meeting at a youth church dance, Cameron K. Martin and Tracey Christensen both ended up attending Brigham Young University and permanently relocating to Utah. In recent years, their friendship was renewed when Martin, president of Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMU), began doing volunteer work with school employees at Christensen’s Orem-based Now I Can Foundation.

“Two kids come out from Oregon, go to school and develop their careers and family lives here in Utah — and now we’re both in the healthcare space,” mused Martin while working alongside his wife, Julie, and RMU staff at the specialized pediatric physical therapy clinic during United Way of Utah County’s annual Day of Caring. “It’s a fun connection.”

“Life is so interesting, isn’t it?” said Christensen, who founded the pediatric PT clinic with her husband, Joel, to help their daughter. “And the world is small. You make connections with people, and then people come back into your life.”

From Poland to Utah

Photo by Dustin Winter, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions

A spirit of love, service and determination led to the creation of the Now I Can Foundation about 20 years ago.

Intent on giving their daughter, Colby, the best possible treatment after she was diagnosed with hemiplegic cerebral palsy, Tracey and Joel Christensen searched the world and found a unique option in Poland called the Intensive Model of Therapy (IMOT).

“The best part was that I could feel and see myself gaining strength fast. In just a few weeks I had discovered new ways to make my body move. It was so exciting,” Colby Christensen wrote on the NowICan.org website. “The results I got using IMOT were too good to ignore. That’s why my mom and dad started an IMOT clinic in Utah to help me — and other kids like me — reach amazing goals that traditional PT would not have allowed.”

Added Martin: “The work that they did there was transformational, so they said, ‘We have got to bring that here.'”

New pathways, stronger bonds

Now I Can typically has children in their clinic for about three weeks, combining traditional PT techniques with specialized tools. This approach provides multiple hours of therapy five days a week instead of the usual 45-minute weekly sessions. The extended time frame allows patients — about 100 to 120 kids per year — to repeat the skills they’re learning over and over again in order to build new motor pathways.

Photo by Dustin Winter, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions

Through grants, some families are able to stay in onsite housing while their children receive therapy.

“We want to help them reach that next level so that that next world can open up,” Tracey Christensen said.

Dr. Jeff Lau, a physical therapist and RMU’s dean of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, was again among the university’s employees who showed up to spruce up the Now I Can clinic. A longtime friend of Christensen’s, he previously sent his Physical Therapy Assistant students to log clinical hours there when he worked at Provo College.

“One of the things that drew me to Rocky Mountain in the first place, clear back in 2009, was the huge service ethos about the whole place,” he said. “The relationships you build when you’re working together with people doing service seem to transcend a lot of things.

“Coming here has been kind of fun with me being a physical therapist, and I’ve known Tracey Christensen since before I worked at RMU,” he added. “I’m not sure if there’s anywhere else in the United States, or maybe in the world, that does quite what Now I Can does with pediatric therapy. Being able to provide service to a service organization and one that is near and dear to my heart is icing on the cake.”

Christensen expressed her gratitude for RMU’s participation in the Day of Caring. Employees pitched in by making supportive signs for children, wrapping presents, cleaning windows and bathrooms, and doing yard work.

“We never could keep up this property without Rocky Mountain’s help,” she said. “They really are a whirlwind of energy and goodwill.”

RMU hosts free community health fair

This annual service project was just one of the ways RMU served the community and students through outreach and educational opportunities in recent weeks.

RMU recently partnered with several local agencies to host a free community health fair on its Provo campus, drawing 250 attendees from around Utah County. Other partners included United Way of Utah County, the Utah County Health Department and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Residents received free health screenings from students and supervising faculty members, including eye and hearing tests, children’s development screenings, counseling and nutritional info, and BMI checks. Referrals for follow-up appointments were given when needed.

Doctor of Physical Therapy students offered testing for strength, flexibility and endurance. Participants squeezed a dynamometer to record grip strength, which supports daily activities and serves as a useful indicator of overall health, according to the National Institutes of Health. They also tested flexibility and endurance and received ideas for improvement.

Provo Mayor Marsha Judkins was among those who stopped by and participated in screenings herself, including taking a grip strength test.

“It’s really cool to give the community insight on their own health,” said Leslie Depauli, an RMU physical therapy student. “These little tests can open their eyes to their overall health and give them some tips on what they can do to better themselves.”

The Utah Women’s, Infants and Children (WIC) program, a sponsor, signed up 100 women and their families, offering nutrition education and community referrals.

“We just love coming out to the community and letting them know what we do,” said Payson WIC supervisor Juliane Ribeiro.

RMU student Addie Sandberg, studying to become a physician assistant, administered blood glucose tests with classmates.

“It’s fun to be here,” she said. “We’re taking stuff we’ve been learning in the classroom and applying it to people that might not be able to get the service otherwise.”

“Days like today are exactly why RMU exists,” Martin said. “We value the opportunity to bring our students, faculty and clinical training directly into the community we serve. Events like this health fair reflect what we mean when we talk about improving the human condition.”

Jody Genessy is the senior content writer at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions.