Basking Ridge Resident Among Rutgers PT Students Visiting Matheny

Recognizing that it can't provide healthcare for everyone with a disability, the Matheny Medical and Educational Center in Peapack has taken on the responsibility of trying to ensure that future healthcare professionals understand how to care for and treat people with disabilities.

With that in mind, a group of physical therapy students from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School visits Matheny every year to learn about the needs and equipment required by persons with developmental disabilities. Matheny is a special hospital and educational facility for children and adults with medically complex developmental disabilities.

During this year's visit, Sarah Carothers, a resident of Basking Ridge, was among the PT students who rotated through eight stations dealing with switch access, communications devices, music therapy, pressure mapping, standing and adaptive tricycles, power and manual wheelchairs, gait trainers and recreational activities.  When she was a student at Ridge High School, Carothers had shadowed a Matheny physical therapist and feels the experience was "amazing." As for the recent visit, she said, "It's so cool to see everything. How empowering it is for people with disabilities!"