Column: Brittney Ketchum loves her work
by Tyler Peterson
Senior Brittney Ketchum is loving her internship at Monadnock Community Hospital.
She listens to audio books during the 20-minute commute from Rindge to Peterborough. Currently, she is listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
(Photo: Tyler Peterson)
As she listens, eager to get to her internship, she’s thinking about who she’s going to see that day and what physical therapist she’s going to work with as she passes the local businesses in her Mercury Mariner.
When Ketchum goes to the hospital, she’s not the only intern there from Franklin Pierce. She also gets to see junior Marisa Carbone.
“When there’s down time we talk and chat, but besides that we don’t work together,” Ketchum says.
Ketchum is doing this internship to help fulfill her credit requirements for school. Since she is a Health Science Major, the internship counts as her three-credit capstone project. But to her, this isn’t work. She walks in and out of the office with a smile on her face whenever she goes in.
In her internship, Ketchum observes what physical therapists do to treat patients while asking about methods and techniques they use during treatment.
Ryan Griffiths, a Physical Therapist at Monadnock Community Hospital, is impressed with the work that Ketchum has done so far.
“[She] tries to appropriately anticipate the needs of the therapist, which is good,” he says. “That’s what we want to see as far as working, but I think that skill comes into play later when you become a therapist because you try to anticipate the needs of your patients and how to read them emotionally as well as physically; what they need or how a treatment needs to change.”
After two months in the internship so far, Ketchum finds herself loving the field that she’s going into.
“I love this internship because I’m getting a real-world perspective of what my intended career is going to be like,” Ketchum says. “I’m learning how I am going to interact with patients and colleagues in my career. I love helping people, so being able to actually see what the work environment will be like in the future is a dream come true.”
