Eight-week Internship Here for an eight-week internship, Stephanie Brown of Cumberland, reviews a patient's chart for physical therapy. Brown serves St. Andrews Rehabilitation Dept. in her third U.S. intern stint as part of her training at Dusquesne University in Pittsburgh. (Photo Diane Randlett)

"I'm not really a city person, I'm so happy to be here," said rehabilitation intern Stephanie Brown.

Originally, from Cumberland, Maine she has participated in three out of the five of her scheduled internships. These five separate internships, over a one-year period, will prepare her for her chosen career of physical therapy.

In August, she will graduate with six and a half years of study to become a certified physical therapist and will receive her doctorate degree in physical therapy.

To date, Brown has been an intern for acute care patients of workman's compensation and out-patient physical therapy, in Pittsburgh.

She is currently working as an outpatient P.T. (physical therapy) intern to Megan Carpenter at St. Andrews Hospital. A Florida hospital is her next destination for in-hospital rehabilitation, followed by out patient rehab in North Carolina before graduating from her rigorous program from Duquesne, University in Pittsburgh, Penn.

As a child, Brown originally wished to become a veterinarian. In her junior year of high school, she became a volunteer at an out-patient sports facility called Port City Physical Therapy. "It was awesome, it really represented P.T. well. Then I applied to school for physical therapy. My favorite part about this field is that it's hands on.

"There are many styles of physical therapy, but Maine's holistic approach is my favorite - looking at all of the body systems, while looking at the entire person," she said.

St. Andrews has been her favorite internship hospital so far. "They have been so good to take me in. The staff communicates well and they help each other out. If the staff needs something, tools or anything, Jim Stevens makes it happen," she said.

Brown has a very supportive family with her career choice and its potential for travel. She feels that the field of physical therapy is wide open, due to the various types including: pediatrics, aquatics, sports, and spinal chord injury and amputation therapy.

She will serve a total of eight weeks at St. Andrews and then on to her final internship at a hospital in Del Ray Beach, Florida. Licensed physical therapist Ruth Macy, of St. Andrews Hospital, says of her colleague, "She is eager to learn and very enthusiastic."