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Dr. Nicola Yard, President of the Barbados Physical Therapy Association (BPTA).

BPTA hoping to increase its visibility

THE Barbados Physical Therapy Association (BPTA), which has been in existence for the past 20 years, has a new executive and is currently going through a rebranding exercise, with the hope of increasing its visibility on the island.

President of the Barbados Physical Therapy Association, Dr. Nicola Yard, recently acknowledged the above, noting that the Association is seeking to highlight the wide-ranging work of physical therapists across the island, with the ultimate goal of increasing awareness about the profession and by extension the Association.

Her comments came as she unveiled the BPTA’s new logo during a recent press launch held in the Boardroom of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). During that press launch, it was announced that graphic designer Jawade Elibox was the winner of the BPTA’s recently concluded Logo Competition, the aim of which was to come up with a new design that will be used on all correspondence going forward as the Association rebrands and promotes itself.

“The Association has been around for twenty years, but as I mentioned before, it does not seem as if many people know about the Physical Therapy Association and that is what we want to change,” Yard stated.

“So we set up some goals that we are trying to achieve, starting with increased public awareness. So we did a blood drive last year.

We’ve done an activity for children with disabilities and we are just trying to increase our visibility, but at the same time assist in areas of society that need us,” she added.

Yard stressed that the Association consists of a group of therapists who have come together to try to educate others about the profession of physical therapy, while also seeking to improve on their education as well. Greater awareness is needed about the Association and its work she said, as many Barbadians have a limited view of what physical therapy involves.

“I think that most people think about physical therapy and think along the lines of massage – and that is what we are trying to rule out. That’s not all [we do]. I know a lot of people think about physical therapy and they think either about something that is broken or they think about sports, but there are so many other areas that we deal with. You have physical therapists working with paediatrics, working with geriatrics, working in aqua therapy, working with strokes, working with persons with cardiopulmonary issues or working with amputees. There is such a wide range of things, so many areas that people are unaware of,” the President stressed, noting that the BPTA will be working to better educate, inform and assist the Barbadian public, going forward.

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