Pitt DPT alumna Molly Bachmann (second from left) with her coworkers from Jackson Clinics Foundation and colleagues at the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi, Kenya
One of Pitt’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) graduates is helping to change women’s health care in Kenya. She is making sustainable changes in clinical practice by providing intensive training to the local physiotherapists who will soon become the experts in women’s health in Kenya.
"International travel has always been a part of my personal life,” says Molly Bachmann (DPT ‘18). “I love adventures, new cultural experiences and connecting with the community wherever I can find it. I never dreamed that teaching, let alone an international teaching experience, would be a part of my professional journey.“
Not long after Bachmann joined the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center (PHRC) in San Francisco, the Jackson Clinics Foundation, which works to increase access to specialty physical therapy services in Ethiopia and Kenya, reached out to the center to recruit physical therapists specializing in pelvic pain to teach in their international program.
Bachmann teaching differential diagnoses/root causes for vestibulodynia and vulvodynia
Initially, the foundation program’s focus was to teach orthopedic manual therapy, but shortly after they also began offering a neurologic based program. In the spring of 2019 they offered a pelvic health program focusing on women's health at Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in Nairobi. This program consisted of three, two-week courses and was the first of its kind in East Africa. The goal of all the programs offered by the Jackson Clinics Foundation is to “train the trainer,” in this case so the KMTC faculty could eventually teach all these specialty courses themselves and influence health care locally.
Bachmann in the lecture hall at Kenya Medical Training College
Beginning in fall 2021, Bachmann and her coworkers in San Francisco spent hundreds of hours building a curriculum on pelvic pain, including male pelvic pain and pediatric pelvic health. They created dozens of PowerPoint presentations, resource lists, recorded lectures and built an online portal for students to use and reference. Bachmann and two coworkers traveled from San Francisco to Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2022 for two weeks to work with local teaching assistants. Each year that she returns, the local teaching assistants will teach more independently so that the program can become a fully Kenyan-led course with outstanding and committed local faculty.
Bachmann (second from right) with her coworkers from Jackson Clinics Foundation and colleagues at the Kenya Medical Training College
Having accurate health information is often lifesaving and that includes accurate information about pelvic health. The Kenyan physical therapists that Bachmann and her coworkers worked with wasted no time sharing their enthusiasm for this information and passion for sharing with their patients and communities. Many had already begun to set up stands at markets, hold meetings with community leaders and arrange to speak at conferences, which was inspiring for Bachmann’s group to be part of.
“Their courage to be the first to start this specialty in Kenya, trailblazing a new generation of PTs, was an incredible thing to bear witness to,” says Bachmann. “It has renewed my spirit in ways I didn’t know needed to be renewed. Our interactions and sessions reminded me of the value of community centered care and culturally sensitive health care. These kinds of models are needed to have a complete biopsychosocial approach, and this is something that they do well. I have learned so much from them.”
Bachmann has nothing but gratitude to her new friends and colleagues. “Asante sana to Kenya Medical Training College for welcoming us into their home, shepherding new friendships and for your openness in embracing this specialty. Your generosity will never be forgotten.”
Physical Therapist Molly Bachmann taking advantage of her clinical teaching in Kenya to summit Mt. Kenya, the second tallest peak on the African continent
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Written by - Molly Bachmann PT, DPT, Birth Doula, and Professor Sue Whitney
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Published May 19, 2023