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In September 2023, University of Pittsburgh Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) students Ava Giatras (OTD ‘25) and Lily Hoffman (OTD ‘25) attended a presentation at the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association conference where they learned about another university’s interprofessional service-learning trip to Belize. They left the presentation with one question: Why doesn’t Pitt do this? 

After 16 months of planning, in January 2025 the two students’ idea became a reality. Giatras and Hoffman were joined with six other Pitt OTD students, Adaptive Driving Program Director and Doctor of Clinical Science in Occupational Therapy student Melissa Aleksak, Assistant Professor and OTD program Assistant Director Erin Mathia and Professor Pam Toto to engage in the serving learning experience. 

Pitt’s Occupational Therapy Department partnered with Alvernia University, Bellarmine University and Misericordia University who brought students and faculty from their occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology programs. The interprofessional teams worked in collaboration with community partners in Belize to provide services and education to children, adults and older adults in need at various clinical settings.  

“There are no occupational therapists in the entire country of Belize,” Giatras said. “So really, our main goal of this entire trip is bringing sustainable projects and occupational therapy to them in a way that can be continued and benefit the patients there when we leave.” 

Day-to-Day Experiences 

While each person had a different day-to-day experience depending on their location and what field they were focusing on, everyone had a similar schedule. The students and faculty would work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at their respective clinical sites. Hoffman, who was in a few different community centers, said from the moment she arrived each day, there were patients lined up at the door.  

“This one older woman had not put socks on in two and a half years because she just could not bend over,” Hoffman said. “Since we did not have access to devices we would normally use back home, I used a towel and put the sock at the end of the towel for her to pull the sock up and she just started bawling. So, that was really incredible to be able to listen to their stories.” 

Giatras, who worked at a different site each day, spent time working in home health. She explained a particular instance where she was assisting a Belizean whose living conditions were not suitable for him and his wheelchair.  

“We were in there and the wheels were turning in my brain trying to think of anything I could do to help this individual,” Giatras said. “We ended up rearranging part of his room by simply moving a table so that he could navigate his home and use his wheelchair a little bit better. He looked like he had been waiting for somebody to move that table for a long time. Even the smallest things that we were doing were making a large impact.” 

Professor Pam Toto shared that the clinical experiences were enlightening for faculty as well. 

“Learning is lifelong. Despite having over 30 years of experience as an occupational therapist, I was moved by the resilience and positive attitude of the people of Belize. Health care is very limited in this country and people are experiencing unnecessary disability that could be prevented or minimized with just some of the basics we take for granted in the U.S. The experience challenged me and helped me to become a better clinician and educator.” 

Pam Toto, Professor

In addition to the clinical aspect, the groups engaged in social excursions as well. Outside of their clinical hours, the groups attended a zoo tour, visited the Mayan ruins and participated in cave tubing.  

“They really try to immerse us in the culture to really showcase the beauty of the country of Belize,” Mathia said.   

Working Across Disciplines 

While the participants would stop their treatment each day at 4 p.m., Giatras stressed that their learning continued long after.  

“We were having debriefing meetings each night and we were all working together interprofessionally,” Giatras said. “Even talking over dinner about ideas and things that we could change for the next day to make our services better.”

This ability to collaborate across disciplines was an eye-opening element for the students who attended, recognizing the importance of understanding other clinical perspectives to better themselves as well-rounded clinicians. 

“I think it’s so important for us as clinicians to be able to work with other disciplines because our training is specifically in occupational therapy and we have this ‘OT lens’ where you’re always just thinking about what occupational therapists can do,” Hoffman said. “But it was really cool to learn what speech therapy is looking at with the same patient that you’re treating and what physical therapy can bring to the table and how you guys can work together for the best interest of the patient.” 
  

Future Trips 

With the success that this service-learning trip brought to the communities in Belize, the Pitt Occupational Therapy Department has been invited to return next year, hopefully creating a new tradition for the department.   

“The goal is to continue moving forward with this collaboration and working not only with the other disciplines, but the other schools we partnered with as well,” Mathia said. “We are hoping to expand what this might look like for SHRS (School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences) and to involve other disciplines within Pitt.”  

Toto stressed that the success of the trip would not have been possible without the determination and leadership from Hoffman and Giatras. 

“Being part of an international service-learning experience has been a personal, professional goal of mine for over 20 years,” Toto said.

For students and faculty alike, the service-learning trip was rewarding for the work they accomplished beforehand, and for the insights they will bring back with them to influence their future work as educators and clinicians.    

“This was such a unique opportunity for us to be able to go and not only help teach, but for ourselves to really learn and immerse ourselves into the culture of Belize and then to be able to bring what we took from it back to our peers,” Hoffman said. “Hopefully this can continue throughout Pitt for years to come.”