Building blocks key for PTA student
Student of the Week: Carla Morehouse
South Texas College celebrates National Physical Therapy Month in October. Confidence, strength, and especially conviction are the key tenets of success for Carla Morehouse.
Born and raised in Houston, Carla said she immediately entered the Coast Guard at the age of 17. During five years of active duty, she said she traveled and lived across the country from New Jersey to Jacksonville, FL., San Diego, and Tucson.
In preparation to attend Basic Military Training, Carla said she initially began working out at Texas Sports and Medicine Center in Tomball, Texas without realizing at first that it was a rehabilitation center for patients of the nearby Tomball Regional Medical Center.
“I would go there to work out and get ready for basic training. I was very young and at that time getting into the Coast Guard was one of the hardest things I had ever done,” Carla said. “As I was working out I would notice who I thought at first were doctors on the gym floor. I thought it was amazing. I know now that they were physical therapists, and even though I was entering the Coast Guard, I knew right then that physical therapy was something I was going to pursue.”
“It’s a combination of realizing it’s never too late to pursue anything you want to do, and when you put things into place like building blocks, you begin to realize it’s no longer a dream. It’s a reality."
Years later, Carla is now a mother to a three-year-old daughter and is pursuing her Associate of Applied Science degree as a Physical Therapist Assistant. She is currently the PTA class president and plans to complete the program by 2021.
The Physical Therapist Assistant Program at South Texas College is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education to offer a two-year Associate of Applied Science degree that upon completion will enable graduates to take the National Physical Therapist Assistant Licensing Examination.
The PTA program at STC boasts a 100 percent pass rate on the licensure exam and a 100 percent employment rate for graduates seeking employment within 12 months of passing the exam. These figures have been maintained for all 20 PTA Program graduating classes to date.
PTAs are licensed skilled health care providers who work under the direction and supervision of a physical therapist to provide treatment programs to help restore or improve function, relieve pain, encourage independence, and educate patients and their families.
As a message for her peers as well as for her daughter, Carla says it’s never too late to pursue your aspirations.
“It’s a combination of realizing it’s never too late to pursue anything you want to do, and when you put things into place like building blocks, you begin to realize it’s no longer a dream. It’s a reality,” she said. “My goal for my daughter is that when she feels something or believes in something, that she says it or does it with conviction.”
“I want my daughter to feel the confidence and the strength to realize that regardless of what anybody else thinks, if she feels a certain way about something, she has to do it with conviction,” she said.