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 Roy Tells PT Students to Excel In Field By Eric Kallevig
Travis Roy, the former Boston University hockey player who was paralyzed seconds into his first collegiate game in 1995, encouraged physical therapy students to work hard and strive to become the best in their profession Monday at the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. "As future professionals, if you're going to be in this career, you have to be the best you can at it, because if you don't, you're selling your patients short," he told more than 100 students, faculty and alumni. Roy said physical therapists can make a significant difference in the lives of patients but warned that if they are not properly trained and qualified, they can do just the opposite. Roy was a highly touted freshman at BU in 1995 when he severely damaged his spinal cord just 11 seconds into the first game of the season at Walter Brown Arena, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. He now regularly gives speeches to audiences across New England, primarily high schools and colleges. The Boston University Occupational Therapy Student Association and the Sargent College Honor Society hosted the event and presented Roy with a check for $1,000 to be donated to the Travis Roy Foundation, which helps spinal cord injury survivors and funds research toward a cure for the condition. An additional $300 was donated to the foundation on behalf of the Sargent College Student Council. Roy stressed the importance of good facilities and therapists in the recovery process when he contrasted his experiences at the BU Medical Center with those at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Ga. Roy said his months at BUMC were wasted time and encouraged students to visit the Shepherd Center to see the resources that are available. Roy talked mainly about his recovery process, stressing the role physical therapists played. "It took me the same amount of effort to bench press 150 pounds before the accident as it did to lift my right arm off the armrest after the accident," he said. By a show of hands, a large majority of the audience indicated they had read Roy's biography, "Eleven Seconds." The book is required reading for all physical therapy freshmen. After the speech, students lined up to thank Roy for speaking. Roy usually speaks to audiences once or twice a week and currently lives in Boston. Sargent senior Katie Rojek, a physical therapy major, said Sargent's strict academic standards seemed all the more important in order to train the best physical therapists after hearing Roy speak. "This is why I'm here," she said. "It makes [the work] worth it if you can make a difference in someone's life." Rojek is also the treasurer for the Sargent College Honor Society, and helped organize a bake sale to raise money for Roy's organization. School of Engineering junior Arnab Roy, who works for Sargent and videotaped the event, said he appreciated how straight-forward Roy was. "He really gives it to you and doesn't try to pretend like everything is perfect now," he said. Roy continues to follow BU hockey and said he makes it to about five games per season on average. He is also looking to expand his work with insurance companies and on government funding of stem-cell research, which he believes is the key to finding a cure. "I've got a lot of things to look forward to," he said. Appeared in the Daily Free Press 03-03-04 |
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