Jack Stevenson

Responsibilities

During this internship I worked very closely with a lot of Cardiac Rehabilitation patients. I helped to set up their 5-lead ECGs and monitor their heart rates and blood pressures during exercise. I also led the resistance training portion of all their exercise prescriptions. After exercise sessions I would work closely with the patients to increase their exercise prescriptions to advance them through the program. Additionally, I would read the telemetry and help to determine patient heart rhythms before, during, and after exercise.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during this internship was being able to help see many people complete the cardiac rehab program. It is very rewarding to see people who come in and are unable to walk, or can only walk for a short period of time, be able to complete 30 minutes of exercise at the end. I find this aspect of the job to be the most rewarding, sending people off with the knowledge of living a heart healthy life and the skills to keep making progress is a feeling unlike any other.

Learning experience

I've learned a lot of technical skills from this experience however, I think the greatest lesson is not to let yourself get caught up in one thing. It is important to be able to keep moving forward and to embrace each new opportunity. There is always two ways to look at life and its up to you to decide which way to see things.

What advice would you give?

A piece of advice for future students is to keep your options open. Kinesiology can lead to careers in a ton of different fields, it doesn't have to be just one specific thing. Keep looking for opportunities and you will find them.