Participants with Slippery Rock Pro Bono Physical Therapy are looking to use the skills they learn for the good of those in need.

Amber Kilgore, president of the nonprofit student organization and a graduate student at Slippery Rock University, said the clinic, which is expected to open in October at the college's campus, will serve patients who cannot receive treatment at professional clinics. She said the pro bono clinic is working to partner with professional clinics to set up a referral system.

“If they have patients who can no longer see them because of affordability issues or insurance issues, the therapy clinics can refer them to us, and we can treat them and take care of them,” Kilgore said.

Kilgore said everyone involved with the clinic is a volunteer. The students aren't earning credits for their work. However, she said incorporating clinics into SRU's physical therapy program curriculum is possible and has been done by many other schools.

“That's pretty hard to achieve right out of the gate,” Kilgore said. “It is one of our goals.”

She said the students also must be supervised by a practicing physical therapist at all times.

“We as the students cannot work directly with them (patients) without a physical therapist observing,” Kilgore said. “We're hoping to get local physical therapists involved with that as well.”

One professional has already volunteered.

Ben Richardson, who practices physical therapy with Healthstar Physical Therapy in Springdale, is credited with coming up with the idea for the clinic, according to Kilgore.

Richardson said he thought of the idea in 2015, in his second year of SRU's three-year program. He said he went to a conference later in that year with James Eng, SRU associate professor of physical therapy and the organization's adviser, to gather more information.

“We went to a conference, Dr. Eng and I, and we brought it back and it just sort of snowballed from there,” Richardson said.

Richardson said it has been an amazing experience to watch the clinic grow from an idea into reality.

“That part of it is cool,” he said. “Mainly it's fun for me to know that the future students are going to have the opportunity to work with the patients and to have the experience that we didn't necessarily have when we were in school.”

Richardson plans to be one of the supervising physical therapists, along with Eng.

“I look forward to helping them (students) through the process there,” Richardson said. “I'll definitely want to be a part of the clinic as much as I can throughout the years and to see it grow.”

Maryellen Davis, the organization's secretary, said the nonprofit is getting a boost through grant money and funding from the university's Student Government Association. She said the money has gone toward new equipment, like a recumbent bike or multifunctional tables.

“We've spent the last year getting down to business and really getting ready to open,” Davis said.

Davis said the students will be broken down into two groups — first year and second year students. Third year physical therapy students leave to work alongside professionals in an official capacity.

The pro bono clinic will offer students a lot of opportunities for experience too, according to Davis.

She said therapy could come in many forms, like stretches, electrical stimulation or balance training. She said first year students can perform some functions at the clinic as well.

“We do learn hands-on stuff during our first year as well, like manual muscle training and goniometry, so they have things they can do too,” Davis said.

In physical therapy, goniometry is the measurement of range of motion joint angles of the body.

Davis said everyone involved with the program is excited for the clinic's first day.

“As we get set in October, I think we'll see things expand really fast,” Davis said. “I hope that the clinic will continue to grow, and we'll be able to serve more and more patients.”

She said the clinic will open for one day per week to start, but organizers are hoping to expand as more people volunteer and word spreads about how they can help people in their community.

“The goal is really to just leave an impact on our local community by helping underserved or underinsured members of our community,” Davis said.