{"id":64702,"date":"2021-12-01T15:50:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T22:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=64702"},"modified":"2021-12-06T10:35:43","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T17:35:43","slug":"graduate-trevor-irion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/graduate-trevor-irion\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Trevor Irion: PT student finds inspiration in education through his mother\u2019s accident"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trevor Irion<\/span><\/b>\u00a0sat in his physical therapy classes, taking notes, working in lab and practicing on his classmates.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then he went home and put all his knowledge to use again, helping the most important patient he\u2019ll ever work with\u2014his mother.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Irion, who will graduate this month from NAU\u2019s doctorate of physical therapy program, was a month short of finishing his bachelor\u2019s degree in 2017 and split between going to grad school in Colorado or enrolling in the Denver firefighter academy. Then he got a call\u00a0that changed everything\u2014his mother,\u00a0Shari,\u00a0a marathon runner, was out for a regular morning run when a truck hit her in an intersection.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After five months, she pulled out of the coma, and in 11 months cycled through five long-term care and rehabilitation facilities. Irion moved\u00a0from Colorado\u00a0to Gilbert\u00a0and he and his sisters\u00a0took care of their mother, who had to relearn to walk and talk.\u00a0During rehab, Irion worked with two standout providers\u2014one was a graduate of NAU\u2019s\u00a0PT\u00a0program and the other was currently in the DPT program.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Trevor\u201cNot only were they very smart and capable people, but they had this confidence in their own knowledge and abilities that really led me to look more into NAU\u2019s PT\u00a0program,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing this, Irion took the work he\u2019d put into applying to other grad programs and applied to NAU. While still caring for his mother, he <\/span>started classes at the Phoenix Biomedical Campus. His coursework, especially neurology classes, were \u201ccomplete eye-openers for me,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had been taking care of my mom and doing some home PT with her for almost a year by the time I started PT school, and all of a sudden when I started these classes I had so many new manual therapy techniques and neuro-specific exercises that I could bring to my mom\u2019s rehab and help with her residual deficits,\u201d he said. \u201cNot only was I able to practice these manual techniques and practice dosing, progressing and regressing exercises, but all of these treatments were things that my mom was not able to be doing once COVID started, as she could not go to her regular PT sessions. It was a great feeling to be able to bring what I was learning in school and to apply it right away with my mom and also to see the benefits right away.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Irion and his three sisters have tag-teamed on being primary caregiver for their mother; two are in the medical field and <\/span>Regan<\/span><\/b>, the youngest, earned a degree in psychology from NAU and now is the primary caregiver. Kimberly, who is No. 3,\u00a0said they\u2019ve all seen him grow in confidence and ability as he continued his studies and put what he learned into action.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the beginning,\u00a0Trevor\u00a0was very involved in her care and was always wanting to observe her PT and OT sessions and would ask questions of the professionals to ensure that he was doing all that he could to help our mom,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have all now been able to watch as he becomes closer and closer to actually being the professional who can answer such questions.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oldest sister Kelly, who is an occupational therapist, agreed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think Trevor\u2019s experience as both a therapist and a caregiver has given him a unique perspective that makes him a strong patient advocate\"Irion and an incredibly supportive practitioner,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has a beautiful way of seeing his patients\u2019 potential and finding unique and purposely ways of motivating them to reach that potential.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the classroom, Irion experienced the same low as everyone else graduating this year. The pandemic sent his class to virtual learning, which\u00a0drastically changed how he interacted with his classmates and professors and lessened the amount of time spent in the lab. He appreciated how open his professors were to feedback, he said; it was clear they wanted to make sure students didn\u2019t miss out\u00a0and did all they could to meet the various needs. Looking back, he said, the people in the classroom with him made such a difference in his education.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the highlights of my time at NAU involve the classmates that were around me and the culture that the professors created in class and in lab,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cIt was a great feeling that first year being in a big lab room with skilled professionals teaching you the foundational knowledge as well as giving clinical gems from their years of experience. I cannot speak highly enough of all of the professors that I interacted with at NAU\u2014they were extraordinary.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"TrevorPam Bosch<\/span><\/b>, an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training, taught Irion and saw him bring his inherent empathy and positivity to the patie<\/span>nts with whom he worked and his willingness to share his knowledge with his classmates.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we discussed pathological condi<\/span>tions and his mom had experienced them, Trevor would contribute to discussions by giving the personal perspective of it,\u201d she said. \u201cIn labs, when we discussed various types of rehab equipment or transfer strategies, Trevor was able to provide insights into implications for the patient or family. His insights were measured and matter-of-fact and really contributed to group discussions.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s excited for Irion to enter the industry, Bosch said;\u00a0his knowledge and love for the work will benefit all of his patients.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Irion takes the board exam in January;<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0he\u2019s not sure yet where he goes from there. He\u2019s interested in both in-patient acute care and outpatient rehab, so he plans to interview at several places and in different care settings and figure out which is the best fit for him right now.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And his first patient?\u00a0Shari\u00a0continues to improve. Despite residual impairments from a traumatic brain injury to the temporal lobe and bilateral cerebrovascular strokes, she is able to communicate and is working on walking again.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/p>\n

Heidi Toth | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trevor Irion\u00a0sat in his physical therapy classes, taking notes, working in lab and practicing on his classmates.\u00a0 Then he went home and put all his knowledge to use again, helping the most important patient he\u2019ll ever work with\u2014his mother.\u00a0\u00a0 Irion, who will graduate this month from NAU\u2019s doctorate of physical therapy program, was a month…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":64704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}