{"id":5301,"date":"2019-10-07T13:48:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T17:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/\/?p=5301"},"modified":"2019-10-10T14:09:53","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T18:09:53","slug":"second-year-doctor-of-physical-therapy-student-leslie-sierra-arevalo-serves-patients-through-outreach-and-volunteerism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/2019\/10\/second-year-doctor-of-physical-therapy-student-leslie-sierra-arevalo-serves-patients-through-outreach-and-volunteerism\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-Year Doctor of Physical Therapy Student Leslie Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo Serves Patients Through Outreach and Volunteerism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\">\n<!-- iframe plugin v.5.2 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gCVWck1LPyI?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" 0=\"allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;\/iframe\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\"><\/iframe>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leslie Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo is a second-year physical therapy student in the<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Division of Physical Therapy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who motivates others through her outreach volunteer work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo volunteers at the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/shac\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.umdurham.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Urban Ministries of Durham<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stmchapelhill.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">St. Thomas More<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> clinics. \u201cI think it was something that I grew up with,\u201d Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0said, \u201cGiving back to other communities and underserved communities just became a part of who I was.\u201d\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo knew at an early age she would go into the medical field because of her mother who holds a PhD in nursing research. Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> recalled visiting medical clinics with her mother and shadowing nursing students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a Colombian-American woman who grew up in Texas, Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> speaks Spanish and is able to serve patients to improve their quality of life across cultural and linguistic barriers. She has volunteered for seven summers in Peru where she provided health care services and reopened a health clinic in a rural village. \u201cIt is a huge relief to have someone who understands them,&#8221; Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Working closely with the Latinx community emphasized to Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> how important developing relationships with patients can be. As an interpreter, she is able to be a bridge between health care providers and patients. Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> intends to make them feel comfortable, safe, and understood. \u201cI want to get to know them outside of a condition and just help them in a variety of aspects in their life,\u201d Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5307\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 310px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5307\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Leslie Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Division of Physical Therapy second-year student Leslie Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo said the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/\/academic-programs\/doctor-of-physical-therapy\/dpt-admissions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doctor of Physical Therapy<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">program has provided her with many outreach opportunities as a student. She loves the hands-on experience and the strong foundation provided by the program. \u201cMy mentor in the outpatient clinic pushed my comfort limits,\u201d Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0said. \u201cShe helped me grow as a student and prepared me for the next two years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo is a recipient of the Charlotte Money Beatty Memorial Scholarship. She said the scholarship has helped relieve the financial burden of graduate school and has given her less to worry about after graduation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The division is one of seven housed in the <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Department of Allied Health Sciences<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">UNC School of Medicine<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Ranked #15 by <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/best-graduate-schools\/top-health-schools\/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill-199120\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">U.S. News and World Report<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the physical therapy program is among the best in the country.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>-Lizzy Laufters, marketing intern<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leslie Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo is a second-year physical therapy student in the Division of Physical Therapy who motivates others through her outreach volunteer work.\u00a0 Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo volunteers at the Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC), Urban Ministries of Durham, and St. Thomas More clinics. \u201cI think it was something that I grew up with,\u201d Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo\u00a0said, \u201cGiving back to other &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/2019\/10\/second-year-doctor-of-physical-therapy-student-leslie-sierra-arevalo-serves-patients-through-outreach-and-volunteerism\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Second-Year Doctor of Physical Therapy Student Leslie Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo Serves Patients Through Outreach and Volunteerism\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81046,"featured_media":5307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","odd"],"acf":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870.jpg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-300x200.jpg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-768x512.jpg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-1024x683.jpg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/583\/2019\/10\/OST_1870-150x150.jpg","featured_image_alt":"Leslie Sierra-Ar\u00e9valo","category_details":[{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/category\/news\/"}],"tag_details":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81046"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/physical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}