By Mark Yanai

Finding Teagan: A New Home

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Teagan Ferguson’s Co-Op Experience

When I think about Teagan, I get a little misty eyed. I first interviewed her for a co-op position a year before she arrived on Oahu. She was very quiet and reserved. Honestly, I was concerned that she wasn’t ready for the experience of being so far from home so I recommended that she apply again the following year. She ended up traveling to Hawaii with her family and visited our facilities. She contacted me and again expressed her desire to join us. Her determination to join us was evident and I offered her the position gladly.

Throughout Teagan’s six-month employment with us, her skills, along with her confidence, grew immensely as she worked closely with our patients and staff therapists. What amazed me the most about Teagan, was her ability to adapt. Due to multiple unexpected changes, she was asked to deal with changes to her schedule, including moving locations, and working with different programs. She definitely displayed a level of maturity that impressed us all and became one of our most versatile, multi-skilled clinicians that patients embraced as their own.

Here’s what she wrote about that experience.

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I’ve traveled my whole life and never lived anywhere very long. I’m honestly not one to jump at a chance to travel more, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to revisit the place where I was born. After my co-op with Fukuji and Lum I was really glad I had taken the trip to work with them. F &L is truly a family, one that includes the patients that we cared for. I was able to work at Lower Atherton’s Outpatient Clinic and in Aquatic Therapy at the pool.

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With the F&L family I was able to solidify my skills in the outpatient clinic and learn a lot about clinical decisions from Jamie, whom I worked closely with. It was great to see things from her perspective as a newer PT and learn some tips along the way.

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Down at the pool I had the ever-amazing Rachael Hyland to guide my learning. She helped me grow from a nervous student to someone who was ready to take on clinical education with confidence.

It was amazing to see how much could be done in an aquatic setting, from ROM to conditioning and balance, and how creative the field could be. I was grateful that I could have such a positive experience in the field I’d like to specialize into. 
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The things I’ve learned as a co-op student aren’t the only things I’m thankful for either. Everyone shared their part of Hawaii, whether it was food from our lovely patients, Colleen opening her doors to house us or Ryan and Talon showing us the social life. The staff went out of their way to really make this a wonderful experience for all of us. 
Being back in classes definitely isn’t the same as being on an island but after this experience I’m much more motivated and have valuable insight. I look forward to a chance to return to Oahu and hopefully make it a more permanent accommodation. 
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Teagan Ferguson

Happy at Work Uncategorized
By Mark Yanai

We Are Spartans!

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F&L Conquers the Spartan Race

On Saturday, August 15th, F&L’s team entry into the Spartan Race Hawaii completed the Sprint category for the first time. Five brave souls joined over 3000 participants to complete in the two day long event held at Kuuloa Ranch on the northeastern side of Oahu.

The second annual race was spread across 4,000 acres on the working cattle ranch. It began early Saturday morning and consisted of three different courses: the Sprint, the Super, and the Beast. Each race increases in distance and number of obstacles. Obstacles included rope and wall climbs, sandbag carries, monkey nets, spear throws, and tire drags. Click here to see a list of the various obstacles.

The Sprint is the shortest of the races, usually a little more than 3 miles and includes about 20 obstacles. The Super is roughly 8 miles and 25+ obstacles and the Beast 13+ miles and 30+ obstacles. Should some crazy souls feel like they could complete all three of the races, they would become a member of the Spartan TRIFECTA Tribe.

The F&L team consisted of myself, Jamie Ford, Joy Yanai, Ross Suyemura, and Stacey Hertzog. We trained hard for the past two months to prepare for both the distance of running on hills and attacking the expected signature obstacles. We knew that interval training combined with practice on various obstacle components of carrying, climbing and pulling would help us conquer the course. We even practiced the spear throw!

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The race turned out to be exactly what we expected. Running through the changes in elevation and attacking each obstacle were physically and mentally challenging. Rain throughout the week provided for an extremely humid Saturday and running through the open fields definitely required a strong cardiovascular effort. There were a few racers who cramped up.

The obstacles that proved to be most difficult were the ones that required the most practice: the rope climb, spear throw, and the monkey bars. Each of us was able to complete every obstacle but we also were subject to the dreaded burpees.

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Burpees are a full body exercise where you transition from a horizontal position laying flat, face down in a push up position to a vertical position with hands over head and feet off the ground. Not sure who decided that failing a Spartan obstacle requires 30 burpees but they definitely created a strong motivator to avoid failure! Burpees challenge your entire body and stress your cardiovascular system. For Spartans there are no fails, just burpees.

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The Spartan Race turned out to be an awesome experience despite the burpees. It was fun running through streams and rolling in the mud. There were parts of the race that mess with your head and conjure fear of failure but ultimately they bring feelings of accomplishment when completed. It was helpful to have teammates that would motivate you to keep up and support you when the humidity and hills challenged you. It was a great community to be around and the beauty of Kuuloa Ranch is often breath taking.

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F&L did have one Trifecta entry: Talon Tengan. Talon competed in the Spartan Race held in March at Aloha Stadium and completed the Super and the Beast at Kuuloa Ranch. His experience in the previous race was one of the main reasons why I entered the race. I will lean heavily on his experience for next year, as we will enter a team to compete in the Super AND the Beast!

Congratulations to all the finishers of the Spartan Race and good luck to all the qualifiers who will compete in the World Championship in Lake Tahoe in October! Hope to see all of you at the next race in Hawaii!

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Mark's Blog
By Mark Yanai

The NEU Experience @ WORC by: Cody Gilliss

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Cody Gilliss arrived in Hawaii early in January 2015 and began his 6 month Co-operative experience at F&L’s Windward Occupational Rehab Center (WORC). I had interviewed Cody four months prior and knew that he would be a great fit for the unique setting that WORC has to offer. After returning to Boston a month ago, Cody took some time to reflect on his experience and share it with us.

Having the opportunity to work at Fukuji & Lum Physical Therapy was a once in a lifetime experience for me, and I can’t thank everyone at F&L enough for my 6 months in paradise. It’s sad to believe my short time with F&L is already over and I’m back in Boston, but Hawai’i, the memories, and the friends I made along the way will be with me for years to come.

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Being my first real move from home, I was worried how I would fit in with the culture, the people, and everyone I was working with. Fortunately for me, I was lucky enough to work with some of the best people I’ve ever met – and had the opportunity to work with so many amazing patients. Thank you all for making my move to Hawai’i truly a breeze.

Prior to this work experience, I knew I wanted to experience something different than what I would get at home in Boston. I was greeted by a crew of talented and passionate forward-thinkers that really revolutionize and break the mold of the physical therapy practice. The WORC clinic uses a lot of cutting-edge and exciting new methods to rehabilitate their patients, and it was a pleasure to be a student learning from everyone there.

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Every day I knew that I would learn something new, or have a new book sitting at my desk. The amount of knowledge and insight I have gained through everyone at F&L is amazing and I am very grateful. Mark emphasized to me that it’s important to forever be a student, and now I realize how true that really is. I learned you should always strive to be better, to learn more, and to be responsible for your own education.

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Working at F&L under Mark, David, Stacy, Jessie, Lisa and Ross taught me so much about how to be a great physical therapist and a great healthcare provider. They work so hard to put the patient’s health and wellbeing first, and it’s something I look forward to providing for my patients in my professional future down the road.

Every patient that walked through the door seemed to be a part of the F&L family, and it was a blessing to be a part of that family, or Ohana, while I was there. I now definitely understand what it means to practice physical therapy “with aloha”, and it’s something I will bring back here to the mainland!

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Sports Day at WORC

Speaking of things I want to bring back to the mainland, there are so many things I want to bring back here. First and most important – my favorite Hawaiian snack… Foodland’s very own, Spicy Ahi Poke. I’m currently looking around the local fish markets to recreate it on my own. Thank you again to Jessie and Lisa for the extra furikake and poke-mix! It will be put to good use, I promise!!!

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Cody’s Homemade Spicy Ahi Bowl

There isn’t a day I spend without thinking about my experience in Hawai’i and how it has made me a better person. The people, the ocean, the weather, the culture, and the Aloha spirit – It’s a time in my life I’ll never forget and it’s something I’ll take forward with me every day. Thank you all again for making it so special. I can’t wait for the day I can come back to Kaneohe, hopefully this time for much longer.

Aloha,
Cody

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Happy at Work
By Mark Yanai

Sarah: My Co-op Experience At F&L

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Sarah Agustin is a student of Northeastern University and recently returned to Boston after spending the last six months working at our Aquatic and Honolulu locations. She is the first Co-op student originally from Hawaii. Sarah wrote about her Co-op experience at F&L:

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Being born and raised on the Island of Oahu, I had an amazing opportunity to return to the islands and work as a co-op student at Fukuji and Lum Physical Therapy. Fukuji and Lum is unique in many ways as they stand by their mission statement “ to deliver fun, happiness and compassion in serving our patients and community”.  While being apart of the F & L Ohana for the past 6 months I was exposed to various settings such as: Outpatient Clinic, Aquatic Therapy, and Work Hardening Plus Program.

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I had the opportunity to work at the Kuakini Clinics in Honolulu and Aquatic Therapy Program in Kaneohe, each with an amazing staff.  As a student and employee I was challenged daily to work closely with patients and to better my clinical decision making skills. From observing many initial evaluations with our staff members, to assisting patients with therapeutic exercises, I can say that I have learned a tremendous amount that I know will help me become a great future physical therapist. Working closely with Art Lum, I was introduced to NAIOMT (North American Institute of Orthopedic Manual Therapy) where I was able to see first-hand some of the manual techniques and how to apply it to therapy. F & L offered many in-services to their employees to learn about new and developing fields such as Graston and Gameready. F & L also valued and stressed a personal physical fitness program. Early morning work outs challenged the staff but at the same time, it kept the staff in top physical condition.  The entire staff at F & L was open and willing to share all of their specialized knowledge with me. They answered the many questions that I had and in returned challenged me with connecting the classroom knowledge with our daily work routine. F & L Staff went above and beyond during this Co-op experience to make this entire process an amazing learning experience.

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Even though I was born and raised in the islands, I took advantage of being home with family and friends and exploring more of what the island has to offer. I went on many new hikes though out the islands over the past 6 months such as Kalalau on Kauai, Halawa Valley on Molokai and Waipio Valley on the Big Island.  Each of the hikes was an experience that I will never forget. Being away from home for the past year in Boston, I definitely missed my local grindz, so of course I dived right into all of the local foods that the islands had to offer and made sure I ate enough to last me the next 2 years in Boston.

Working at F&L has made a tremendous impact on my career. It was hard to leave such an amazing staff and company and I look forward to see what the company has for the future.

Aloha,

Sarah Agustin

Happy at Work