Makenzie’s Motor Minute

Articles

Meet Makenzie

A wife, a mother of two kiddos, and a physical therapist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Makenzie has been practicing since 2008 following graduation from St. Louis University with a master’s degree in Physical Therapy.

Makenzie has extensive experience in providing continuity of care, consultations, and education to patients and families. She thrives in a multidisciplinary environment where she has the opportunity to collaborate with occupational and speech therapists, and Washington University physician teams. She has spent her career not only working directly with patients, but also with physicians in Orthopedics, Neurology and Hematology.

She has developed and streamlined physical therapy protocols and teaching tools for her department to use, while fostering continuity of care between therapists and improving patient outcomes. Additionally, she has developed departmental resources that provide therapists and parents with a centralized repository of educational resources and information. Makenzie loves to share these resources and information with other therapists, patients, and families.

Makenzie approaches her practice by looking at the entire picture. She believes in looking beyond the medical diagnosis and treating the whole patient – even if that means spending an extensive amount of personal time and energy researching problems outside of the realm of physical therapy. She tries to make sure that her families have all of the information and resources they need to best care for themselves.

The highlight of Makenzie’s summers is her long tenure as co-director of the Gateway Hemophilia Association Camp Notaclotamongus. In response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Makenzie led the team in pivoting their programming to a virtual setting to optimally serve the kids she adores so much. She also is a member of the National Hemophilia Association Physical Therapy Working Group, which plans and executes the annual NHF Bleeding Disorder Conference. Recently, she has helped form an organization, from the bottom up, composed of physical therapists across the country to continue her work to share knowledge and create resources to better the management of patients. Makenzie considers all of these activities a “pastime” and in essence, her passion for pediatric health does not fall far from her personal life.

Although it’s nearly impossible for Makenzie to turn off her “PT Brain”, she enjoys unwinding with her husband and two daughters by gardening, crafting, camping, and hiking. Through Makenzie’s Motor Minute, Makenzie will address a variety of topics that support children with NF achieve the best version of themselves.