![\"Physical](\"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Jenna-2-300x169.png\")
When a child needs physical therapy, you might think that they\u2019ll receive the same therapy that an adult would.\u00a0 Physical Therapist, Jenna Anderson, says that\u2019s one of the biggest misconceptions about pediatric physical therapy. She credits her co-worker, Lauren Snolis, PT, with coming up with the perfect description of pediatric physical therapy, \u201cIn reality, pediatric PT is all about playing with a purpose to help kids learn specific movements and skills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenna uses play to support patients through all the little steps that lead to achieving big dreams. \u201cIt can be hard in the day-to-day grind to remember how much these kids are achieving,\u201d she shares, \u201cBut when those big moments happen, it makes it all worth it in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenna has been pursuing those moments since she fell in love with the profession while volunteering at a physical therapy clinic in college. Coming from a family where most of the women are teachers, she knew she wanted to work with children and build deep relationships over time with kids and their families.<\/p>\n
As she went through the interview and shadowing process at the hospital in 2017, she was excited by the amount of passion she encountered in everyone she met. \u201cYou know it\u2019s a good place to work when people have been here for over 20 years and still love what they do!\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
![\"Pediatric](\"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Jenna-3-300x169.png\")
Her co-workers continue to inspire her daily. \u201cI hope they all know how thankful I am to be a part of this incredible team,\u201d Jenna says. \u201cI am constantly inspired by the excellence and compassion each of them demonstrates in their work – they give all of themselves to each of the kids we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patients\u2019 stories and accomplishments, big and small, stay with Jenna. She remembers a teenager who had sustained a cervical spinal cord injury in a car crash during Jenna\u2019s first year as a physical therapist.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe showed me a new \u2018trick\u2019 she had figured out the night before to independently reposition her elbow,\u201d Jenna recalls. \u201cShe then told me, \u2018I just decided that I am not going to let something that wasn\u2019t my fault keep me from doing the things I want to do.\u2019 Her spirit and determination still stick with me to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fun Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n Something people might not know:<\/strong> \u201cI was a dancer for 26 years. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Radio City Rockette! I even minored in dance performance in undergrad at Texas Tech.\u201d<\/p>\n Favorite hobbies\/ways to spend free time:<\/strong> Running, game nights with friends, traveling<\/p>\n Favorite food:<\/strong> \u201cCurrently Mediterranean foods would be on the top of my list.\u201d<\/p>\n Favorite inspirational quote:<\/strong> \u201cMay your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.\u201d \u2013 Nelson Mandela<\/p>\n Favorite music genre, performer or song:<\/strong> \u201cRed Dirt Country always reminds me of home and the good ol\u2019 days.\u201d<\/p>\n How would you spend a dream weekend?<\/strong> \u201cIn the mountains, outside of cell phone reception range with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n From the bucket list:<\/strong> \u00a0Backpacking through Europe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At Bethany Children\u2019s Health Center, our employees truly are the heartbeat that drives the organization. Every day, through the care and service they provide, they live our mission of maximizing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[348,637,561,562,638,253],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bethanychildrens.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}