Meet MSKTC Ambassador Senja Collins
- Senja Collins
Senja has a hobby that spans the galaxy. She is a Star Wars costumer. Since 2016, she has been an approved member of the Rebel Legion and 501st, bringing smiles to her patients of all ages at their local hospitals and charity events. “I love teaching my patients that they can be anything they want to be.” Senja is known to bring lightsabers to therapy sessions to encourage mobility. Having fun moving isn’t related to age. Participating in fun new activities empowers survivors to think outside of the box. Learning to embrace new challenges goes with you after you leave the hospital setting and brings courage to not just return to your prior life but to thrive.
Senja's Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Journey
Senja has been a physical therapist since 1987. She spent 36 years working at her local Level 1 Trauma Center Hospital. She has worked with countless adult and pediatric patients who had sustained Burns, TBI and SCI. She was an active member of the American Burn Association contributing to research and being appointed as the 3rd PT to the ABA’s Burn Verification Committee. Senja has recently changed settings and is now a staff PT at Trustpoint Rehabilitation Hospital for the Ernest Healthcare System. She has completed an advance certification as a Neuro-IFRAH Clinical Specialist for treating TBI and CVA. She has continued to be involved in Burn support group for over 15 years and is now involved in the support groups for TBI, SCI and Stroke in the rehab setting. At Trustpoint Rehab, she continues to be a full-time clinician providing care, therapy services and advocacy to her patients and being a resource to her clinical team.
What does Senja think of the quality, usefulness, and user-friendliness of the MSKTC resources?
The traditional educational handouts that are available to clinicians can become time consuming and burdensome to locate, update, etc. MSKTC resources have found an efficient and user-friendly way to provide educational materials to patients and family members that will encourage patients to learn and take a deeper interest in their recovery.
Why does Senja want to be an MSKTC ambassador?
Senja first heard about MSKTC at the American Burn Association annual conference. After visiting the staff in their booth, she knew that this was something she wanted to get involved with. Being an older therapist, Senja sees this as an opportunity to help teach her peers how to find user-friendly resources to be better clinicians by educating their patients and their families. But to teach, you must have access to good resources. MSKTC has a plethora of information that is presented in multiple formats and a multitude of languages. No one should ever leave a medical setting without the educational tools to be able to better help themselves.
What has Senja done as an MSKTC ambassador?
Senja first started utilizing the MSKTC model while working at the Timothy J Harner Burn Center for adult and pediatric burn survivors and their families. When she transitioned over to Trustpoint Rehabilitation Hospital she saw an opportunity to greatly expand its availability of resources to a larger patient population of adult and pediatric SCI and Brain Injury patients along with the rehabilitation staff at the facility. Additionally, Senja has a goal to expand her role as an ambassador to help teach the other rehabilitation centers, hospitals and clinics affiliated with the Ernest Healthcare system about the MSKTC model and how to utilize it with the patients in their centers. Lastly, she is on the committee at her institution for the improvement of support groups for SCI, Brain and Stroke patients and their families and plans to make available those resources to those who attend the meetings.