Team Work Makes the Dream Work

"The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side." - Margaret Carty

Meet the Prosthetics Certificate Class of 2012!  These are the 18 other people that I spend the majority of my waking hours with these days.  One of the things that I have learned the past few weeks is how much of a team effort this industry is.  No one leaves you flailing alone when you need help or do not know what to do.  Everyone is willing to stay late and stop working on their own projects to give anyone else a hand.  There are a lot of people in this class (okay, the majority of people in this class) who have way more hands-on experience doing these things than I do.  I had never rolled on a plaster cast before 2 weeks ago, I had never done any of the specific grinding work or shaped out all of these molds.  Nine of the students have already completed the Orthotics program at Cal State and are returning to get their Prosthetics Certificate, they certainly know what they are doing when it comes to the making things portion of the class.  They finish at lightning speed!!  It is amazing.  I just think it is so awesome that, across the board, every single person in the class is willing to stop and answer a question or go into the other room and show you something and help out.  It makes it really feel like we are all in this together, regardless of skill level or experience.  Every person in the class wants every other person in the class to succeed and it definitely makes for a great sense of camaraderie in the group.

This industry is so small that I am confident I will be running in the same circles as the majority of these people for the rest of my career.  We might only be spending 17 weeks together now, but we will be lifelong members of a community that only has a few thousand people in it.  We will see each other at O&P shows and meetings, fundraisers and volunteer events and potentially even work together again in the future.  It is a great group of people and I feel really lucky and blessed that I ended up in such a great class.  I know that when I get to the place where I am one of the more experienced people in the group, I will remember it is worth it to someone else to take the 5 minutes and sit down and do my best to help them in whatever way I can.