During his five-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan, a friend was wounded and Garrett Bush decided to help take care of him.
That experience prompted Bush to join the doctorate of physical therapy program at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Bush is studying at the Odessa campus and recently won the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professionals Elwood Scholar Award.
It came with a scholarship worth a total of $2,000, Bush said.
“He is the sole recipient of this annual national award, given to the most impressive candidate among 12 national awardees receiving a Scholarship of Excellence from the ASAHP. This prestigious ASAHP award was given to Garrett because he stands out as a doctoral candidate epitomizing academic achievement, service, leadership, diversity in activities, and strong communication skills. In addition, we are incredibly proud of him for representing the TTUHSC Doctor of Physical Therapy program nationally,” Dean Deborah York Edwards said in an email.
Bush’s interest in physical therapy came when a close friend lost both of his legs and his left hand in Afghanistan. When Bush was discharged from the Marines in 2012 as a sergeant, he moved to Bethesda, Md., where Walter Reed Medical Center is to act as his friend’s caretaker.
Bush said he attended all his friend’s physical and occupational therapy appointments with him.
“It was while I was there that I saw the work that the physical therapists did and that was really impactful and meaningful to me. Just seeing the way that they were able to take young, 20-something year old men and women who had been traumatically wounded and … (give) them the tools to live an independent lifestyle again. That kind of lit a fire in me …,” Bush said.
When his friend got married, Bush moved back to New Mexico, where he is originally from. He earned a degree in kinesiology from New Mexico State University. He is working on his doctorate in physical therapy from Texas Tech health sciences.
Bush said the military has helped him pay for his undergraduate degree.
“Now I’m paying for school myself, but things like the scholarship really helped out. Texas Tech is phenomenal in that it likes to give … out-of-state tuition waivers. So I’m still paying the same as a Texas resident, even though I’m from New Mexico …,” he said.
He is from Truth or Consequences, N.M., located between Las Cruces and Albuquerque.
“Each of the TTUHSC programs nominates one person, and then out of all those program nominees” each of the program directors votes and whoever gets the most votes advances to the committee for the scholarship Bush said.
“I didn’t know what our chances were going against the other programs in the school, but I could see that Dr. Edwards was really excited about it, so I wanted to do it. About a month later, she told me that we won the TTUHSC committee selection. She was ecstatic and I still wasn’t sure that was a big deal or not, but seeing her light up kind of made me realize that she was really proud, which made me feel proud,” Bush said.
He also didn’t realize how competitive the award was at the time. Bush added that he couldn’t have done it without Edwards.
Before he went to Walter Reed Medical Center, Bush said he knew almost nothing about physical therapy.
“I had some friends that injured themselves during like football practice or whatnot in high school, and they’d go see a physical therapist. But to me it was more of advanced exercise. It’s kind of I saw physical therapy back then. Now I know it’s so much more …,” he said.
Getting to have the hands-on experience now, Bush said, has taught him so much.
“… You learn so much about the human anatomy and all of its forms, so I have a greater understanding and respect for everything healthcare,” he added.
Students in the program have a year of clinical rotations in a variety of different specialties and settings.
“That’s generally to kind of help you hone (in) on where you want to end up. But as soon as you graduate and you pass the boards you can practice really anywhere. There are special certifications you can get down the line. I am fully expecting I’ll work with the VA (Veterans Administration) for a while just to try to satisfy that part of me that wanted to first get into physical therapy,” Bush said.
He noted that there is always a need for medical providers in rural settings.
“… Coming from T or C, it’s about 6,000 people, (it) is considered rural New Mexico, so there is always a need for health care workers, especially in VAs,” he said.
Having used the VA system, Bush said he knows they have rotating health care specialists.
“I would love to work for a small, rural community like that,” he added.
When he gets through his clinical rotations, he said he’s going to figure out the location that speaks to him, but he expects to be in either rural New Mexico or rural Texas.
Even when choosing medical school, Bush wanted a smaller city setting.
“The faculty is a huge part of all my enjoyment. … I’ve never met a more caring group of people. They genuinely love their jobs and they love teaching, so it’s great to talk to … experts in the field and learn from them firsthand,” Bush said.
