12-05-2011

Patients appreciate free Sac State clinics

Professor Clare Lewis came to Sacramento State nearly 16 years ago to teach in the Department of Physical Therapy. The native Californian, who graduated from McClatchy High School, had enrolled at Sac State as an undergraduate, but transferred to Fresno State to major in physical therapy.

“Sac State didn’t have a program at the time and I decided to head south to get my degree,” she says. Lewis kept heading southwest – far southwest, landing a job at a New Zealand medical center for a year. “In addition to various physiotherapy settings, I performed a variety of respiratory therapy treatments that are rarely done in the States,” she says. “It was a great experience, but I came back because the pay was paltry and my student loans were looming.”

Lewis returned to Sacramento for a brief stay before setting forth to the University of Alabama at Birmingham to earn a master’s degree in public health in 1988.  After receiving a second master’s in physical therapy at UAB in 1994, Lewis was bound for the University of Mississippi’s Medical School in Jackson.

She loved teaching at the medical school but yearned to get back to Sacramento. Her ultimate goal of joining Sac State’s new Physical Therapy Department was achieved in 1996 when she became an associate professor. Lewis has been happily doing what she wants to do since her return.

“I’m thrilled with my career and helping people,” she says. The psychic value of assisting others in need pervades the Physical Therapy Department, which will launch Sac State’s second doctoral program next fall.

Lewis is especially fond of the free clinic that she supervises during the fall and spring semesters. Physical therapy students, under her direction, assist Sac State students who need therapeutic treatment but lack health insurance. She began the clinic 10 years ago, and it has helped hundreds in need.

Lewis’ lending a helping hand isn’t limited to Sac State students with physical therapy needs. The product of a foster home herself, she has been involved with Sac State’s Guardian Scholars program since its inception in 2006.

Alan Miller
amiller@csus.edu