Making An Impact: Christiane Perme Shares Her ICU Mission Trip To Ukraine



Show Notes

Today’s Guests:

Christiane Perme, PT, CCS, FCCM

chrisperme@gmail.com

www.permeseminars.com

Twitter/X: @icuperme

IG: permeicuseminars

LinkedIn: Christiane Perme

Bio: Christiane Perme, PT CCS FCCM is the owner of Perme ICU Rehab Seminars and a Rehab Education

Specialist at Houston Methodist Hospital, where she practiced as a physical therapist exclusively in ICU

for more than 30 years. She is a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine, the first physical

therapist in the world to receive such recognition, and a Board Certified Cardiovascular and Pulmonary

Clinical Specialist. Mrs. Perme has extensive experience in early mobility in ICU, with special interest in

patients on mechanical ventilation. She has published 23 articles and authored 10 book chapters. Mrs.

Perme is a world-renowned speaker and has presented hundreds of courses and lectures in different

countries, including the United States, Peru, Ukraine, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Chile, Colombia, Puerto

Rico, Germany, Denmark, Russia, Nigeria, Netherlands, Canada, and Spain.

Links:

Link for the video from the training mission in Ukraine on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ETTLxGNCw7A?si=FScwwD7kHlSAAIO-

2025 Call for Nominations

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.aptaacutecare.org/resource/resmgr/csm/csm_2024/cycle_2.pdf

Guest Quotes:

9:02 “There was like in high school, one of those profession fairs where the counselors come to talk about different professions and they were talking about the doctor, the nurse, the lawyer. And then all of a sudden I even remember where I was sitting in this auditorium, when they said, and there is a professional physical therapy,  this profession helps patients recover and they set this example. For example, if you have a patient that is in a car accident or if they have a stroke, the physical therapist helped them walk again.  At that moment,  I felt like That is exactly what I want to do.  And I honestly don’t even remember what came after that because I kept thinking about, Oh my God, there’s somebody that helps people walk again.”

26:25 “The part that was  most impactful to me is they did a phenomenal job  in the bomb shelter, all of the walls in the hallway. Once you get down there, there are pictures of patients  that were injured during the war and have pictures like one family that the whole family had amputations and the physician who is, she’s the director of all of the ICUs,  you could see her explaining about that family and what they went through and you could see in her voice, how hard it was for her to talk about that.  She went through all of the pictures on the wall and really educated us about what was happening to that country and how civilians, how people just like us were being affected. So that was a very powerful moment.”

30:20 “I’m going to share with you because this was one of the unique moments:

For all of us, I was teaching one of my classes and the director of the ICU came in with the the director of all of the ICUs with the director of the ICU, one of the ICUs, and then translator came to me and said, Chris, the doctor is asking if you can interrupt your class for a moment. I said, sure. She needs to address all of the doctors.

And she went there, that was, we have been there for about four days at this point.  She went there and she told the physicians.  I want you to please listen to the Americans.  You have no idea what they have done to our patients in the past.  Wow. Our patients that were on the ventilator, that we didn’t think that  they could be extubated.

Not only they are no longer on the ventilator, but they’re not in ICU anymore.  And she was saying that now we have all of these beds in ICU because our patients are leaving the ICU.  And  please listen to the Americans. They know what they’re talking about because we are only four days. And it already changed what hospital that gives me chills.”

35:34 “For all of us who work in acute care, always look for the opportunities, look for the opportunities that we have to make a difference in somebody’s life.  They’re out there and there are plenty of them.  So  just keep your eyes, your ears open, and  look for these opportunities that we can really make a difference.”

Rapid Responses:

Book Recommendation: Every Deep-Drawn Breath by Wes Ely, MD

You know you work in acute care when:

“Two things.  You have to work weekends the rest of your life working in acute care, and you also have to help nurses with personal hygiene of patients.”

Connect with our hosts and the podcast!

Leo Arguelles (LEE-O R-GWELL-IS)

largue2@uic.edu

Twitter @LeoArguellesPT

Ashley Poole

Twitter @AshleyPooleDPT

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