How a specialization in geriatric care helped Heidi Moyer take her career and patient care to the Next Level.

As a young child, Heidi Moyer, PT, DPT, GCS, CEEAA, was often surrounded by older adults and grew up feeling very comfortable around people who were older than her. While completing an undergraduate degree in exercise science, she worked with an advisor who had an infectious passion for aging well and promoting physical activity across the lifespan. This helped continue to drive Moyer to seek out a career working with older adults.

Moyer now serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at Angelo State University in their Doctor of Physical Therapy Program in San Angelo, Texas and is the Program Director for the Geriatric Curriculum at Evidence in Motion. She says that having an idea of what could potentially happen to somebody in the future as they enter their older adult years is an extremely powerful viewpoint to have.

“Geriatric care and especially going through my board-certified clinician training, you aren’t necessarily just looking at 65 and later. You actually have to have an appreciation for what’s happening to somebody in childhood and adolescence, and young adulthood, middle adulthood to see what causes this, so to speak 'perfect storm' that can result in some of these negative aging consequences,” says Moyer.

She says that one of the biggest misnomers she hears from clinicians is that they claim not to be geriatric therapists. Moyer says that working with people who are middle aged requires knowledge of geriatric care because you’re working with people who could be at risk for issues in the future. “We are not just looking at what happens after that arbitrary age of 65,” she adds.

To learn more about Moyer’s experience with geriatric care and how it has enhanced her physical therapy career, watch the full interview here.

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