Faculty and Staff News
Orthotics & Prosthetics
General News
Community service is important to Orthotics and Prosthetics (O&P) student, Casey Evans ‘25O&P. And people are starting to notice, especially the United States Navy.
This summer, Evans received three awards from the Navy for her work as a Hospital Corpsman.
“I just like to give other people the opportunity to experience the same things that I would typically have access to,” said Evans.
Originally from Harleysville, Pennsylvania, Evans did her undergraduate work at West Chester University where she graduated with a degree in Exercise Science and an Occupational Therapy concentration. After enlisting in the Naval Reserves, she decided to switch gears and found O&P was a career in which she was indeed interested in pursuing.
A lot of her volunteer hours are spent in the O&P profession. Evans, who is in the inaugural class of the O&P program, Salus at Drexel University, always had an interest in kinesiology which led her to explore the O&P profession. And, most of her volunteer efforts are with local organizations.
She has become involved in Hanger Clinic events, which creates state-of-the-art prostheses, braces, supports, cranial helmets and other devices; has volunteered the past two years at Camp No Limits, a nonprofit organization providing camps for children with limb loss or limb difference and their families; and has volunteered with her women’s rugby team to spread domestic violence awareness. Additionally, Evans has been an active participant in numerous O&P related outreach events directed to students in middle, high and technical schools as well as collegiate level programs to educate others about the profession.
She calls her experience thus far in the Salus/Drexel O&P program “amazing” and said as a member of the program’s first cohort, she is fully aware it’s a unique opportunity.
“There are only eight students in my cohort and the program is rapidly growing,” said Evans, who is currently completing her residency at the Hanger Clinic location in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. “We’re establishing the building blocks for the program and we’re able to provide the faculty input on what worked or what didn’t work from the student perspective. We are kind of paving the way for future cohorts in a sense.”
And, the accolades keep coming. Evans was recently awarded the Larry Lange Travel Fellowship Award by the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE). The $2,000 award helps residents cover travel and meeting registration fees for professional conferences or to support outreach activities. Evans chose to use the award to participate in a Range of Motion Project (ROMP) service trip to Guatemala City this past October.
As she looks ahead to her future, she hopes to start working as a full-time Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist (CPO). She might end up commissioning with the Navy, but has yet to make that final determination.
