Physiotherapist and Physiopedia Plus (Plus) instructor Dr Robin Tacchetti is optimising healthcare access by providing vital paediatric services to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana from 2,000 miles away in Maryland, demonstrating how telehealth can effectively reach the 80% of rural Americans who are medically underserved.
Plus is pleased to feature Dr Robin Tacchetti (PT, DPT), one of our course instructors whose impact extends far beyond the digital classroom. With four highly successful courses on Plus, Robin has been empowering healthcare professionals worldwide with her expertise in various topics. Recently, she shared her groundbreaking work in rural America with our team, revealing how her innovative approach to telehealth is transforming access to physiotherapy in underserved communities.
“When I tell people that I work as a pediatric physical therapist on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, they look at me with a confused face. They can’t quite understand how someone living in Maryland could be working with children in Montana. Fortunately, telehealth has allowed me to reach out to this rural community and provide care for others who would not otherwise be able to access services. While telehealth is not a perfect solution, it does bridge the gap for providing care.”
When a physiotherapy session begins on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, it might take place in a copy room, a music room or even a hallway. But for Dr Robin Tacchetti (PT, DPT), these improvised spaces represent something powerful: the possibility of bringing crucial healthcare services to communities that have gone without them for years. As a Plus instructor and pioneering telehealth practitioner, she’s proving that geographical barriers no longer need to limit access to quality physiotherapy care.
Robin’s impact is particularly vital given the healthcare disparities in rural America, where 46 million Americans face significant barriers to accessing medical care. With 80% of the rural population being medically underserved, her approach to delivering physiotherapy services demonstrates how healthcare professionals can bridge these crucial gaps.
Currently, Robin provides paediatric physiotherapy services on the Blackfeet Reservation while based in Maryland, 2000 miles away. This is a great example of the power of telehealth in modern healthcare delivery. Working within the school system, she collaborates with an on-site assistant to serve special needs children aged 3–18, ensuring they receive the critical care that had been absent from the community for nearly a decade.
Her work tackles the unique challenges of rural healthcare delivery head-on. From adapting to patchy internet connections to transforming copy rooms and hallways into therapy spaces, Robin’s approach exemplifies the creativity and flexibility needed in rural healthcare settings. Her experience has also deepened her understanding of cultural norms and the profound challenges faced by Native American communities, where average life expectancy is 10 years below the national average.
“Working in these communities has shown me that physical therapists can make a significant impact even without relocating to rural areas,” Robin explains. “Whether through mobile rehabilitation clinics, community health fairs or telehealth services, there are numerous ways to serve these populations effectively.”
Physiotherapists who are unable to move to rural communities can still help with these underserved communities through the following options:
- Mobile rehabilitation clinics – staffed by multidisciplinary teams that travel to remote areas providing onsite rehab services
- Outreach programmes to the community – screenings and early intervention programmes to identify individuals at risk
- Community health fairs – multidisciplinary in nature and geared toward early detection of treatment of injury or disease
- Community based-initiatives programmes – examples would include healthy lifestyles and injury prevention
- Workforce development – physiotherapists can provide training and education to local healthcare providers on basic rehabilitation services
Robin also teaches in the doctorate physical therapy program at Shenandoah University. She shares her real-world insights with patients, students, and healthcare professionals in her different roles. Her hands-on experience shows what works in rural healthcare. She understands how to adapt treatments for different cultures. Most importantly, she demonstrates how to overcome the many challenges of delivering healthcare to remote communities.
For professionals inspired by Robin’s telehealth work, Plus offers valuable resources to develop similar skills. If you are unsure where to start with telehealth, we recommend our Telehealth for Physiotherapy Programme. This programme covers essential areas including technology selection, clinical triaging, practical considerations in telehealth implementation and general patient assessment and management in virtual settings.
Learn from Robin’s expertise through her popular Plus courses:
- Access to Assistive Technology
- Steps to Assistive Technology Provision
- Exploring Transfers
- Using the ICF with Cerebral Palsy
This article was written by one of our course instructors...
Tarina van der Stockt
PT (BphysT), DPT
Education Director Physiopedia Plus