Marjorie Ionta might not be familiar to many of today’s physical therapists, but her work as the director of physical therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital and as a national leader who helped create the modern version of the field continues to resonate to those who had the fortune of learning from and working with her.
“Ms. Ionta was, and remains, a role model for so many of us – a true professional, a leader, a master clinician, a teacher, a politician, and a risk-taker who influenced generations of PTs,” said BA Harris ’02, ’83, the MGH Institute’s first physical therapy graduate who was an undergraduate student in the 1970s when she first met Ionta. “It is befitting to memorialize her legacy and contribution by having this center bear her name.”
Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Harris, Ionta’s former colleagues, and IHP friends and alumni, the Marjorie K. Ionta PT Center for Clinical Education and Health Promotion was dedicated June 11 to honor her instrumental role in creating the MGH Institute and the launching of its PT program.
Dr. Michael Sullivan ’02, director of Physical and Occupational Therapy Services at Massachusetts General Hospital, co-chaired the steering committee with Dr. Harris. The committee included Department of Physical Therapy former faculty Kathleen Gill-Body ’02, Colleen Kigin ’02, Terry Michel '02, Ruth Purtilo, Mary Watkins ’02, and Cynthia Zadai ’02, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders former faculty Julie Atwood, and Ionta’s Mass General colleagues Betty Bugaj '05, ’84 and Dr. Stanley Paris.
The Ionta PT Center is one of several client-based educational facilities operated by the MGH Institute at the state-of-the-art Sanders IMPACT Practice Center. The Ionta PT Center provides free support services to individuals in Greater Boston and beyond who may not otherwise have access to physical therapy care or those whose insurance benefits have expired but still need continued therapy. These services include comprehensive assessment, therapy, and specialty services for both neurological and musculoskeletal issues.
It includes a state-of-the-art adult rehab gym and pediatric gym where students, under the supervision of licensed faculty, apply their classroom education in real-life scenarios. In many instances, physical therapy students collaborate with their peers in nursing, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, and speech-language pathology to provide the type of team-based interprofessional care that produces better patient outcomes – a hallmark of an MGH Institute education.
John Dillingham, a 2019 Doctor of Physical Therapy graduate who is completing his internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, spoke of what he learned over the past three years. “I found that my time in the Center not only helped me implement the critical material learned in the classroom, but it also gave me guidance on how to put the clients first, build a rapport, and to help each client make progress while making therapy an enjoyable experience for all,” he said. “It has helped shaped my practice as the new grad I am today.”
Ionta’s nephews, Bruce and Scott Cochrane, told the audience of what it was like growing up with an aunt who commanded such great respect in the physical therapy world. Bruce Cochrane recalled the time as a college student when he accompanied his aunt to a physical therapy conference in Boston. She was searching for a specific piece of equipment when a vendor approached her about her quest and asked, by the way, who she was.
“'I’m Marjorie Ionta,' and as soon as she said that – bang! – the whole conversation changed,” Bruce Chochrane told the audience. “That’s when I knew she just wasn’t my auntie anymore.”