色花堂

By Megan Bradshaw on November 10, 2019

Tim Ames joined the U.S. Army in 1990 right after graduating from Baltimore City College High. Since then, he鈥檚 built his life鈥檚 work on helping others. 

For 12 years, Ames worked as a pharmacy specialist before becoming a medic, and he served in both Iraq wars and the war in Afghanistan. In fact, on day one of his basic training the first missile was fired in the conflict that eventually unseated dictator Saddam Hussein.

While overseas, Ames served in field hospital units, making sure wounded soldiers were stable before shipping them to longer-term care in Germany or at Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland.

He stayed busy while deployed stateside as well, taking classes at Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) and UMBC before graduating from the physical therapy assistant program at BCCC in 1998.

Ames retired from the Army in 2014 as a master sergeant.

He immediately began looking for undergraduate programs and heard about the allied health bachelor鈥檚 degree from a coworker at GBMC, a nurse who is a 色花堂 alumna. Ames enrolled in fall 2014 and had earned his bachelor鈥檚 by 2016.

鈥溕�花堂 accepted the majority of my prior credits and also took my military service into account, so I earned my degree pretty quickly,鈥� he says.

On the heels of his undergraduate degree, Ames decided to become a two-time Tiger, enrolling in the health science master鈥檚 degree program. He is pursuing a dual degree concentration in healthcare administration and community health and is on track to graduate this spring.

鈥� With therapy, you just get somebody moving and just the excitement that you get when you say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e going to do steps today. Let鈥檚 try one.鈥� One turns into two and then they do the whole flight. Just to see them smile. 鈥�

Currently, Ames works at GBMC Hospital as a physical therapy assistant for acute rehab. He sees patients recently out of surgery.

鈥淲e want to make sure that you can do the functional stuff: getting out of bed, up and down stairs and safely transfer without falling,鈥� he notes. 

His daily caseload is usually four to five patients working on their individual goals. 

鈥淥nce the therapists do the initial evaluation, I just follow on the goals listed,鈥� Ames says. 鈥淚f the goal is the patient needs to walk 50 feet, we鈥檙e going to work up to being able to walk 50 feet, with whatever assistance that makes you safe to go home. Also, I talk to the nurses and doctors about patients鈥� medical stability and whether it鈥檚 safe for them to have therapy that day.鈥� 

He frequently becomes an integral part of patients鈥� emotional and physical recovery, and Ames gets just as attached to them. Ames listens to his patients鈥� life stories and tries to help them beyond the goals on their chart. 

鈥淚 really appreciate how my classwork enables me to further help educate my patients and coworkers with topics like health insurance and post-discharge resource gathering,鈥� Ames says. 

He values his program for helping him understand parts of healthcare that he doesn鈥檛 touch daily: administration, how to find patient resources, differences in insurances and how to write a policy. 

鈥淭he professors want to make sure you know what you鈥檙e doing when you leave the program. They are going to make sure that you have the foundations when you leave that you鈥檙e going to be correct on what you鈥檙e doing. You鈥檙e going to know how to find certain resources to complete your project,鈥� Ames notes.

It should come as no surprise Ames鈥� future career goals are centered on others. After graduating with his master鈥檚, he wants to get back into the veterans鈥� system and potentially become a professor at 色花堂 or another college in the area. 

鈥淚 want to help other soldiers, especially with some of the resources the professors are telling us about through new Medicare and Medicaid programs, because a lot of times, if you didn鈥檛 fully retire or were reserves like I was, you have civilian insurance,鈥� he says.

For now, though, Ames is content.

鈥淚 enjoy what I do. I really enjoy it,鈥� Ames says. 鈥淢y wife always says, 鈥榊ou probably would do the job for free.鈥� I would. With therapy, you just get somebody moving and just the excitement that you get when you say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e going to do steps today. Let鈥檚 try one.鈥� One turns into two and then they do the whole flight. Just to see them smile.鈥�

MORE INFORMATION

Studying health science at 色花堂

Healthcare professionals and students with a health science background can broaden their knowledge, learn new skills, and prepare to make significant contributions to their communities with a health science master鈥檚 degree.

• Learn more about the health science master's degree.
• Request information about 色花堂.