Bradley Carver- Louisiana Tech BS Kinesiology 2013 Northwestern University–Chicago Masters of Prosthetics and Orthotics 2018
My name is Bradley Carver and I am a Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist. I graduated from LA Tech in 2013 where I majored in Clinical Kinesiology. I, like many others, had always wanted to be a Physical Therapist. I attended LA Tech with this goal in mind. I always knew I wanted to help people so Physical Therapy seemed to be the logical career path. The first year I applied to schools I was rejected from everywhere I applied to. I wasn’t completely surprised by this but was still somewhat caught off guard. At this time, I decided it was best to get a job as a PT technician so that I could get some experience in the field while trying to improve my resume. I re-applied the next year for PT school and was rejected again. At this point I started to get nervous because the plan I had for myself for so many years started to fall apart. When trying again a third time, I finally prayed about the decision for PT. For the third straight year I was rejected from all PT schools and had no idea what was next.
At this point I began looking into alternative careers in sales, fitness, coaching or anything else I could wrap my mind around. I wasn’t completely sure what else to do with my degree since my initial plan was all I had ever considered. I spent several weeks interviewing for jobs and researching career paths with no success. So again, I took it to God. At this point I was watching a show where I saw someone doing Prosthetics and I thought “well that would be pretty cool”. So, I began to research what all this entailed. At this point I discovered that I had all of the pre-requisite courses required due to the curriculum required during undergrad and that all I needed was shadowing experience. I continued to do research on this field as it quickly felt like this was a door that God had opened for me. The next day, I was having dinner at a restaurant with my girlfriend, now wife Jordan, where I was telling her about praying about what to do and coming across Prosthetics. At which point, a man with a prosthetic leg got up from across the restaurant and walked right past us and left. Jordan then looked at me and said “well I think that was your sign”.
The next day I updated my resume and dropped it off at all 4 clinics in the Monroe/West Monroe area explaining that I was interested in the field and was just looking to volunteer so that I could decide if this was something I wanted to do. Only one of the clinics allowed me to stay and do some shadowing. He allowed me to volunteer for several weeks before we decided that this was a career path I was seriously considering. Upon making this decision, I began handling many tasks for this company. I did some marketing, purchasing and inventory, minor patient care and technical work which included fabricating the prosthetic limbs. I instantly fell in love with this field and decided that I wanted to apply to schools. I knew this was the career path God had for me as my first year applying, I was accepted to several of the schools that I applied to. I chose to attend Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. I was in their Masters of Prosthetics and Orthotics program from 2016-2018. We then moved to Memphis, TN to complete my two-year residency.
While in Memphis, I worked at a company that specialized in Pediatrics and Orthopedics. Prior to this residency, I had almost no interest in Orthotics (custom bracing) but decided I would complete a residency in this as it was part of my Masters degree. I quickly fell in love with Orthotics and we saw a significant amount of Pediatrics from the Memphis area. Many of the children we were treating were unable to walk without custom braces for their feet and ankles (AFOs) due to a myriad of issues. While there, I was exposed to so many different diagnoses and presentations that I had never heard of. I was also able to go into surgeries with many of the different orthopedic surgeons. I was able to gain valuable exposure to a very broad patient population. This exposure included trauma, orthopedic and neurological injuries, athletics and many more. One of the more unique opportunities afforded was being able to work with some of the Memphis Grizzlies athletes which required custom shoe orthotics to protect their feet and ankles when playing basketball.
We had been there for approximately 3 years when we had our first child, Maverick. Up until this point, Jordan and I had no intention to return to Louisiana and Memphis began to feel like home. We had always talked that if we ever moved back to Louisiana that we would only move to Ruston. Ruston has always been one of our favorite places because we met as Louisiana Tech students through the college ministry at Temple Baptist Church. Ruston is also the midway point between our families as I am from West Monroe and Jordan is from Shreveport. Not to mention that all of our best friends were still living in Ruston.
I began searching for jobs near the Ruston area for a few months while we discussed a potential move but wasn’t able to find anything close enough to justify moving back. When ultimately, I decided to pray about the move to see if it was something more than just us desiring to move back. The next day I found a job in Monroe that had been posted for a very long time for a Clinical Manager position with a great company. In addition to this company, the job description matched my resume almost exactly. I joked with Jordan that I was scared to apply thinking that they’d throw out my application because it almost looked like I created a resume specifically for this job.
We prayed for a week or so before I decided to apply. I finally started the application process one night and it took me until almost midnight to submit my resume and fill out the online portion of the application. The next morning, I received a call from the Clinical Director of Orthotics and Prosthetics at Methodist Rehab Center in Flowood, MS. We talked for about an hour and we both felt as though I would be a great fit at the company. A few days later I went down to interview in person and spent most of the day there. I ultimately accepted the position to run their Monroe, LA office.
Since being in this role, I have been able to positively impact the community in ways I never imagined before. We will soon be opening an office in Ruston as well due to the various connections in the community that I formed because of Louisiana Tech. We have been able to begin volunteering in the college department at our church and also be able to spend more time with our family. Not long after moving back to Louisiana we found out that Jordan was pregnant with our second son, Marshall. I will always be grateful for the opportunities that attending Louisiana Tech University have afforded me. I cannot recommend Louisiana Tech enough and owe so much to the university and staff that helped me get to the point where I am today!
The Exponential Factor 