A Great Oak in the Forest of Rehabilitation Has Fallen

Abstract

Imagine for a minute the physiotherapy profession bereft of leaders. Inevitably, our knowledge base would become stagnant, our professional advancement would halt, society’s respect for our work would fade, and, ultimately, our profession would cease to exist. No one could argue, then, that leadership is not critical to physical therapy. But who are our leaders? People who assume positions of authority are often regarded as leaders, but managers, supervisors, and even practice ‘‘leaders’’ are not leaders by virtue of their rank, title, or position; that must be earned. Leadership is a democratic construct; people at all levels of our profession, from students to senior clinicians and academicians, can be, and are, leaders. One clear example of a consummate leader in our profession is Dr. Jacquelin Perry. Jacquelin, the only child of a clothing shop clerk and travelling salesman, was born on May 31, 1918, in Denver, Colorado, and died, at nearly 95 years of age, on March 11, 2013, in Los Angeles, California. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in physical education from UCLA in 1940, she trained to become a physical therapist at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC. From 1941 through 1946 she served as a physical therapist in the US Army, treating patients with polio in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Although this period was particularly formative in terms of her life’s work, Jacquelin yearned for more professional independence—to be in a position ‘‘to make my own decisions.’’1 So she pursued medical training at the University of California at San Francisco and, true to her persevering character, went on to become one of the first 10 female orthopaedic surgeons in the United States. In 1955, Dr. Perry was recruited to Rancho Los Amigos in Downey, California, to launch their rehabilitation programme. Professionally, she thrived in that environment: ‘‘Rancho was made for me.’’2 Dr. Perry’s recent death makes this an appropriate time not only to acknowledge her innumerable accomplishments but also to reflect on what made her such a great leader. One of us (JW) had the privilege of working with Jacquelin as a fellow faculty member at the University of Southern California (USC); the other (MM-L) studied under Dr. Perry as a graduate student at USC. Because we were profoundly influenced by Dr. Perry, we were motivated to share our reflections. What qualities made Jacquelin Perry an uncontested leader? Somewhat surprisingly, the essence of a leader differs very little across disciplines; only leadership style varies. For this editorial we chose to use the five attributes identified by James Kouzes and Barry Posner in their book The Leadership Challenge.3 The first is that ‘‘a leader challenges the way we do things.’’ At a time when the professional hierarchy in health care was alive and well, Dr. Perry dared to defy tradition not only in terms of gender roles but also with respect to her professional