I knew pretty early on that I wanted to pursue a career in the rehabilitation field. Luckily, I was able to shadow many different settings during my undergrad years. I was offered a job as an OT aide my senior year at the University of Alabama at a local outpatient clinic called Tuscaloosa Rehab and Hand Center. I had hands-on experience with client and non-client related tasks. I was exposed to the many different aspects of outpatient therapy, and what it would be like to work on an interdisciplinary team. This setting really stood out to me, and I developed an interest in hand therapy. I loved how each client was different and challenging in their own ways. Seeing individuals lose functioning in their hands, and then being able to help them get back to living their best life would be so rewarding. Achieving the Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) specialty certification is something I would love to do. Not only would it make me more specialized in the field of occupational therapy, it would be a long-term professional development goal. Because I am interested in hand therapy, the CHT certification is very appealing to me. Once I graduate, I want to surpass the Entry-level performance level and further develop my career.
For my first Neuro Note, I watched a few videos from Lindsey Becker's YouTube channel. Lindsey is a woman with spina bifida and happens to be this year's Ms. Wheelchair Tennessee. She uses a wheelchair in her everyday life, and posts videos on YouTube about how she adapts and modifies her environment to continue living a normal life. The videos I watched included "Home Adaptations," "Wheelchair user Mazda RX-8 with adaptive hand controls," and "PSA for Package Delivery Couriers for Wheelchairs." I chose to watch Lindsey's videos for this assignment because I was just informed she will be coming to UTHSC's campus as a SOTA guest speaker. We also discuss home modifications in class, and I wanted to see what that looked like in an actual home. In the first video, Lindsey walked the audience through all the modifications in her home including two ramps, shower and closet remodels, as well as kitchen remodeling plans. It was eye-opening...
Hi Anna! That's really cool that you had that exposure to a specialty area of practice so early on along the path in your OT career! Incidentally, I did one of my Level II fieldworks at DCH in Tuscaloosa :)
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