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Senior Savvy Seedlings: Community Program

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Senior Savvy Seedlings: Community Program

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In our Community Health course I had the opportunity to create and implement a community program. This program was held at Trinitarian Congregational Church (TCC), with the target population of retirees (60+). My group members and I worked to enhance skills that would keep participants community-dwelling. We worked on fall prevention, technology skills, and community integration. The program allowed participants to come together in relaxed environment and learn these skills that they can apply to their daily lives.

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Community Health: Program Design-Senior Savvy Seedlings

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Community Health: Program Design-Senior Savvy Seedlings

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LTG: One year after graduation I will be a licensed and registered Occupational Therapist in the state of Massachusetts made evident by employment.
STG: Within six months of graduation I will pass the NBCOT exam made evident by receiving a passing score.

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LTG: Within three years of graduating I will be certified as a Assistive Technology Professional (ATP).
STG: Within two and a half years of graduating I meet the requirements to take the ATP exam through the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive technology Society of North America (RESNA).

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Two courses that have guided me to a better understanding of the curricular thread professionalism is Organizational and Professional Issues I & II. In Organizational & Professional Issues I, we had the opportunity to create our capstone regarding different pieces of legislature and contacting politicians for their support. This was one of the first opportunities we had to draft and create work that would be sent out to professionals outside of the Worcester State University Domain. It was in this course where I started to grasp how to present my work and findings in a professional and advanced way. This course also exposed me to administration and managerial roles which I personally had not given much thought to prior to this course. We also had the opportunity to create a therapy program with our fellow classmates which dove into service delivery, application of evidence-based practice, and understanding the financial side of running a program. Organizational & Professional Issues II addressed numerous issues within the professional world that we have had little to no conversations about before. We touched on numerous cultural and diversity issues that are current problem in today's practice. We were presented with tangible stories followed by in-depth discussions with helped me to grasp topics from a clinical view point. This course increased our personal and professional development as we created our own resume and cover letters, career portfolios and discussed how to make the transition from student to clinician.

Another course that aided my understanding of professionalism is Community Health. In this course we had the opportunity to create and implement a community program of our choice to a selected population. The implementation aspect of this course vastly increased my professional behaviors as we were the sole providers and managers of the program. Here we were responsible for guiding and increasing the knowledge of our participants while ensuring that they were engaged in each session. Working with members in the community allowed us to show our professional behaviors and see first hand where our strengths lie, and what areas we can improve on as therapists.

Lastly, each of my fieldwork 1 experiences helped me to truly get a grasp on what professional behaviors are and how to showcase them. Working with different populations solidified how to be professional when working with others. Each population brought out a different skill set within myself and showed me how professionalism has many faces within occupational therapy.

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In the spring semester of 2023 we had the opportunity to create our own forearm and hand splints. A specialist came into our Assistive Technology II class and we were able to learn tips and tricks on how to cut, mold, and finalize two types of splints. The aspect of physically making the splints was a unique learning opportunity as we have never gotten hands on experience doing this before.

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My name is Kerri Barnum, better known as Kiki and I am a first year occupational graduate student at Worcester State University. I received my Bachelor's of Science in Occupational Studies in May of 2023 from Worcester State University. I was initially introduced to the idea of occupational therapy as a career in high school when we had the opportunity to take a career aptitude test where my top suggestion was rehabilitation therapy. Upon further research I learned about occupational therapy and the how its purpose is to aid individuals in both mental and physical rehabilitation. At this time I knew I wanted to have a career where I would not be sedentary throughout the day, and that occupational therapy would allow me to stay active. In my the last two years of high school I was fortunate enough to have multiple shadowing opportunities in outpatient settings which then confirmed that occupational therapy was the career that I wanted to enter into. After speaking to multiple occupational therapists, one who is a close family member, I was drawn to the fact that there are many facets in this profession and opportunities to work with different populations and diagnoses. Throughout my college career I been able to visit multiple field work setting where it has only confirmed that this is the right career for me. Working with others is something that I am passionate about and occupational therapy allows me to do that.

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Basic Life Supper Certificate - American Heart Association

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Basic Life Supper Certificate - American Heart Association

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LTG: Within five years after graduation I will earn employment at a Boston Veteran's Health Association location.
STG: Within four years after graduation I will obtain at least 40 credits directly related to seating and positioning and assistive technology

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Personal Philosophy of Occupational Therapy

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Personal Philosophy of Occupational Therapy

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Throughout my academic career I have been able to grow  as a person and a student. Through these experiences I have been able to develop my own personal philosophy that has guided me thus far. First and foremost practicing acceptance to everyone and everything. As acceptance is different then agreeing with or supporting, accepting allows me process things without being close-minded. This is applicable to to multiple facets: views, classes, people, and opinions. Specifically in occupational therapy, a pillar of the profession is that it is client-centered and that everyone is unique. Being accepting to everyone's individualities and understanding that everyone is unique is crucial to this career. Accepting hurdles as they come allows me to become more flexible and will continue to help me grow as a future clinician. Practicing acceptance helps me to see the world through larger lens that is not just my own. As working with others can be challenging learning to accept that everyone has their own input, work ethic, and communication style helps me to be a better team member.

Another personal philosophy I have been able to develop regarding occupational therapy is being true to myself.  This pertains to being in the classroom when working with others on group projects or on fieldwork sites with different clients. Being authentic to who I am has allowed me to have numerous positive experiences throughout my undergraduate career. Being true to myself not only means being authentic with others, but being honest with myself as well. This has allowed me to understand my own strengths and weakness as a person and as a student. Understanding my strengths and weaknesses has made room for personal growth academically, socially, and personally. Not comparing myself to others, or trying to be where they are and do things the way they do them, is one of the most important ways that I can practice this. Throughout the course of my academic career and fieldwork experiences it had become truly evident how important building rapport with others is. Trying to "fit in" and, in my eyes, is not the way to build genuine connections with clients and anyone else that I may cross paths with. Fieldwork experiences that we have had the opportunity to go on has cemented this philosophy for me.  Specifically working with the older adult population, both in our geriatric semester and for our community health program, I was able to have meaningful conversations and make genuine connections. I truly believe I was able to make these connections by being true to myself and showcasing who I am.

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Personally my strengths lie in interpersonal and communication skills, organization and time management. After reflecting on my community health program implementation and field work 1 experiences, I feel as though I have been able to have meaningful conversation with members of every population we have worked with. I am able to talk to them naturally and make then feel comfortable with the activities that we plan for them. Throughout my academic career, specifically my college academic career, I have become increasingly aware of the importance to stay organized and manage my time. My personal academic work is extremely organized through the use of google drive, my personal laptop, and accordion folders that I use every semester. I am been able to get my individual and group work done in a timely manner as I allot time every week to finish upcoming assignments. Staying organized and managing my time has allowed me to have a better school, work, and life balance.

My weaknesses lie in my attention to detail in my writing and my stress management. Writing is not my strong suit, and has never been something that I particularly enjoy. This has caused me in the past to miss spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes in my own writing. As this is something I have been increasingly aware of I now make sure to take the time to read and re-read my work. Stepping away for a short period of time and coming back to it is extremely helpful as I have time to clear my head and look at it with fresh eyes. Stress management is always something that I have struggled with both in and out of the academic realm. Staying organized and managing my time helps counter my stress, however sometimes that can only do so much. Moving forward I try to make sure that I engage is leisure activities to clear my head such as going on long walks and spending time with my friends.

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In Assistive Technology I we had the opportunity to create assistive devices specifically based on a unique case study. My partner and I created a dressing device for an individual who only had the use of one of his arms. This device allows the individual to put their shirt or jacket on independently. The individual would put the article of clothing on the device, raise it over their head, and onto their body.

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In Assistive Technology I we had the opportunity to create assistive devices specifically based on a unique case study. My partner and I created a bathing device for an individual who only had the use of one of his arms and bathed in a sitting position. This tool has an extendable arm and two different attachments. This tool would allow the individual to wash hard to reach parts of their body while staying in a seated position.