April is OT Month!
This forum was created especially for OTs to post information about what they're doing to promote the profession in April.
You can reply on this post or you can start your own post here.
We are having an open house to provide some hands-on experience with Interactive Metronome, reaction time on a driving simulator, hand therapy with paraffin and progressive finger casting, decorating cookies as a fine motor control activity and to top it all....we are creating an art project. "Helping Hands of Our Community" which will be a 3' X4" canvas with every attendees hand print (also a sensory activity!!).
I love reading ways people promote OT. As a student I have already completed many different activities to promote OT and am currently working on another one. Last month I went to Albany NY to help lobby for changes of our practice act and I continue to wear my OT buttons that have our slogan on it. So many people do not know what OT is about and honestly, it gets tiring hearing "isn't that like PT" and my response is usually "if it is PT wouldn't I be going to school for that". I am excited and hope that people post ideas that they have to promote our profession. I am going to local elementary schools and speaking to them and teaching them about occupational therapy through use of activities . I believe it is lack of education why Occupational Therapy is not as well known as other professions and we can make a difference.
We will be promoting OT Month with OT student anti-stigma/advocacy projects around New Orleans:
1 group is connecting with a girl scout troop
1 group is connecting with the campus police
1 group is connecting with our school counseling department for MH
2 groups are promoting Universal Design and helping 2 homeowners with UD/accessibility recommendations for their houses that are being rebuilt
1 group is connecting with an area council on aging
1 group is connecting with a 3rd grade class on disability awareness
1 group is sewing weighted vests and promoting their benefits
1 group is connecting with a private university journalism group on people first language
The focus is on a disability awareness, anti-stigma presentation that will focus on OTs role to promote awareness of OT during April.
I am so impressed with the ideas presented thus far...
We decided to have a table in our cafeteria for two days - educating our fellow hospital employees on occupational therapy - our practice areas & common populations (in & outside the hospital). Some ideas we've brainstormed for our table include:
-having an education poster board explaining occupational therapy - our practice areas and some simplified theory on what we do & why we do it!
-having table guests guess the adaptive equipment & demonstrate the use
-having some assessment tools (e.g. grip strength)
If anyone has done an event like this before and has a great idea to share that worked well or was well received - we would appreciate it!
Thank you!
Holly
Students in the OTA Program at Allegany College of Maryland in Cumberland, MD, recently recognized OT Month by hosting an Open House with the theme “Celebrating 50 Years of OTA Education and Practice”. More than 100 people from the campus and the community attended and learned about OT. Pictured is a display created by the students honoring the 50th anniversary of the Occupational Therapy Assistant.
We posted the following on twitter and facebook and below are the responses we received http://twitter.com/AOTAInc Today is the last day of April and OT Month..so how did you promote OT? send me a message or email and tell us! sgonzales@aota.org #OTMonth Twitter responses:we did dept competencies, the PTs in our hosp threw a lunch for us, we published in hosp paper about OT month... that's all i've got :) - Sarah Schuck / SoarahFermanagh At USC University Hospital, Los Angeles,CA, OT department set up an OT table with posters, adaptive equipment, handouts & raffle prizes too! -Shir Ley / ShirleyCOTA Facebook responses: I went to the AOTA conference in Houston! - Matt Boudrero I did OT tips of the day for the first half of the month on Facebook for my status. - Julie Nastasi Email response: As the Assembly of Student Delegate for the American Occupational Therapy Association for the year 2008-2009 I decided to do an OT Awareness project on campust at my school. I attend the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City where our Occupational Therapy program is located approximately 1/2 mile from the other colleges of the campus. Most students on campus do not know Occupational Therapy is a program offered at their school let alone what OT is. Therefore, I decided the student union located at the heart of our campus would be the best place for our awareness project. The project took place in the student union on the Oklahoma City and Tulsa campuses. Emilie Lam, my public relations chair planned helped plan the project. She also put together a beautiful poster, which included information about OT as a profession as well as pictures of our class performing activities related to OT (splint making, ADL labs, assistive technology labs, etc...). We handed out candy and freebies to entice students to come talk to us. We also took a couple of assistive technology devices with us asking individuals if they wanted to guess what the device was (sock donner, button hook, shoe horn, etc...). OT Awareness Day was a HUGE Success! We were approached by many students who simply looked at our poster and some inquired about the AT. Others asked more in depth questions about OT. One individual in particular said his sister received our e-mail and recommended he come talk to us! This individual was not even a student on campus was interested in pursuing a new career and his sister thought OT would be a great option for him (our e-mail was sent to all schools including medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing, etc...). We were also approached by the physician assistant students to do a presentation at the grand rounds they hold each month. They want us to present on when to refer to OT!!! Emilie and I agreed and are going to work with one of our professors on this project, which should take place next spring. Our Student Occupational Therapy Association is still relatively new and growing. As president this year I took it upon myself to encourage and engage students in occupational therapy awareness projects including volunteering in the community and doing presentations at local high schools. I am very passionate about this and hope our project will be even larger next year!Shannon Fischer, OTS-2 SOTA President Thanks to all that participated in OT Month!
http://twitter.com/AOTAInc Today is the last day of April and OT Month..so how did you promote OT? send me a message or email and tell us! sgonzales@aota.org #OTMonth
Twitter responses:we did dept competencies, the PTs in our hosp threw a lunch for us, we published in hosp paper about OT month... that's all i've got :) - Sarah Schuck / SoarahFermanagh
At USC University Hospital, Los Angeles,CA, OT department set up an OT table with posters, adaptive equipment, handouts & raffle prizes too! -Shir Ley / ShirleyCOTA
Facebook responses: I went to the AOTA conference in Houston! - Matt Boudrero I did OT tips of the day for the first half of the month on Facebook for my status. - Julie Nastasi Email response: As the Assembly of Student Delegate for the American Occupational Therapy Association for the year 2008-2009 I decided to do an OT Awareness project on campust at my school. I attend the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City where our Occupational Therapy program is located approximately 1/2 mile from the other colleges of the campus. Most students on campus do not know Occupational Therapy is a program offered at their school let alone what OT is. Therefore, I decided the student union located at the heart of our campus would be the best place for our awareness project. The project took place in the student union on the Oklahoma City and Tulsa campuses. Emilie Lam, my public relations chair planned helped plan the project. She also put together a beautiful poster, which included information about OT as a profession as well as pictures of our class performing activities related to OT (splint making, ADL labs, assistive technology labs, etc...). We handed out candy and freebies to entice students to come talk to us. We also took a couple of assistive technology devices with us asking individuals if they wanted to guess what the device was (sock donner, button hook, shoe horn, etc...). OT Awareness Day was a HUGE Success! We were approached by many students who simply looked at our poster and some inquired about the AT. Others asked more in depth questions about OT. One individual in particular said his sister received our e-mail and recommended he come talk to us! This individual was not even a student on campus was interested in pursuing a new career and his sister thought OT would be a great option for him (our e-mail was sent to all schools including medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing, etc...). We were also approached by the physician assistant students to do a presentation at the grand rounds they hold each month. They want us to present on when to refer to OT!!! Emilie and I agreed and are going to work with one of our professors on this project, which should take place next spring. Our Student Occupational Therapy Association is still relatively new and growing. As president this year I took it upon myself to encourage and engage students in occupational therapy awareness projects including volunteering in the community and doing presentations at local high schools. I am very passionate about this and hope our project will be even larger next year!Shannon Fischer, OTS-2 SOTA President Thanks to all that participated in OT Month!
I did OT tips of the day for the first half of the month on Facebook for my status. - Julie Nastasi
Email response:
As the Assembly of Student Delegate for the American Occupational Therapy Association for the year 2008-2009 I decided to do an OT Awareness project on campust at my school. I attend the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City where our Occupational Therapy program is located approximately 1/2 mile from the other colleges of the campus. Most students on campus do not know Occupational Therapy is a program offered at their school let alone what OT is. Therefore, I decided the student union located at the heart of our campus would be the best place for our awareness project.
The project took place in the student union on the Oklahoma City and Tulsa campuses. Emilie Lam, my public relations chair planned helped plan the project. She also put together a beautiful poster, which included information about OT as a profession as well as pictures of our class performing activities related to OT (splint making, ADL labs, assistive technology labs, etc...). We handed out candy and freebies to entice students to come talk to us. We also took a couple of assistive technology devices with us asking individuals if they wanted to guess what the device was (sock donner, button hook, shoe horn, etc...).
OT Awareness Day was a HUGE Success! We were approached by many students who simply looked at our poster and some inquired about the AT. Others asked more in depth questions about OT. One individual in particular said his sister received our e-mail and recommended he come talk to us! This individual was not even a student on campus was interested in pursuing a new career and his sister thought OT would be a great option for him (our e-mail was sent to all schools including medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing, etc...). We were also approached by the physician assistant students to do a presentation at the grand rounds they hold each month. They want us to present on when to refer to OT!!! Emilie and I agreed and are going to work with one of our professors on this project, which should take place next spring. Our Student Occupational Therapy Association is still relatively new and growing. As president this year I took it upon myself to encourage and engage students in occupational therapy awareness projects including volunteering in the community and doing presentations at local high schools. I am very passionate about this and hope our project will be even larger next year!Shannon Fischer, OTS-2
SOTA President
Thanks to all that participated in OT Month!
OTConnections Admin Facebook, Twitter
My name is Julie and i am currently a graduate student at gannon university in erie pa. As a graduate class we are hosting a wheelchair basketball game for OT awareness month! This is will be our 4th annual game at the university! We invite edinboro university's wheelchair basketball team members to come and play as well as have students around campus form teams to participate. All the money we raise goes to an organization in need, this year it will be donated to Kaleidoscope, which is a local organization in Erie pa for autism awareness! It is a wonderful event and everyone has a blast!
I work for an outpatient pediatric clinic. I made a simple flyer using Microsoft publisher for the kiddios to color and hang up on wall; file was converted to a Microsoft Word doc.
Flyer consists of:
1) Client writing their name
2) Tracing basic shapes (circle, triangle, square, oval, rectangle)
3) Color by number basic shapes
Utilized to help improve fine motor coordination via tracing and coloring within the lines, to improve figure ground by distinguishing form from the surrounding background, and cognition via color by number and writing their personal name.
Hope you all like it!
Eli
I saw on your post you have a driving simulator. My company is thinking of purchasing one for me to use. Do you recommend a certain one/certain features. How is it reimbursed?
Aside from the license plate I put on the back of my car, I will say I am going to wear my USC OT T-shirts to church every Sunday, since it's the public place I go regularly.
Of course, I also have an off-and-on conversation with a member of my church and tell her things about OT and how she could become one.
I saw your comment on the website and wanted to give you some feedback. I worked in driving rehab for 4.5 yrs and behind the wheel assessments/evals are the best. But if you must use a simulator, contact Del Freeman, Driver Education/Training consultant @ 503-315-8353 or 503-581-1170. I know him from all the driving rehab conferences and education siminars. His simulators are some of the best. Just remember, you can't base someones ability to drive safely by clinical assessment only! Diana Partain, MOT, OTR/L, DRS
The following is being posted on behalf of:
Brian P. Connors, BS, OTSPresident, Student Occupational Therapy AssociationUniversity of the Sciences in Philadelphia
1) USP Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) will be hosting the 2nd Annual Philadelphia Intercollegiate Occupational Therapy Student Night on April 1st from 6-9pm. The event brings students together for a night of discussions, networking, speakers and fun from the four Philadelphia occupational therapy schools: University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson University, Temple University and Philadelphia University. The featured speakers this year will be A.J. Nanayakara, a quad rugby athlete from the Magee Quad Rugby Eagles, and Saul Raison, a competitive cyclist that was injured during a race which resulted in a TBI.
2) USP SOTA will be hosting our 2nd Annual Spring Speaker event featuring Jim Hinojosa, PhD, OTR, FAOTA on April 22nd from 6-9pm. Dr. Hinojosa has chaired the Commission on Practice of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), served on its Executive Board (1989-1995), as a director on the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Board (1993-1999), and on the AOTA's Commission on Continuing Competence for Occupational Therapy. In 1994, he received the AOTA Award of Merit, and in 2006, he was honored with the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award, in addition to over 100 articles and chapters in books. He will be speaking about the Centennial Vision and the Future of Occupational Therapy.
Hi!
I’m currently an OTA student. Me and some of my SOTA’s classmate participated on two activities to advocated for Occupational Therapy at our school. The first was on Green Week Festival. On it we had our on table with some of the craft that we did on class. Plus we got the opportunity to explain and share with other student our college what OT was about. I was such an amazing experience for all of us. The second activity, we participated by ourselves. We called it Backpack Awareness Day. We got the opportunity to educate other student’s fellows on how to proper wear their backpack and what OT is about. I was another great experience for us. I’m looking forward to do more activities in our school over this summer.
Sincerely,
dmejia
OT month and Earth month both came out on April so what we (the students) did was combine both advocating the career itself and showing eco-friendly projects made by recent OTA students. If LaGuardia students, staff, and visitors wanted a project to take home, then they would have to play a game called "sensory box.” When they played the sensory box, they would have to identify the object without looking at it that was in the box with shredded paper. The objective of the game is to use sensory and cognitive skill because they have to be able to identify the object without looking at it. Some participants identified the object correctly, while some required a little time and encouragement. It was a great experience because we ( the OTA students) got to tie in both things together.