My OT Story: By Heather Penley

I was enchanted by an OT in 1995 when my oldest was in kindergarten. I raised my kids while working in a K-12 school setting and have finally returned to school to pursue an OTA degree. I’m super excited to join this profession!

By: Heather Penley, COTA

My OT Story: By Javier Jimenez

I worked in social services for ten years before entering the San Jose State OT grad program. The stories of families receiving OT services while I worked in social work inspired me to pursue OT as a career.  

By: Javier Jimenez

My OT Story: By Anonymous

As a student many years ago I had a patient who had a stroke. He was a cook at his own restaurant. He was completely flaccid on the left side. As I worked with him and his family, he gained strength and spirit. Three months later he was back at his restaurant cooking! 

 By: Anonymous

My OT Story: By Matt

I was inspired to pursue a career in OT for many reasons, one of which was the amazing experience that a family member had with her occupational therapist. The therapist’s skill in holistic and meaningful rehabilitation made a huge difference in the quality of my family member’s life. It is OT’s emphasis on both the art and science of therapy that inspired me to make it MY profession.  

By: Matt

My OT Story: By Anonymous

My cousin is a veteran of the war in Iraq. He was discharged due to PTSD. He worked with an OT from Texas. She helped him to find a way to adapt back to life with his family. She inspired him to go back to school and pursue his passion for graphic arts. He continues to struggle but is doing well. 

By: Anonymous

My OT Story: By Anonymous

Veterans with PTSD completing a SCUBA diving certification and provided with mindfulness strategies enabled them to be more “occupied meaningfully” with their time and improve their family and community relations. This community project with a non-profit organization allowed OT to shine enough to have these veterans come out of their shells using mindfulness techniques OT taught them for daily living.  

 By: Anonymous

My OT Story: By Bill Wong

OT has given me not only a career but improved my quality of life. I say that because I am an autistic OT and I have used OT services during my time in OT school. Through OT interventions, I was able to improve my social skills. Because of that, I now am a globe-trotting OT talking about the distinct values of occupational therapy. Also, I am giving back to the OT community by serving in the AOTA Representative Assembly and being featured in two TED Talks!  

 By Bill Wong, OTD, OTR/L

My OT Story: By Lora Woo

Over a quarter of a century ago, I had the privilege of working with a teenager who sustained a C3 traumatic spinal injury. We’ve kept in touch over the years, now decades. He’s graduated from college, purchased and renovated his home for accessibility, and participates in leisure activities with family and friends. Now as I teach as an adjunct, he has been a guest speaker in my class, sharing his experience living with a spinal cord injury and its impact on his occupational engagement.  

By: Lora Woo, OTD, OTR/L

My OT Story: By Lola Nelson

When I first met my patient “Cindy Lou” in the inpatient rehabilitation unit she was so weakened and debilitated that she was unable to lift her head from the pillow. One of our first OT sessions was working on compensatory strategies to move her head while in bed. Today she saw me from the end of the hall in the outpatient clinic and ran to give me a hug!   

By: Lola Nelson, OTR/L

My OT Story: By Michele Berro

I happened upon OT somewhere on my path to becoming a social worker and due to the soft spot in my heart for kids with developmental disabilities. OT was a perfect fit with my social justice leanings, my belief in intrinsic motivation, and my personal value of daily routines and meaningful activities. How could this awesome profession be hidden from my view until my last year of college?! I couldn’t wait to immerse myself in everything occupational therapy! I enrolled in the OTA program at LACC while finishing my senior year at UCLA. I graduated from UCLA and LACC the same June and immediately went to work as an OTA while simultaneously taking prerequisites for the Master’s program in OT at USC. I started my OT career in mental health and loved it! After several years I switched to acute rehab and loved that too! I have had the opportunity to work as staff OT, supervisor, academic instructor, and OT director. I finally found my way to Rancho – a place like no other. The history, the mission, the patients and staff are truly inspirational!! What a privilege! As we celebrate our 100^th anniversary I thank our courageous founders for conceiving such a worthy profession, one I continue to believe in after nearly 40 years of practice! What luck to have found OT, a career I’ve always considered a calling rather than a job! Here’s to the next 100 years. Long live OT!!    

By: Michele Berro, OTR/L

A Tribute to an OT Pioneer: By Michael Davis and Diana Su-Erickson

A Tribute to an OT Pioneer. Miss Edwina M Marshall started her journey in our profession by receiving the very first scholarship given by the New Jersey Rehabilitation Commission, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in OT in 1953, and later working for five years as an OT. She was approached by leadership in the Adventist Healthcare System and named Department Chair at Loma Linda to create the OT program which opened in 1959. She knew that higher education was important in academia and later obtained a Master’s degree from USC in 1964. One of the many talents she possessed was her ability for scholarly writing. She wrote several syllabi used at the LLU campus and at campuses throughout the US as few traditional textbooks existed.

Miss Marshall knew the significance of OT in clinical services “To Make Man Whole” and established the professional services known today at Loma Linda University Health. She wrote and received state grants in the early 1970s that resulted in the creation of two mobile units for home services throughout the Inland Empire. During her tenure at LLU, she was recruited as a consultant in the development of six OT programs in the US and Japan. She has been a mentor and educator to hundreds of OT students.

In 1985, for her exceptional work and contribution, Miss Marshall was recognized as a “Fellow” by the AOTA. She was an advocate for those with physical handicaps, serving on many local and regional advisory committees to implement solutions encircling the tenets of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In 1992, she was honored with the OTAC Lifetime Achievement Award.

Miss Marshall retired in 1993 after thirty-five years as a Department Chair at LLU. Her colleagues recognized her unparalleled contributions to the OT profession and granted her Emeritus Professor status. In 2014, she was nominated as a founding member and distinguished leader into the “Leaders and Legacy Society” of the AOTF. She has spent her lifetime as a maverick, leader, and visionary for OT. Submitted by Michael Davis & Diana Su-Erickson

By Michael Davis and Diana Su-Erickson, OTR/L

My OT Story: Lola Nelson

When I first met my patient in the inpatient rehabilitation unit, she was so weakened and debilitated that she was unable to lift her head off the pillow. One of our first OT sessions was working on compensatory strategies to move her head while in bed. Today she saw me from the end of the hall in the outpatient clinic and ran to give me a hug! 

B: Lola Nelson, OTR/L

My OT Story: By Anonymous

My favorite OT moment happened working Home Health with an elderly woman who had severe RA. I helped set her up to be able to do a past meaningful activity of praying. She was so thankful and she brought up the residential staff to see what she was doing. 

By: Anonymous

My OT Story: By Taylor New

As an OT student, my favorite memory was working at a skilled nursing facility and becoming very close to a patient I worked with. She loved to color in a coloring book to strengthen her fine motor skills. At the end of my time there, the patient gave me pictures colored just for me! I felt very special and fulfilled.   

By: Taylor New, OTS

My OT Story: Rachel Keefer Zec

While volunteering at the VA in preparation to apply to OT school I met an inspiring OT, Julia. She showed me how to interact with clients, build rapport, and think outside the box. Before I started I was still on the fence to whether I wanted to pursue a career in OT, but Julia’s passion, ability to work with clients, and calm demeanor solidified my decision. She takes time out of her day to put the clients first.  

By: Rachel Keefer Zec, OTS

My OT Story: Monica Soriano

As a student my favorite OT moment was during my level 1 fieldwork at a SNF. One of the residents was extremely motivating. She was about 85 years old and was always motivated and prepared to do OT each day. She would start the session doing the bicycle and would always make it her goal to do 100% during the activity. She was determined to get discharged and return to her previous home and continue living her independence granted by OT.   

By: Monica Soriano, OTS

My OT Story: By Anonymous

I was a level 1 fieldwork student in a hospital. My patient was in his 70s, post-stroke. He had a favorite occupation- playing Mah Jong! As a treatment idea, I asked the patient to stand and stack Ma Jong tiles while I facilitated using NDT techniques. After the treatment, I asked my CI how I did and she said “okay” but my patient asked why he had to stack the tiles. I realized that I just used the activity to facilitate and completely overlooked what it meant to the patient. It was then devoid of meaning, and not an occupation. 

By:  Anonymous

My OT Story: By Cindy Garcia

As a level 2 fieldwork student I was in a locked psychiatric unit. One of the male residents had depression. He remained in bed, in a darkened room, buried under his covers, all day and night except to go to the dining room. Every day I invited him to groups. Eventually he started talking to me when I invited him. By the time I left he was coming out of his room and sharing family pictures with me. I heard he was able to discharge, reintegrating into the community after I left. It was very motivating to be a small component in his recovery and return to the community!   

By: Cindy Garcia, COTA/L, CLIPP   

My OT Story: By Anonymous

I had a referral of a new client I had actually worked with 2 years earlier. When evaluating her at her home, at one point she ran into her room and brought out three activities she had done with me in the past. I was touched that she kept them and continued to use them. 

By: Anonymous

My OT Story: By Anonymous

I was working in a county hospital where many patients presented with a long history of life challenges prior to admission. One patient had been without permanent housing. He survived a stroke, reclaiming ambulation and most of his ADLs. He lived off the streets by fishing at a pier and gathering scraps from restaurants. As part of OT we planned all of it- traveled to the ocean, fished off the pier, returned to the hospital to clean, prep and cook the fish. That was our lunch that day. He was proud to offer me food! I helped him advocate to discharge to the “home he knew and wanted- the streets. He was of sound mind to choose it and did not want a SNF or any other options. He was grateful his autonomy was regarded with respect. I then knew that patient-centered care starts and ends with the parameters the patient sets. The feeling of restoring emotional and social independence as extensions of functional independence was unforgettable!    

By: Anonymous