It’s April and that means it’s Occupational Therapy (OT) Month. It’s also Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month so it’s an especially great time to speak with all our therapists, both occupational and physical, about why they love their jobs and how they help their patients. It’s clear that each of them wants to see their patients thrive — and they each have the skill set and passion to make that happen. That’s what makes them the best in the biz — let us show you:
Patient care is what gets Carina (pictured below) up in the morning. She’s an OT at our center in Dallas. “That’s why I entered OT work,” she told us. “I like problem solving. That’s one of my favorite things to do. A patient may present a problem to me, and I have the luxury of the time and the space to figure it out.” Lauren, our OT in Kansas City, agreed: “I feel super fortunate that every day I work with a patient, I’m helping them change their life for the better.” Lauren continued, “Everything that we do is to help the patient (especially those who have had a traumatic amputation) grow more independent, feel more self-sufficient, and get them back to the life they probably thought they could never have again after their accident.”
"It's really cool to have a patient come in and we can not only get them the basics, but we're able to fit them with activity-specifics that will help them with their goals," our Portland, OR, occupational therapist, Jamie, told us. "We had a patient come in during my first month of working with the Arm Dynamics team and he was going to work for the Park Service that summer and we were able to fit him with what would work for him." Jamie enjoys working with new and experienced prostheses users. "I had the chance to visit our Kansas City, KS, center and meet Gerry, who is one of our bilateral patients. "Gerry is someone who has overcome a lot of adversity but also is really skilled and has a lot of proficiency in their prosthetic device. He was able to give excellent feedback so quickly. I learned a lot from him and watching him work with Lauren."
To us, though, patient care isn’t just about putting in the work with our patients each day — it’s larger than that. We also push the limits of upper limb prosthetic rehabilitation. We do that through research, writing journal articles, and creating and refining our outcome measures. “Our research drives the field, because we are the experts in upper limb prosthetic rehabilitation,” Lauren explained. “Being really involved in all the research aspects — we get to drive where our care process goes and find those things that are important, that support our patients and support authorization of new prosthetics.” Lauren, who you can see below, finished by saying: “Working here is such a unique opportunity to not only affect people’s lives but to also affect the field.”
We cherish each of our therapists and welcome any opportunity to celebrate them. Our team knows that they are one of the main reasons why our patients are so successful — and our therapists love their Arm Dynamics team right back!
If you would like to experience how our therapists Redefine Possibility, please contact us for a complimentary consultation, either in-person or via video chat. Additionally, please feel free to leave any comments below. Thanks for reading and Happy OT Month!
For more information, see related Arm Dynamics articles here: