To celebrate Christmas this year, I am wearing scrubs with a festive vest overtop and snowflake hair flair. This year I’m celebrating a working Christmas. I will be at the hospital performing evals, doing therapy, facilitating discharge processes and providing tiny snuggles. (And helping to make this little rehab patient!) I must admit, I was…
All posts in Occupational Therapy
World Prematurity Day
I did not write this. But oh how I wish I had! As I celebrate World Prematurity Day today, I see not only my patients but their families struggling so much to deal with an ICU stay for the tiniest member of their family. I too see you. I SEE YOU by Jodi Dolezel: I…
A Pound of Life
Most of the patients I work with have negative ages. They are premature, born months before they were “supposed” to be. Thrust from the safe, warm, dark, cozy wombs, they are ill-prepared for the world. Developmentally, I must think of them and work on skills that are fitting for a baby at 6-9 months gestational…
Crafting Thumb
My hands hate me. I haven’t been good to them lately. Right before the Gifts of Grace Craft Fair, I went crafting crazy. I sat each night and created. And hunched over, and cut, and bent metal, and used pliers, and threaded beads, and made my crafting thumb flair up. Still giving the thumbs up!…
Celebrating Occupational Therapy Month
I’m celebrating OT Month. And so is Ryan Gosling. (Thanks for the support, Ry!) I often think OT is the hidden gem of the rehab world. It’s focus is so broad and all-encompassing and patient-specific that at times it is hard to define. Until everyone knows, I educate one person at a time. And…
Life in the NICU
Somethings on YouTube are just for fun, some are educational, some are ridiculous, and some are life changing. This particular video strikes close to home for me. I work with the littlest of patients. Those who have more wires than they are weeks old. I am surrounded by stories like this everyday. One father made…
Not Your Average Middle School
Middle school. I’ll wait for you to swallow your bile. Those two words can cause a visceral reaction in many people. Middle school is an awkward time. Full of changes, shifting roles and hierarchy — and kids trying to navigate it all. It is the strangest time in school with some kids looking as though…
Mary Poppins
I got a lot of stolen glances on my way into work last Thursday… and not the good kind. People flat out stared, whispered, did double takes, and cocked eye brows. Then the questions started: “Are you the super nanny?” “Are you Canadian?” Or, my personal favorite: “Are you from nutritional services? When will my…
Sock Hop!
I dug through my costume box and broke out this skirt (that my mom made me when I was nine years old!) for a very special event. My friends are involved with a local ministry, Lift Disability, which caters to children with disabilities and their families. As part of this ministry, they host monthly outings…
Surprising Manicures
Meet Marla, my coworker and teammate extraordinaire. These are her hands. No, she did not paint her nails while impaired. She allowed one of our patients to paint her nails. We had goals to work on fine motor control and stability exercises for this little girl who loved to have her own nails painted. So…