Meet your CAOT-BC Advisory Committee: Kathy Williams

Who Am I?

I am an individual passionate about fitness, outdoor activities, travel adventures, photography and great food.  My friends and family laugh at me as I like to look at the dessert menu before ordering my meals at restaurants – I just have to leave room if the desserts are tempting!  I also have a tab at our local chocolate shop J.  This would be one of the reasons that I love to exercise every day: yoga, cross country skiing, spin class, gym workouts, hiking, road riding or walking.  I had a total knee replacement 10 years ago and it has not slowed me down one bit!  My adventure highlights lately include cycling down the Pacific Coast of Mexico, hiking in Yosemite National Park in California, trekking in the Himalayas in Bhutan over 17,000 foot passes, and paddling in Haida Gwaii.

 What Kind of an OT am I?

I have practiced OT full time since graduation from UBC in 1995.  The majority of my practice has been in rural BC where I have worked in acute care, outpatients, residential and community.  I am passionate about teaching, taking students from across the country as often as they apply to our area.  These students always have that ‘deer in the headlights’ look in the first few weeks of placement as they absorb the huge scope that is a fact in rural practice.   My favorite areas of practice include splinting, teaching classes, home visits and generally assisting the elderly clientele in residential care that are so appreciative of any time you can give to bring them some measure of quality of life.

Later in my career I became very interested in bigger scope projects, standardization of practice and collaborating with OTs across the health authority to improve practice and have been a lead on many local and health authority initiatives.  Most recently I have moved into a regional role within my health authority as the Regional Practice Leader for Allied Health working in the Professional Practice Office for Interior Health.  This role has a big learning curve as I gain an understanding of the scope of practice of the other allied health disciplines and support the standardization of practice initiatives, within and across disciplines for the health authority. 

Why Am I interested in the CAOT-BC Advisory Committee?

I am interested in supporting OT practice issues on a local, provincial and national level.  So what better way to have BC interior OT issues brought to the national table than through CAOT-BC.  I am confident that I will be able to establish 2 way communication to keep OTs in the BC interior informed and also inform CAOT-BC.