Why did you choose OT as a career?
To be honest, I kind
of stumbled into it, I didn’t know what it was, but I started off as a rehab
assistant. I took a combined OTA and PTA course, so I knew what I was getting
into from a physio perspective but the more I learned about OT, the more I realized
how interesting it is; you get to see the person as a whole and address so many
different areas and try to help solve any issues. And the more I learned about
it, the more I learned that that’s kind of what I did naturally throughout my
life anyways. I always liked to help people and the idea of being able to help
people have a better quality of life, no matter the problem, was really
intriguing to me. Also from a professional perspective, the idea that
occupational therapy as a field was so diverse that if I ever wanted a change I
didn’t have to back to school. It gave me the foundational skills to make a big
change in my profession but to still working within the same scope of practice.
What is your favourite thing about CAOT-BC?
I started my career
out in a very unusual way, with very little support, so for me it was pivotal
to know that I had a network of peers and a network of resources to pull from,
because I didn’t have that in my first job. So I
knew it was important, from that perspective, to have that network that you can
call for help and guidance, and knowing there would be someone there.
What has been your most interesting job?
Viking Air, where I am
now, is truly a unique role, and it might be the most unique role in my
professional lifetime. I don’t think a lot of people have the opportunity to
work in an area like this, at least not in BC where we don’t have a lot of
manufacturing. So what’s so unique about it? Other than the obvious of
working at an airplane manufacturing company…getting to apply ergonomics beyond
an office based setting, getting to see production workers who are working with
very unique tools and in interesting body positions, those sorts of things.
It’s pretty great, being part of the team that is brainstorming ways to make
things better. It’s a big learning curve, for sure. But the other unique
element of it is seeing so many different aspects of OT, all in one job.
It’s just me here, so in other settings you have a whole team of people helping
you to figure out research and best practice, advocating for your time and
support, not to mention actual hands on patient care, managing statistics and
outcome measures. All of those sorts of things are usually done with as a team,
but I do all of that here. It’s been a good challenge for me in asking for what
I need, and proving why I need it. I have my hand in a lot of pots: from
cognitive rehab and ergonomics, to musculoskeletal injury prevention and general
health and wellness. And it’s great to have a company that helps and supports
me. They hired me for a reason: they see the value in OT as a profession and
they are willing to do as much as they can to assist me. It’s important for
them to have their employees go home healthy and safe, and the fact that they
hired an OT shows their dedication to their employees.
What has surprised or challenged you most about
working as an OT?
I think building the
confidence and building the skills for knowing how to effectively ask for what
you need. At Viking Air, the company itself is also my client, so being
able to balance what it needs, and what each individual worker might need, and
how I support them is challenging. Things like keeping statistics is
something that sometimes practitioners grumble about; they don’t always get
to see how that information is used on their behalf, but I can see that, I do
it and use it, and it’s one of my most valuable tools. Knowing how I’m spending
my time allowed us as a company to figure out how to prioritize and optimize my
skills and resources. Every company has limited resources, and we had
to figure out where the most value would be added.
What might someone be surprised to know about
you?
I’ve been
practicing officially since January 2016, and to do date, I have had five
students! Two of them I shared with another OT, and the rest I’ve done on my
own. I think that’s something that I’m really happy I’ve done.
What do you do when you aren’t working?
Spending lots of time
with friends and family, and right now, I’m planning my wedding - so that takes up a lot of my time. When things are a bit more normal, my
fiancé and I like hiking and camping, travelling, just getting outdoors. We
have a trip planned out to Mount Robson to do the Berg lake trail this summer!
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