Student Blog

Uselessness is Gorgeous ⟩
January 29, 2014, by Clarissa

Life Hacks School/Life Balance What are OS/OT?

Normally, there’s a little lull at the beginning of the semester before it goes into full swing but this semester hasn’t been like that at all. I hit the ground running once the semester began. I’m really busy and I love it. In order to stay balanced, though, I’ve started thinking a lot about concepts I learned last semester in my Health Promotion and Wellness class. Particularly, I thought about a lecture we had about happiness and how I can ensure I have personally meaningful moments in the midst of my hectic schedule.

I thought our happiness lecture related really well to an art exhibit I saw when I visited Chicago over the summer. It’s called “The Happy Show” by Stefan Sagmeister, an individual who struggled with depression after his mother’s death. Because of his depression, he became interested in whether or not people can train their minds to be happy, similar to how people train their bodies. This one particularly beautiful art piece of his was made out of post-it notes and spelled out “Uselessness is gorgeous.” It looked like this:

Sagmeister accompanied this art piece with a personal experience that relates to the concept of “flow” which we also learned about in our Health Promotion and Wellness class. One experiences flow when completely absorbed in a satisfying activity and ceases to notice the passage of time. By this art piece, he wrote:

Uselessness is gorgeous. I came up with a reputable technique to artificially produce a moment of bliss: take a scooter, drive it on a beautiful road with little traffic so I can ride without a helmet and feel the wind in my hair while listening to about a dozen carefully selected songs, music that I don’t know well (so it won’t have any baggage) but am likely going to like. And very important: there can be no purpose to the drive, just cruising without any goal. This recipe would send shivers down my spine every time. To identify something without any goal and without any function has its own beauty: it’s the difference between a walk in the park and a commute. It’s the different between art and design.

This quote also reminded me of a pediatrics lecture my professor Dr. Erna Blanche gave where she said that without participating in activities that we do “just for the heck of it,” life wouldn’t be worth living. I found that Sagmeister’s view really complemented OT’s value of participating in activities simply because they are meaningful.

As for me, the closest moment I’ve experienced to Sagmeister’s description of bliss was my climb up Yosemite’s Half Dome, pictured below. When I reached the top and looked over all of Yosemite Valley, I forgot about time and space. I have decided to incorporate more nature into my life this semester in order to encourage a work-life balance.

⋯

Electives! ⟩
January 28, 2014, by Jen

Classes

The first two weeks back at school flew by. The course I’m taking this semester are:

• Hand Rehabilitation
• Dysphagia Across the Lifespan: Pediatrics Through Geriatrics
• Leadership Capstone
• Advanced Seminar in Occupational Science
• Contemporary Issues: Occupational Therapy in Early Intervention
• Independent Study at California Children’s Services (CCS)

What is so great about this semester is that the majority of courses I am taking are electives, which means I was able to customize my schedule to my interests. In my Early Intervention class, we had an assignment that involved us reading an autobiography written by a person who grew up with a disability. The story I read is titled “I’m Walking as Straight as I Can: Transcending Disability in Hollywood and Beyond” by Geri Jewell (who had a role in the show The Facts of Life). I found the story to be extremely interesting. Geri Jewel has cerebral palsy (CP) which is a motor impairment syndrome that arises during the early years of a person’s development. I am also getting a chance to work with numerous children with CP in my independent study at CCS. It is great to get to learn about a topic in class, read about a person’s actually experience, and also have the opportunity to have hands-on experience.

⋯

Tai Chi and (Chai) Tea ⟩
January 23, 2014, by Clarissa

Classes Community Diversity What are OS/OT?

This morning, I saw a group of older adults practicing Tai Chi in a park nearby my house and I felt so happy! Why, you ask? I took a class last semester geared towards creating a community project. My group members and I interviewed experts, talked to community members, and designed a program for (you guessed it) Tai Chi!

Older adults are often at risk for falls and social isolation. In our research regarding Tai Chi, we found evidence in the literature supporting Tai Chi’s positive effects on fall prevention in older adults — it helps with factors contributing to falls like balance, coordination, and fear of falling. To address fall risk and social isolation, we decided to write a proposal for creating a Tai Chi class followed by time to socialize with tea. The social relationships built through tea time could also motivate the older adults to join our class.

We decided our target population would be older adults in Monterey Park, a city just east of downtown LA. The city has a 66.9% Asian population. In our research, we also found that Asians were less likely to talk about their lifestyle to their health providers so they may have needs that aren’t being met. The cultural familiarity of Tai Chi (and the tea!) may work to encourage their attendance to our program.

To explain the title of this blog post — my group really wanted to name our project Tai Chi and Chai Tea but had to very sadly let go of it. Chai tea’s sugar content may not be the best for older adults. The title lives on here. Woohoo!

⋯

Learning More About Occupational Science ⟩
January 23, 2014, by Kate

What are OS/OT?

Sometimes it’s difficult to find other people who know what occupational therapy is, but think about the mystery that is occupational SCIENCE. People look at me like I’ve misspoke when I tell them more about our Division at USC and the classes I am currently taking. “Occupational science? What is that? Do you use microscopes and test tubes?” Not exactly. We have been introduced to the concept of occupational science since our first semester, but now as second-year students, we are all taking a Seminar in Occupational Science 2-unit course. Today I will be attending my second class of the semester, and the experience thus far has been really interesting!

From what I know, the concept of occupational science was actually founded at the University of Southern California in the 1980s when the university offered PhD degrees in the field for the first time. It’s crazy to think that our school has been such a leader in our profession!! Occupational science can roughly be defined as the study of human activities (occupations) and how participation and engagement in these activities impacts our lives. This class is really helping to bring all the concepts we have learned over 2 years into full circle.

⋯

One Week Down, 17 More To Go ⟩
January 23, 2014, by Ryan

Fieldwork

Well, I have finished my first week of my last semester of school! (I am probably going to use that phrase a lot because it sounds so great . . . “my last semester!”) I am very excited about my classes. I have loved how our schedules have been set up for us so far this past year and a half, but it is really nice to be in classes that I have chosen. There is a different excitement about each class. Yesterday, I had my first clinical observation at Keck Medical Center for my Acute Care course I am taking. I was a little nervous at first because I haven’t spent a lot of time in hospitals, but that is why I signed up for this course! Last semester, I completed my Level I Fieldwork for Adult Rehab in a hand clinic so I wasn’t able to see a big variety of diagnoses.

I really enjoyed my experience at Keck. The beginning of the morning was spent completing our orientation and filling out paper work. Then I was able to shadow Dr. Don Gordon who is a practicing therapist at Keck and has been a guest lecture for two of my classes since I’ve been in the program. He is very nice and an engaging speaker so I was happy to hang out with him yesterday as well as see him in action. It was great! I saw three patients with a variety of reasons for being in the hospital; one individual had recent spinal surgery, another person had gastrointestinal problems, and then I saw a man living with liver dysfunction and Hepatitis. Observing Dr. Gordon, I truly saw a client-centered approach with each patient we saw. He does a wonderful job sitting to talk and listen to his patients. Each person had their own difficulties that were causing them discomfort but I could see how they all appreciated the time we took to just talk and hear about who they were. The focus was not only on their physical impairments but also on the things or people in their lives before coming to the hospital or even before they were sick or had any pain. I left very uplifted and inspired! I love OT!!! (Another phrase I think I use a lot, but I mean it . . . I LOVE OT!!).

⋯