Student Blog
Diversity

Finding Family in Diversity ⟩
September 4, 2019, by Japeth

Diversity International

Moving out of your comfort zone to attend a university away from home is a huge change and thus, very challenging. Although for some, it might be an exciting milestone, others may be very anxious about it. For me, I had to experience so many changes at once. However, what kept me going during my first few weeks in LA was the support that I constantly received from any family and their physical presence here in LA at my most crucial adjustment phase. When they went home to the Philippines, it felt as though everything now is on me. I must say that living far away from home is a tough choice to make.

Most of my cohort have the same sentiments with me. We all came from different parts of the world and we are now living on our own in this beautiful city. We have known each other for just a week now, but we found the comfort of our homes in the arms of one another. Isn’t it amazing when we just met new people but it feels like we have known them for so long? One week has passed but I am looking forward to a very exciting and fruitful year together with my cohort!

This is all of us during the White Coat Ceremony last August 23, 2019. Our cohort consists of students from the Philippines, India, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the US.

I would like to share our other photos too!

If you have questions about the Post-Professional Master of Arts Degree, feel free to contact me through my email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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Before I Let Go . . . One Last Blog ⟩
May 14, 2019, by Serena

Diversity Videos

It is nearly unbelievable to think that my time in USC’s Occupational Therapy Master’s program is coming to an end. And Before I Let Go . . . I had to post one last time about my graduation ceremony and a surprise Beyoncé dance video that is near the end of the blog!

It is a bittersweet feeling to come to the end of a program that has given me so much! One of the most difficult parts is saying goodbye to the friends and mentors that I have made while in the program.

I am thankful to have received a master’s degree but I am most grateful for the lifelong friendships I have formed and mentors I have gained while in the program. We have memories, pictures, and videos that we will cherish forever. In honor of graduation here is one of my favorite videos some of my friends and I put together with the help of our friend in USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family for supporting me during my OT and life’s journey. At a time of great accomplishments comes the need to remember how you achieved your successes. Without my family I would not be who I am or where I am today. As OTs we know that the community and social supports play a huge role in quality of life and health. My personal accomplishments will always and forever be my community’s accomplishments, my family’s accomplishments. 

Thankfully, I will be staying at USC for another year to complete my doctorate at USC’s Occupational Therapy Faculty Practice (OTFP). At the OTFP I will be pursuing my interests in health and wellness by receiving mentorship while delivering Lifestyle Redesign® interventions to promote healthier habits and routines.

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Inspiring High School Students to Become Future OTs ⟩
April 17, 2019, by Melissa

Diversity First-Gen Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

One of my goals as an Ambassador has been to increase awareness about occupational therapy. In order to do so, we decided to reach out to high school students, as I often hear that people would have pursued OT a lot sooner if they had known it was an option. I’ve been lucky enough to present to a couple of high schools now, and the experiences have been both rewarding and challenging. When presenting to high school students, we really have to adapt the way that we approach them. We often present to pre-health clubs or OT-specific clubs as part of our job, therefore we go into our presentation with the understanding that these students already have an interest in OT or in a healthcare profession. Oftentimes, the students have already been thinking about graduate school and pursuing higher education, therefore we know we can tailor our presentation in a specific way. High school students, on the other hand, come from a variety of backgrounds, have different plans and aspirations, and varying interests. They are more difficult to engage, and may or may not be voluntarily attending our presentations. Before my first presentation to one of the high schools, I kept thinking to myself, “How am I going to engage them?! How am I going to give them all of this important information without putting them to sleep?!”

In an attempt to get some guidance, I approached one of my professors who had also given a talk to a group of high school students recently, and she gave me some great tips. The one that stuck out to me the most was her tip on making it RELEVANT to the students, which made total sense. I have since tried to find ways to make my presentation relatable, such as giving the students some information about my own journey, my experiences as an athlete (as there are often many athletes that attend these presentations), and what it has meant to me to be a first-generation graduate student using my bilingual skills in Los Angeles. I also like to take different types of adaptive equipment and sensory toys to show them how they are used, and why they are relevant in our profession. This gives them some interactive opportunities where they get a glimpse into what we do as well as an opportunity to ask questions. Lastly, I always like to take GIVEAWAYS. Nothing gets a group of high school students more excited than some free stuff they get to take home, and I think it’s a nice token to remind them of our presentation.

Fortunately, the students I have presented to thus far have been courteous and kind, albeit shy in the beginning. They seem receptive to the information we have to offer, and I have even gotten emails from students that are now interested in pursuing careers in OT! I’m so grateful I have had the opportunity to spread the word about our amazing profession and our wonderful program here at USC, and I look forward to the short time I have left in this position to continue doing so! If you ever have questions about recruitment or anything else in general, feel free to reach out!

Fight on!

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Ghana Part 2 — Facilitating OT and CBR Collaboration ⟩
April 8, 2019, by Joyce

Diversity Externships International

One of the coolest parts of this externship was the fact that we, USC students, were able to participate in one of the leader’s, Jenna Kobara, OTD project. As part of her OTD, Kobara is pushing for interprofessional collaboration between OT students/OTs and community based rehabilitation workers (CBRs). An equivalent of a CBR in the states are the Community Health Workers, many of whom work with spanish-speaking communities, promotores de salud, to support health education and prevention efforts. Similarly, in Ghana, CBRs venture out into the communities, identify individuals with disabilities, and work on educating and building rapport with the community to facilitate inclusivity throughout the village. The community in Ghana is not only the immediate family but also their neighbors!

On the first day of this collaboration, USC students met with the Ghanaian OTs and the CBR students. I worked with my partner, Liliian, to facilitate a discussion about scope of practice and definitions around independence and therapy. Our job was not to lead the discussions but to open the doors for the Ghanaian students to participate and converse with one another. We were able to touch upon several points including the definition of independence, function, and ways for future collaborations.

After about 30 minutes of thoughtful conversation, we moved onto completing a task analysis of tie dying. For the CBR students, this was the first time engaging in task analysis.

I realized that the Ghanaian students were grappling with this novice task of tie dying shirts! It was a new activity for both of them and I believe that while it was new, the students worked well together to task analyze the tying of the rubber bands around the t-shirts.  After task-analyzing together, the MTC students came out to complete the activity with us! This was a great time for the Ghanaian OT and CBR students to interact with MTC students, not to mention, they were a lot more fluent in the local language of Fante so communication was so much smoother!

Seeing all of this unfold, I was in awe and have come to fully understood Bonnie’s mission, “To be out of a job”. Bonnie truly wants to plant the seed of collaboration between Ghanaian professionals to create the sustainability without the help of obrunis.

The next few days, my partner and I worked together with our matched CBR students in their specific community attachments to explore and learn about CBR work. As we engaged and problem solved with different individuals with various diagnosis (ie. CP, lower extremity pain), we made it a point to provide education that can carry with the CBRs for their future clients and to encourage the strength of collaborating with Ghanaian OTs.

It has been such a great experience to get to know our CBR students and how they have come to this profession. For some, it was not their first choice. In their univiersities, they may be placed into a major like occupational therapy or CBR. But even though it wasn’t their first choice to study this specific major, I have heard that many hearts were changed throughout their studies. It allowed students to change their perspectives on what the definition of disability, community integration, and function. I truly enjoyed and was inspired by the work of these students and the passion that they hold to increase awareness and acceptability of individuals with disabilities or illness into their communities. I even have pen-pals from Ghana to continue discussing about OT, CBR, scholarship, funding, NGOs through email 😊

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Culturally-Informed Healthcare: Modifying treatment to match the needs of the community. ⟩
April 1, 2019, by Serena

Diversity

One of the many benefits of attending USC’s OT program is having the ability to attend other healthcare department’s events. Ms. Gwendolyn Flynn, the former policy director of the Community Health Council, presented at USC at an event hosted by USC’s Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group and USC’s Student National Medical Association (SNMA). Although the groups are apart of the medical school, the students welcomed me to join the presentation as an occupational therapy student.

She spoke on the health inequities experienced within the Black communities due to the inaccessibility of whole plant-based foods. She highlighted the higher rates of lifestyle related chronic conditions in the Black community such as obesity and high blood pressure. In addition, she presented information on the food deserts (now more accurately called food apartheids) found in urban communities such as higher rates of liquor stores and lower frequencies of supermarkets with fresh produce. At the end of her presentation she made 5 recommendations for healthcare professionals to address this issue, which I have listed below.

1. Emphasize disease prevention and wellness programs.
2. Partner with local community organizations (i.e., Healthy Food Zones) in order to advocate for policy change. If you are unable to join then write letters, set up a meeting, or make a public testimony to show that this change matters because your voice is influential.
3. Promote nutrition education classes/ workshops in order to make the knowledge more applicable to patients’ everyday lives.
4. Write food and exercise prescriptions to change lifestyle (i.e., a prescription to go to the gym). I would like to add to make that prescription something meaningful and doable, think SMART goal.
5. Give out recommendations such as books and documentaries while in practice to help inspire and further educate your clients on the benefits of lifestyle changes.

It was really motivating and inspiring to receive information on specific actions that I can take to combat the increase of chronic conditions within my own culture. As I come closer to gaining my OT license, I am looking forward to the ability to serve the community with the recommendations the community has given me and then combining it with my educational, volunteer, and life experiences.

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