Student Blog
Externships

USC OT at Yonsei University in South Korea! ⟩
April 8, 2015, by Claire

Externships International

안녕하세요! (Annyeong Haseyo! Hello!)

That is the greeting used in South Korea!

It was nearly two years since I’ve traveled internationally, and it sure felt great to use my passport again.

This trip was for our Leadership Capstone course for the Master’s in Occupational Therapy at USC; the purpose of this externship trip is to see the development of leadership and administration in areas related to OT! We had two weeks in March to complete our leadership externship. With six other fellow Trojan OTs, we traveled across the world to South Korea, thanks to the coordination of Global Initiatives at USC OT! Their Facebook page is facebook.com/USCChanOSOTGlobal.

We were hosted by the Department of Occupational Therapy at Yonsei University and they did a spectacular job at taking care of us. I am excited for their students to come visit the United States!

Considering that my Korean vocabulary is limited to short phrases, I am grateful that our Korean OT colleagues worked hard to speak English with us. I am also incredibly grateful for our Korean-speaking classmates who have stepped up to the challenge of translating for us!

Korea’s culture is very different from Western American culture, and its impact on the Korean occupational therapy profession has been a regular theme in our conversations. We have been meeting with the OT graduate students and professors, and every single one of them is extremely passionate about pioneering occupational therapy in Korea. We got to learn about their research interests, how to translate western OT assessments so that they are relevant in an eastern cultural context, and how different policies affect practice. We also had the opportunity to visit different sites, including a community based mental health organization and a private pediatric clinic.

There are simply too many stories and pictures to be shared! Overall, it was a wonderful visit. We all left feeling more connected with other OTs around the world — no matter what culture, our mission is the same! I think all of us are also a lot more culturally sensitive to the clients who we work with too!

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Leadership Capstone Project, Part 1 ⟩
April 7, 2015, by Jonathan

Externships International Videos

Hello everyone! Hope you’re all doing great! It’s been a very busy time around the division as we try to finish up the last couple weeks of the semester strong. As for myself, I have been keeping myself busy with my awesome electives, preparing for AOTA, and coordinating OTSC philanthropy events. Most recently however, I had one of the best experiences of my life, which was my leadership capstone project that I led in the motherland of my ancestors, Philippines! I have not been back to the Philippines in 20 years, thus it was an opportunity that I had developed a lot of excitement and anticipation for. I had the pleasure of conducting my externship with one of my dear friends and fellow classmates, Amy. My leadership capstone project had two major phases: the first revolved around the overarching goal of deciphering the conceptualization of occupational therapy services in the Philippines. The second main emphasis focused on being able to give back and spread a positive impact through a philanthropic drive I curated in preparation for my leadership capstone project, which I named PhilaPinas. Through the generosity of my family, friends, and fellow classmates, we were able to raise up $1700 worth of supplies and necessities to be distributed amongst several rural provinces, orphanages, elderly homes, hospitals, and even a University that provides a “rehabilitation through education program” for the national prison. I will write more about the PhilaPinas in my next blog, but first I will start off with my first week on an island called Cebu, where my journey started.

I had the pleasure of spending the first week of my trip at a place called Dynamic Pediatric Therapy Services. It was first started by Berry and Apple Sepulveda, who both had envisioned a model of delivering quality care occupational therapy services in the Philippines, something they both felt was lacking. Apple is currently an occupational therapist and manages several clinics in California. Berry is a fellow Trojan and received her Master’s in Occupational Therapy at the University of Southern California in 2010. Based on the principles she had learned in her pediatric courses in addition to Apple’s vast experience in pediatric occupational therapy, they opened Dynamic Pediatric Therapy in February 2014, and their clinic provides the following services: sensory integration, social skill groups, feeding clinics, and free developmental screenings and caregiver training in the rural provinces. Being able to navigate healthcare in the Philippines presents its own challenge, as there are some stark differences. For one, health insurance is not mandated; most people do not have health insurance, and even if they do, the support given is often times very minimal. A majority of consumers compensate occupational therapy services through private pay. In terms of specific occupational therapy adaptive equipment, Berry has had to be creative, as most equipment is not accessible domestically or it is too expensive. As a response, Berry has had to resort to other creative solutions; one specific example is a proprioceptive shirt designed by Berry that provides deep pressure for her clients that need this input to modulate. There are additional contextual differences which affect the delivery of occupational therapy services, the largest most likely being financial resources. Berry and Apple both envisioned occupational therapy as something that should be accessible to everyone, no matter what their circumstances. Thus, they provide developmental screenings in addition to caregiver training in the rural provinces, in order to address this gap. Being able to spend the first week with Berry and her team was a great experience, and it was enlightening to see how Berry has translated the foundation she attained at USC and implement it in another country. That being said, Berry, Apple, and their outstanding team of occupational therapists are tremendous advocates for high quality occupational therapy services in the Philippines, and the passion is definitely exhibited in their work.

During the same time in Cebu, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Miljoy and Ken King, whose family legacy revolves around three generations of spreading a positive impact in the Philippines, through an organization started by and named after Ken’s grandfather, Juanito King. Founded in 1991, the Juanito I. King Foundation aims to serves as a resource agency to help individuals in need. Their foundation is rooted in the belief that education can break the bonds of poverty, thus the organization first launched as a scholarship program to help individuals in need pursue higher education. Since its inception, the Juanito I. King foundation has expanded its reach and capacities to help others in several ways. The program also focuses on education enhancement projects focusing on building school classrooms, computer laboratories, and teacher training. In 2003, they created a mobile dental van that provides dental services in poor and marginalized communities. In 2009, they created the DREAM for Children with Special Needs project, aimed at providing quality and sustainable therapy services to children with special needs in Cebu. One of the quality therapy services provided through the Juanito I. King foundation is occupational therapy, providing subsidized services that reach individuals who otherwise would not be able to access occupational therapy services.

Being able to spend time with both Dynamic Pediatric Therapy services and the Juantio I King foundation was inspiring in so many ways. I developed a deeper appreciation for the work I do as an occupational therapist, and just how great our impact can be.  It was a refreshing experience to see that both of these organizations are leading the forefront in being able to provide high quality occupational therapy services, and assuring that these services are provided to all individuals regardless of their economic background. The fact is, the Philippines is a third world country, and there is still much work to be done. However, with organizations like Dynamic Pediatric Therapy and the King foundation, this instills hope in thousands of individuals who hope to provide the best care for their families, to assure that they are living their lives to their greatest potential.

During the time I had off, I had the opportunity to explore Cebu and Bohol and take in the beauty of the Motherland! Here are some pictures of the amazing sights, and a video of some whale shark diving for your viewing pleasure.

Please stay posted for the continuation blog of my leadership capstone project, in which I’ll be writing about the PhilaPinas drive. Thank you for reading! 😊

— Jon

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Costa Rica!!! ⟩
March 21, 2015, by Kristy

Externships International

Hola! I recently returned from my international externship experience in Costa Rica and let’s just say it was amazing! Before I give you all the fabulous details of my trip, I’ll give you a little bit more background on the externship itself. During the final spring semester of the Master’s program, we are given the opportunity to learn aspects of leadership and advocacy in a different setting than our typical internships, therefore creating the externship process. Students may go shadow at a private practice, a physician’s office, the CEO at a major hospital, the principal at a local school district, or many of us, choose to travel internationally! International externships vary as well; some people go to other Universities and advocate for the profession or our programs at USC, for us, we worked with underprivileged children in a daycare center. Some of my fellow classmates traveled to London, Ireland, South Korea, Thailand, Mexico, or the Philippines! The sky is the limit. ☺

So back on my externship, myself, along with six other OT students were placed in a government funded daycare center in the outskirts of San Jose, Costa Rica. They have very limited staff and very limited supplies, but the children were so excited to see us and play with us! We really just provided compassion and care, and showed interest in them as individuals. The children could have really benefited from occupational therapy services for fine or gross motor as well as social play and manners. We played a lot of games with them, sang songs, created arts and crafts, and just got to know them. It was a really wonderful experience. Even though we weren’t able to make huge changes in their daily activities, I hope we sparked enough desire in them to improve their quality of life. The children were so appreciative of the time we spent with them, and I would love the chance to go back and spend even more time with them!

Even though the main reason for the trip to Costa Rica was the externship, we still had lots of time for fun! We stayed with a host family and got to experience the real, home-cooked Costa Rican cuisine every day. We got to go ziplining, see volcanoes, visit the hot springs, hike through the rainforest, and of course, spend lots of time at the gorgeous beaches! Overall it was an amazing experience, and I feel so lucky to have gotten to experience it and especially with a great group of friends! It will be one of my best memories of the master’s program!

Pura vida!

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Time to Pack! ⟩
February 20, 2015, by Brenda

Externships International

In one week, I will be on my way to South Korea! And I am so very excited. I can’t believe the time has come. And in a very Brenda tradition, I am only now beginning to prepare for my three week trip. I have started by buying new socks, yes socks. Clearly, you cannot go on a trip without some new socks. Baby steps, baby steps. And since it is winter in Korea right now, packing is going to require some extra thought. Here in Southern California, weather remains pleasant pretty much all year long. The forecast in South Korea is looking a little colder than usual. I am going to be welcomed by 30-40 degree weather. Brrrrrrrrr. Wish me luck!

While I work on packing, I will leave you all with some pictures of my awesome dog Mosquito. I will only be gone for three weeks, but I know I will sure miss his warm cuddling.

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Buy the ticket, take the ride ⟩
January 29, 2015, by Brenda

Externships

So I did it! I booked my flight for South Korea yesterday. I will be there for about three weeks in March. I am ecstatic! It’s been awhile since my last travels. In undergrad, I had the privilege to study abroad in Vietnam. So now in grad school, I will be visiting Yonsei University in South Korea as part of my externship experience. Externships are a requirement for our OT 540 Leadership Capstone class. This class is taken second semester of our second year in the program. The purpose of the course is to further help students with professional development. Externships are student driven and designed to build leadership, communication and professional skills. They are also intended as a means to explore topics that are covered in class. The options for these are endless. Some students choose to stay locally and explore private practice environments, different community-based organizations, or different clinics and hospitals. Other students also choose to volunteer. Some of my really close friends will be going to Costa Rica to volunteer at an orphanage. Like them, I have decided to do my externship internationally. I will be going to South Korea with division along with seven other students. March can’t come any sooner! If anyone out there has any suggestions of what I should do when I’m there, please don’t hesitate to reply to this post! 😊

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