Student Blog
Getting Involved

Happy Occupational Therapy Month! ⟩
March 30, 2010, by Myka

Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

Did you know April is Occupational Therapy Month? How am I celebrating, you ask? Well, let me tell you!

Today, we are tabling on campus to promote awareness of the profession. We are handing out clementines (a healthy snack) and wishing people a happy OT month! If you’re reading this blog because you’re thinking about doing OT, I’m sure you’ve come across people who have no idea what OT is! My grandma, for instance, really has no idea — I tried to tell her but I think it may be a lost cause. It’s important that we advocate for our profession so we become a powerful profession of the future!

We printed up big buttons for people to wear. Here are the slogans on the buttons:

What is OT?
An occupational therapist loves me.
OT: Living Life to its Fullest
OT=Hot Commodity
OTs Fight On!
I Heart OT
OT was my idea.

We’ll also be supporting events such as Global Health Awareness Week, Earth Day, and Disability Awareness Week throughout the month on campus!

What are you doing for OT month? Spread the word!

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A Wonderful Day of FUN! ⟩
February 16, 2010, by Mari

Community Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

PTE’s 3rd Annual Occupational Extravaganza!

Last weekend, USC’s Pi Theta Epsilon (National OT Honor Society), aka. PTE, put on our big event of the year — The 3rd Annual Occupational Extravaganza! This is an event that has been hosted every year by the current 2nd year Master’s students in PTE. It was held at USC’s Center for Occupation and Lifestyle Redesign, a beautiful Victorian-style house, just up the street from USC’s University Park Campus. It was a special day to show off our wonderful profession through yummy food, crafts, research projects, speakers, and panelists from Good Samaritan Hospital in LA. As a part of the PTE board, it took a lot of planning and organizing, but the event turned out great, and despite the expected rain, there was a pretty big turn out! Those who attended the event were USC OT 1st/2nd/OTD students, USC OT alumni, CSU Dominguez Hills OT students, USC OT faculty/staff, OTs from our students’ fieldwork sites, staff from Good Sam Hospital, students admitted into our OT program, and children from ENGAGE. ENGAGE is a volunteer community organization to help children in the area participate in meaningful occupations, and it is run by the residents of the OT House. So, it was definitely a huge OT event and a great way to kick off OT month in April! Our PTE members were able to put together a wonderful day of fun! Here are some pictures!

Crafts
We made Valentine’s Day trinket boxes using tiles and grout.

Here’s Dr. Florence Clark, the head of our OT department, as well as the President-elect of AOTA (American OT Association), sharing some of her wisdom with us as we make beautiful origami cranes.

And we also made stress balls using balloons and flour.

Research
Here’s a small view of the research that was displayed. Research projects were done by current USC faculty (Well Elderly Study, PUPS), OTD students, and current Master’s students.

Speakers/Panel
We also had three wonderful speakers, each owning their own private practice (Susan Harris, Tammy Richardson, and Erna Blanche), and below, is our interdisciplinary panel from Good Sam, consisting of an OT, OT student from CSU Dominguez Hills, a rehab director, a nurse, two PTs, and a SLP. Using a case study of an actual patient they all had treated, they discussed the treatment plan and role of interdisciplinary care with this patient.

Here’s a picture of me with Dr. Jeanne Jackson (a faculty advisor of PTE) and Phoebe (co-president of PTE).

Overall, it was a very enjoyable and successful day! =)

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