Day 4 At Our Service Learning Sites

Hello family and friends this is Lauren, Carly and Bhanu writing from our service site, Missionaries of the highway.

Today our team split up into four service areas: sensory, occupational, home visits and the classroom.  Tara and Allie worked with Stacia in sensory, Lauren and Andrea worked in occupational, Carly, Claire and Sara went on home visits, and Ann worked with Bhanu in the classroom.

In occupational Andrea and I (Lauren) worked with 9 children.  Many of the parents had concerns about attention to activities the children did not want to do, such as get dressed, eat dinner, and complete their homework.  We recommended to the parents to do first-then activities with the children to motivate the children to complete the tasks that they needed to do.  We enjoyed getting to know the children in the time we had them and we really connected with a few.  We did have a few ornery ones today who did not want anything to do with us, but that is part of the job.  I really enjoyed learning from Andrea and inserting my own ideas and receiving positive feedback.  So far, I have learned a lot from the therapists I have worked with and I am excited to learn more tomorrow.

Visiting the homes of our clients was incredibly eye-opening for the home visit crew (Carly, Claire, and Sara). Ultimately, I (Carly) was really impressed with the families' setup for their children, despite their very limited resources. Both visits involved making modifications to the children's wheelchairs, but when asked if they had any questions or concerns about activities of daily living, exercises, etc. both sets of parents responded that they felt like those activities were going well. Considering the extent of the children's needs, and the heavy lifting on their parents' part, I was really moved by both sets of parents' absolute dedication to doing the best they could by their children. The second visit was the toughest, as we were limited in the modifications we were hoping to provide to this particular client's wheelchair, but nonetheless her parents were very appreciative of our efforts, serving us lunch from their own limited stores and hugging us goodbye as we left.

Hello from Bhanu!  This whole week I have spent time with the psychologist, teacher, parents and children!  And sharing this wonderful experience with the budding OTs from Xavier.  Not much hands on treatment BUT unbelievable dialogue that has included facilitating consultation and collaboration between the team.  Every day ended with a very satisfied feeling of accomplishment that parents and teachers were facilitated to be on the same page to carryout what was best for the child.  Lots of conversation and consultation on ADLs.. my favorite topic!  Shared many tidbits from my book Self-Care with Flair! The children that I saw were adorable, so cooperative, well mannered with great fine motor skills. They definitely were an occupational therapists' dream.  Each and every  OT students that I have mentored  have been great! I wish them a glorious future. Touching lives leaves a very satisfactory feeling that they will experience in the future as OTs.  All in all it has been great experience!  

Buenos Noches!
Lauren, Bhanu, Carly