Possible Setting as an OT Practitioner

There are many fields an occupational therapist can go into once they graduate from occupational therapy school. Currently, I am interested in working in a pediatric setting in a hospital. My dream job would be to work for a private not for profit agency such as St. Jude Hospital. I have always loved working with children growing up. Working for a private not for profit agency would inspire me daily as I went to work. It shows how amazing an origination can be to help people who cannot afford insurance get the quality care that they need. At St. Jude, there are private investors who contribute to the funding of the hospital. If patients have insurance, their insurance company will get billed, but if family cannot afford to pay the rest of the bill then the hospital covers it.

In this field, I would love to work with children with disabilities and those with mental health problems. I have a passion that each child should get the chance to have as normal as a childhood as possible. I also would like to working in a school system that focused on the mental health of the students. The school that I went to never had a counselor that students felt comfortable going to about anything other than academic problems. Being able to work at a public agency would provide some challenges with how much funding the government would allow to work with students with mental health struggles. I would work to get a grant to fund the therapy sessions about mental health if I needed to because I feel it is extremely important in our society today. I hope the rules for government funding for occupational therapy practitioners in the school system change so they can met all the needs they see for each child.

Era Presentation

The era presentations were sooo good all around!! Everyone went into great detail on how occupational therapy impacted the era, but also how each era impacted where we are as a society today. There were a couple of points from some presentations that stuck out to me more than others. One point that I found interesting was from 70s group presentation. It was about the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 1975. This act started the protection and advocacy system. It was appointed the "Big Responsibility" act. It gave people the authority to pursue legal and administrative action to protect the rights of those with disabilities. It granted people freedom from harm and discrimination. It was also cost free, as supported over 50,000 Tennesseans. I loved this point because I feel like everyone should have the right to protect themselves no matter what. Another point that I found interesting was from the work portion of the 80s group presentation. In this part, they stated how there had been a big growth in the health care services in the 80s. Health services grew so much do to factors like a growing elderly population, technology advances, more government requirements, and some private insurers. In an effort to cut cost there became more outpatient facilities, nursing & personal care facilities, and residential care opportunities. It is important that the health care services grew so much then, because the facilities that resulted from the growth are the bigger areas that occupational therapist practice in today. The last point that I found interesting from the era presentations was about health care in the 2010s era.  The 2010s started part of the affordable health care act. It stated that coverage cannot be canceled unless there is fraud present. It also made it to where dependents could be covered by their parents health insurance up to the age of twenty-six. In 2014 it eliminated annual limits on essential health benefits and restriction on pre-existing conditions. We still use some of those rules today. I really enjoyed learning so many new things about each era throughout the presentations! Everyone made each presentation fun and enjoyable!