The Honor Code

 UTHSC has an honor code in place to help keep our school accountable and trustworthy. I read the honor code in detail from our school's website. I am so honored to go to a school where they take pride in enforcing the honor code for each department. I think our department has three honor code counselors (students) that report any suspicious activity to the honor code representative (faculty member) for our department. I think it is so important now more than ever that the school tries to reinforce the honor codes. It can be so easy for students to cheat since we are distance learning for the time being. If test are not proctored, then it is very easy for a student to cheat. I think it is important that every professor emphasize the importance of following the honor code daily and especially before a test or quiz. It is also the responsibility of each student to have the respect to uphold the honor code since we each had to sign it before starting school. If they do not uphold it, the person they hurt the most is themselves. I believe our department does a fantastic job of emphasizing the honor code and reminding us of how important it is. I pray that as we continue to earn our degree's from home that each student will remember the code that they signed and that it is important to uphold it. We should want to do our part in making our school and department honest and trustworthy to others. 

Reaching Out to Potential OTs

 I have a passion for the field of occupational therapy and I believe it is so important to share what OT is and how you can become one. I have had so many doctors and nurses say to me that they need more OTs now that we are in a pandemic. They tell me how vital a role they play in the recovery process for patients. I personally believe that the job demand will be great in 2021 for occupational therapist. I love telling anyone I can about OT and how I love being a student in this field. I post things on my facebook monthly about occupational therapy. I even tried to recruit a friend of mine to apply to UTHSC OT program based on the post she saw me sharing on facebook. It is amazing the world we live in with technology. There are so many ways to reach people now. If I didn't share multiple post about our program and what OT is, I don't think my friend would have been interested in the field of occupational therapy. She used to want to be a physical therapist and had no clue what an OT did until she asked me. She was amazed at the things we could do because she felt those were the things she was missing when looking into PT. It is so good to see how Facebook can help tell people about the field of occupational therapy. 

Here are some examples of the thing I post on Facebook about OT and our school!

Media Project Assignment: "Dressing Pan"

 For this project, I was assigned to use a cookie sheet as my household item. My client's name was Paula and she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She is a 76 year old woman who used to teach history at a college. She is stated to be a strong willed and independent woman. She wants to be able to do things like bathing, dressing, and communicating with her college peers and husband again independently. She currently lives in a skilled nursing facility, but would like to be back home with her husband. It is important to her that she becomes more independent again so she can move back home. She is not too fond of occupational therapy services and really doesn't understand what it is or what she is doing. She does not like group therapy sessions either. When trying to come up with an innovative idea for Paula to use, I thought about the things most important to her. She wants to be home with her husband and be able to take better care of herself. I knew then that I wanted to come up with something that would help with dressing herself. I know not being able to do that can feel demeaning to her. She stated that it take forever for her to button up her blouse or shirt. I wanted her to be able to do that, but in a way that would be interesting for her to practice. When I observed an OT before getting into the program, I had seen a device used to help children develop fine motor skills like buttoning up a shirt. I knew that the same device would not work for Paula since she had tremors and the device I had seen before was flimsy and that would only make things worse. 

I decided that I could use the cookie sheet as a stabilizer for button device. It would provide support and stability a person with tremors would need. I decided to get a variety of button sizes so it would give a range of difficulty. Shirts are made with all different button sizes so I thought it was important to practice with the easiest ones and the most difficult ones. I knew fine motor skills start to deteriorate when a person is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but I never really thought about the specific skills that would be hard for them to do. Practicing buttoning a shirt seems like a child task, but it is important for day to day life. Most jeans and pants have some sort of button that you have to work with. I see now that it could be so frustrating for a person who develops PD. They would struggle every time they got dress, every time they had to undress, or even every time they had to go use the bathroom. It would take up so much time struggling to button or unbutton something. Practicing with a support allows them to focus on just the button and not about if they will drop the fabric or not. 

Doing this assignment gave me a great appreciation to all the OTs before me who have came up with such creative interventions for their clients. It took me a few days to thing what I could do that would be the most helpful for my individual client and also thinking how other clients with the same diagnosis could use it. It also taught me how to look at the personal details in a case. Yes there are things that are somewhat routine for diagnosis like Parkinson's disease, but it is important to look at what the client wants to accomplish at the end of treatment versus what you may want as a standard care. Diseases that are degenerative are the worst to be. I cannot even imagine what it must feel like to know how to do something one day and not be able to do it the next. This assignment has given me an insight to how a client may feel. I feel like I will be a better occupational therapist because I know that they want to get better just as much as I want them to. It has also taught me to be creative and try new skills for the sake of an intervention. I did not know how to sew a button to fabric, but I asked my mother to teach me and now I have a new skill that I can put to future use! I really enjoyed doing this assignment because it made me think and try to create something fun!

Here is a link to watch me explain just what a "Dressing Pan" is!! :) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzGXBJv2e8o

Neuro Note #5: CVA (Stroke)

I chose to review a video/article about a lady named Katherine Wolf. It was called "Having a Stroke as a New Mom Changed Everything, but I'm Treating it like a Gift". There was a video interview done of Katherine's life now and how she goes about being a mom after her stroke. She was 26 years old when she had a stroke. The type of stroke she had was a massive brainstem stroke. It was caused by the rupturing of a brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM). She had a 16 hour surgery where more than half her cerebellum and many inter-cranial nerves were removed. The doctors had told her husband that the odds of her surviving the stroke were not good. She was in a coma for two months. Six months prior to her having the stroke she had a baby boy. When she finally woke up from the coma, she had to relearn how to do everything over again. She stated that she was learning all the developmental milestones as her child was at about the same time. She was paralyzed on the left side of her face. She could not walk at all, but now she uses a wheelchair at times and a cane. About 7 years after her stroke she got pregnant with another baby boy. She talked about how hard it was at the beginning to come with terms that she was no longer able to take care of her baby and that she needed to be taken care of herself. Her whole life changed at the age of 26, but now she has come such a long way. Katherine and her husband decided to start a non-profit organization to help families like theirs to come to terms with being a family with disabilities. I decided to do this topic because I have a story similar to Katherine's story. My uncle had a stroke in his mid 40s. The doctors even told our family that he had a 3% chance of surviving. He was also in a coma for a month. Thankfully he survived and is still with us today. Unlike Katherine, he didn't have such good luck with his recovery process. He is in a wheelchair, has no control of the lower extremities, cannot feed or bathe or change himself, he has double vision now, and has slurred speech. The thing that impacted his recovery process was that he started to develop tremors about a month after he woke up from the coma. He still has them but not as bad as when they first developed. It changed his and our families lives. He was the mechanic of the family and it kills him not to be able to do the things he loves anymore. But just like Katherine, my uncle has found a stronger root in his faith. He believes that everything happens for a reason and he is so thankful to still be here today. I really enjoyed listening and reading about Katherine Wolf. It is inspiring to know that she didn't let the stroke define her. It is also encouraging as a future occupational therapist to see success stories of how important therapy is for stroke patients. I can see how similar her story and my uncles story was. It is so important to know the types of CVAs to know how bad effects can be on a person. I would recommend people to watch the video and read the article because it shows how someone can adjust their life and overcome a big obstacle. The brain is so complex and has so much control over all of the body. We need to appreciate it and be thankful that we are able to be independent in our daily life. 

Video & article source: 

Bryant, K. (2019, July 25). Having a stroke as a new mom changed everything, but i'm treating it like a gift. Retrieved from https://www.parents.com/parenting/dynamics/having-a-stroke-as-a-new-mom-changed-everything-but-im-treating-it-like-a-gift/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=health_health&utm_content=video_internalcrosspromotion9

Neuro Note #4: ALS

 Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is one of those terrible diseases that we still do not have a cure for. ALS is a condition that affects the nervous system in the brain that causes loss of muscle control. I read a blog post called "One Year" by a man named Ray. He gave a personal perspective of how ALS affects ones life. He had a whole blog about his journey of living with ALS, but his blog post tells about his first year living with ALS. He talks about the process of telling everyone close to him that he had ALS. He said it was the hardest thing he had to do and that it was draining. He felt that way because he didn't know what to say and the people he told didn't know what to say either. I can only imagine being diagnosed with an incurable disease and having to tell everyone I know that I was dying and there is nothing that can be done about it. It is hard to process the thought of dying yourself, but knowing that you are telling people awful news cannot be easy at all. With this disease, there is no specific time line of how fast the muscles will start loosing their function. Ray thought that in a year he would still be pretty much the same as he was when he was diagnosed. He found that it wouldn't be true. He was getting tired very easily. He had trouble eating independently, and it took him a long time to finish each meal. I feel as he felt that he was a bother to those around him because he stated that people usually were cleaning dishes around him and he felt bad that he couldn't help. He also stated that it took him a while to get dressed with help and it was even harder to do it by himself. He had to have a whole new wardrobe since being diagnosed with ALS so that it would be easier for him to get dressed by himself. Reading through his experience should make anyone feel blessed that they can do simple things as dressing themselves independently and to not take anything for granted because it can be gone so soon. I wanted to read this blog post to see what life was like at the initial start for someone who has been diagnosed with ALS. This is the perfect blog to read for someone to get the perspective on the person diagnosed. We can read all about the diagnoses and symptoms of ALS, but knowing how a person diagnosed with it lives helps me understand the disease better. I learned that the best thing you can do for a person diagnosed with this disease is to be there for them and help them learn how to adapt to the new living situation. It is important that they know all the effect of the disease and how to properly prepare their current living environment. It is important for them to know that there is no specific time line for when the muscles will lose function. It is also important for them to have a support system. They will need someone to help them function independently in their daily life. I strongly recommend reading the whole blog by Ray. It give a great perspective on how he found joy through this trial in his life and what to expect of someone who is diagnosed with ALS. 

Photo & Blog from: 

Rays Little Ride. (2016, May 24). One Year. Retrieved from https://rayslittleride.com/2015/12/16/one-year/  

Neuro Note #3: Traumatic Brain Injury

Concussions are classified as a serious type of traumatic brain injury. Concussions happen all the time, but most of the time to children. A concussion happens when a person has a serious blow or impact to the head. It takes a lot of force to hit the head for a person to sustain a concussion. I decided to watch the TEDtalk "Protecting the Brain Against Concussion" by Kim Gorgens. I think she did an outstanding job presenting information on this subject. I decided to watch this TEDtalk because I have always been curious about the effects concussions have on children who play sports. Both my brothers and my fiancé have played football and sustained a concussion from the sport. It is a very serious and scary situation to be in. Depending on the level of severity of the concussion, the person can be a little light headed and have a headache or they can be completely disoriented and nauseous. My younger brother didn't get completely disoriented, but he got nauseous and had a headache for a week. Thankfully, the coaching staff contacted my parents right away and they were able to take him to the hospital to get an MRI to see if there was any permeant damage. We were relieved when the scans came back and there was no damage. We were worried because this was his second concussion. He had one before when he was little at his daycare. They were riding kids around on four-wheelers and they ran over a bump and he fell off and hit his head on the ground. Kim Gorgens stated in her talk that once you first sustain a head injury, the chances of getting a second injury is higher and it keeps getting higher the more times you injure your head. She also said that high school athletes are three times more likely to have serious injuries to the head and it usually takes them longer to be symptom free. The second time my brother had a concussion, he was a senior in high school and it happened during practice after school one day. Since his headache lasted for a full week, they required him to sit out that week plus a full week after the last day his head hurt. I am thankful that there are rules and guidelines in place like that to protect these children. I feel like there should be some rule put in place that makes the schools record how many times a child sustains a concussion and that after three times they shouldn't be allowed to play the sport anymore.  Having multiple traumatic brain injuries can have a negative affect to the brain in the long run. Kim Gorgens talked about a research study that was conducted on retired NFL players. It was actually the wives of the players who wanted the study done. They were all concerned because their husbands were young and seemed very forgetful all the time. This research study showed that NFL players who have had three or more traumatic brain injuries to the head or concussions had a higher chance of getting demented diseases at a young age. Kim stated that there are three things people must to do to try and prevent concussions. They need to study and be educated on the subject, they need to do something about it, and they need to make sure there is protection in place. I loved those three steps that she talked about. There needs to be more guideline put into action to protect these children and athletes from sustaining so many brain injuries. It should be a top priority to protect the minds of our youth. If everyone cared a little more about the affects concussions had, I strongly believe would could come up with a solution to lower the statistic of people who sustain brain injuries. I strongly recommend parents, teachers, coaches, athletic departments, and even athletes to watch this TEDtalk and educate themselves on how to protect the brain. Kim Gorgens did a fantastic job of explaining how you can start to protect the brain from injury.



Gorgens, K. (May 2010). Protecting the brain against concussion [Video]. TED Conferences. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_protecting_the_brain_against_concussion#t-541603

Neuro Note #2: Alzheimer's Disease

To me, Alzheimer's Disease is the worst disease that someone can ever experience. It is awful for the person with the condition, but it's even worse on the family. I wanted to read the article "OT's Role in Helping Kids Understand a Grandparent's Dementia" because I have a grandparent who has Alzheimer's Disease. She has had this for about 15 years now. I am currently 23 so I was about 8 years old when she was diagnosed. This article was a perfect representation to me on how it was to grow up with a grandparent who has to go through this type of disease. As a kid, it is hard to understand how someone you look up to will slowly forget things and eventually forget who you are. I know for my situation, by siblings and I spent so much time with my grandmother doing fun activities because we didn't think we had much time left with her. As we got older, we have changed roles from being her playful grandchildren to her caregiver. My siblings and I love that we are able to help my grandfather take care of her because we know that it can get very hard for him to do by himself. We all learned at young ages how to correctly control a hospital bed, a wheelchair, and any other adaptive devices she needed to use before she was completely bed ridden. The article explains how Kathryn Harrison was able to come up with a book for children to explain what dementia is and how to handle it from a grandchild's perspective. It explains that the grandchildren help put the mom and the grandmother in better spirits because they would play all kinds of games together. It was a happy time and made for happy memories. They didn't let the fact that she had a disease get in the way of them making the most out of their time with their grandmother. When she eventually had to go to a nursing home, the caregivers there took the time to explain to the children what all they did so they could be there and help. They also allowed them to stay there when they would do any type of examination on her and even let them do crafts with the other people in the center. It was an important thing because it helped the grandmother be more comfortable in the center. It just helps the whole process when she starts loosing her memory. I love that she came up with this idea to make a children's book to help parents explain what will happen with this disease. I know it is extremely hard on the spouse and the children of the person who gets the disease. I cannot even begin to count the times that I found my mother crying when we all first found out that my grandmother had Alzheimer's. It has made my mom so happy to see that we all still have such a great relationship with my grandmother. Even though she cannot talk much anymore, she still recognizes us all! We know this because when we enter her room she starts smiling so much and tries to talk to us. I honestly believe that my grandmother is still with us after 15 years because we have been by her side from the beginning and have tried to make everything as comforting to her as possible. I would recommend everyone who has to go through telling small children what dementia is to get the book that Kathryn Harrison wrote. It will make things so much easier for the parents. It's hard to explain it to children when you don't really understand what is happening yourself. I am glad to know there is a book out there in case I ever need it in the future.





Picture and Article came from:
Seniors Flourish. (2019, February 11). OT's role in helping kids understand a grandparent's dementia. Retrieved from https://seniorsflourish.com/kidsanddementia/