HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The Wallace State Community College Alumni Association, Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) and Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) programs held the 2022 OTA and PTA Alumni Connection event on March 17 at the James C. Bailey Center. The event offered current Wallace State students and professionals in the fields of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy the opportunity to network and earn continuing education credits by attending sessions given by experts in their fields.
Sessions included:
- Teepa Snow’s Positive Approach to Care: ‘Normal Aging/Not Normal Aging’ instructed by Laura Smith and Kelly Krigbaum, which taught learners to recognize and intervene when behavioral challenges related to aging occur. Learners were given ways to approach and connect people affected by dementia.
- Electrotherapy: Improving Clinical Outcomes instructed by Dr. Rick Proctor, gave students a knowledge base of electrotherapy waveforms and the way they affect human physiology.
- Community Access and Inclusion instructed by Sandy Hanebrink, discussed barriers faced by seniors and individuals with disabilities and roles for OT and PT professionals to facilitate change and help clients achieve access and inclusion to communities and services.
- Power Wheelchair Evaluation and Documentation instructed by Sherry Kolodziejczak, provided students with a step-by-step guide for completing the Medicare Power Wheelchair Evaluation and Documentation.
- Retrain the Pain instructed by Laura Smith gave students ways to approach patients with chronic pain and identify the difference between acute and chronic pain.
- Pelvic Floor Dysfunction instructed by Marta “Crista” Hargett, taught about the often-overlooked subject which may contribute to lower back and hip pain.
Alumni and current OTA/PTA students actively participated in each session, sharing observations from sessions with their own patients. Students were able to network with alumni already working in their own practices.
Director of the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program at Wallace Laura Smith taught the Retrain the Pain session where participants worked together to identify strategies to help patients deal with pain. Smith discussed how concepts and medical science and terminology are always changing, so it is important to stay up to date and connected with other medical professionals.
Smith stressed that giving patients accessible ways to learn about their own illness is important, so they can describe their condition to their doctor. She recommended looking to sources like workbooks, YouTube and podcasts to offer to patients to keep them educated on their own health issues without using complicated medical terminology. “We don’t have to be the subject expert on everything,” she said. Stating that it is important to listen to what a patient thinks about their own chronic illness and to help their understanding.
She emphasized the importance of OT and PT professionals continuing education, saying that chronic pain patients may receive incorrect information from doctors who have not updated their knowledge for several years. “As I’ve learned as I get farther and farther away from OT school, I’ve had to relearn the new technology and new things going on.”
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