Occupational Therapy Personal Statement

My grandma was a remarkable person despite everything she faced as a result of her stroke. There were moments in my life when I felt incapable of being helpful and present for her. She had a stroke in her mid 40s and I saw the toll it had on her overall well-being, mentally and physically. Her stroke paralyzed her completely on one side of her body and it took away her ability to communicate verbally; she was bedridden for the remainder of her life. This memory sparked a passion in me to serve people in need. I first came into contact with occupational therapy (OT) during her home health visits where I served as a translator and support system. My love for this profession continually grew as I exposed myself to the field through opportunities

I was initially drawn to physical therapy because it was more well known but once I explored the field I knew instantly that OT was my passion. In regards to her home health visits in OT, they focused mainly on coordination activities that were aimed to improve her feeding abilities while training the family on how to use the adaptive equipment that were used in the bathroom. For example, I remember vividly when they were trying to teach her how to use her utensils with foam tubing to help her grasp it efficiently. The benefits that these interventions had on my grandma improved her longevity and quality of life. This gave her a sense of independence because she was paralyzed and relied heavily on my aunt who was her primary

I was immensely drawn by the approach in comparison to working at a hand therapy clinic. My time at the pediatric clinic allowed me to observe treatment plans being specifically catered to a child's needs rather than being generalized. For example, one of the patients had difficulties taking adult directions and sensory needs that corresponded to daily activities, I’ll refer to her as “Little Red”. The therapist devised an intervention plan that targeted these two milestones through using toys/objects that she was fond of playing with. She placed farm animals on a baking pan that were scoured with shaving cream to mimic soap and guided her through the wash and dry cycle to simulate taking a shower. To prevent her frustration and anger from focusing on an activity for too long, the therapist would approach this problem by leaving activities out by giving her options. Unfortunately, she grew bored of the activities and I was approached with a task to explore my creative side. I crafted a buttoning activity that was made in the shapes of animals that had different button sizes to target several levels of gripping. This buttoning activity allowed “Little Red” to work on her goal of the week which was to improve her ability to take her clothes on and off without parental help. From this experience, I plan to utilize my creativity skills as a clinician to keep my patients