Hello Estelle: Thanks! I will pass it on to the student, I'm sure he will be surprised!! Ron -- On 8/20/2001, Elka said: E> Ron, just thought you'd like to know, our faculty decided to include E> this in the materials we distribute for orientation. Thanks for E> forwarding this to us. Estelle E> -----Original Message----- E> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf E> Of Ron Carson E> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 2:53 PM E> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] E> Subject: OT From the Heart: A Student's Perspective E> Hello All: E> Last week, a student drafted the following paper for me to read. It E> was NOT written as an assignment or required work. E> I find his insight and passion to be both intellectually and E> professionally stimulating. With the student's permission, I want to E> share it with the OT now list. E> I hope you find it as enlightening as I did. E> Thanks, E> Ron E> <<<<<<<<<< original text follows >>>>>>>>>> E> OT from the heart: This is what Occupational Therapy is to me. E> Do you ever wonder what life is all about? Do you ever struggle with E> what your role in life is or will be? Questions like, "Where am I, E> and what am I doing here?", often run through my mind. For the first E> time in years I feel that I may have an answer to those ever lingering E> truth-seeking questions. E> I've known my whole life that I wanted to help and serve people in a E> way that I could impact someone forever. I believe that there is no E> better way to impact someone than to address and serve individuals E> specific needs. Occupational therapy will allow me to accomplish E> this, to serve people on a level that is at the center of life. This E> is where I want to be, the very core of living. E> What is an occupation anyway? Occupations are anything in life that E> we as humans do to have fun, take care of ourselves, or be productive. E> What this translates to in my mind is that anything we do of meaning E> is an occupation. As a result, without your occupations, you have E> lost all your life's meaning. An example of an occupation in my life E> is exercising because it makes me feel productive and brings me a high E> level satisfaction. If I weren't able to exercise any longer, then I E> would have an occupational deficit. As an OT, my goal would be to E> empower my client to once again learn how to exercise either the way, E> he/she use to or in a new way. Another example of an occupation would E> be using the toilet or making a meal which can be very critical in E> one's happiness and survival. E> I believe that our lives are made of occupations, and without our E> occupations we are without life. There have been studies that shown E> the fact that infants need the occupation of being cared for by a E> caregiver in order to live and grow. To me this demonstrates how we, E> as humans of all ages, have an internal and critical need for our E> occupations and without them we are without life. E> This is what I meant when I said that Occupational Therapy is at the E> core of life. Occupations are life, and there is nothing more real E> than that. This is the beauty of Occupational Therapy, the capability E> to help enable people to restore their occupations which restores E> their lives. Occupational therapy addresses people lives (occupations) E> when other health care professionals only look at the physiological or E> physical body. What does this mean to you? In my life, it means I E> may have found an answer to the questions I posed in paragraph one. E> It means that I have the ability to empower occupations and E> essentially empower life, and that is what its all about. E> -- E> Ron Carson MHS, OTR/L E> Assistant Professor E> University of Saint Augustine E> 1 University Blvd. E> St. Augustine, FL 32086 E> 904.826.0084 E> ******************** E> Unsubscribe by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the E> message's body, put the following text: E> unsubscribe OTlist E> ------ E> OTnow messages are archived at: E> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] (and) E> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] E> ********rC*********** E> ******************** E> Unsubscribe by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's body, put the following text: E> unsubscribe OTlist E> ------ E> OTnow messages are archived at: E> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] (and) E> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] E> ********rC*********** ******************** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's body, put the following text: unsubscribe OTlist ------ OTnow messages are archived at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] (and) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] ********rC***********
