Are You the Winner of a Nook?

Congratulations to Ellen Obenberger of June Lake, CA. You are the winner of the grand prize. Email the OTAC office at staff@otaconline.org or call Shannon toll-free at 888-868-3325 to claim your prize by March 8, 2013. Thank you for your support.

Today's Lucky Winner - OTAC

Julie Bissell Is Today’s Lucky Winner (Feb. 22)
Congratulations, Julie! You have won a $10 discount off of your next membership renewal. Contact the OTAC office at Shannon@otaconline.org or call toll-free at 888-686-3225 before Friday, March 1 to take advantage of this prize.

Today’s Winner of the Member Appreciation Drawing

Today’s winner of the member appreciation drawing, Natalia Feldman of San Francisco, has won a $10 discount off the 2013 Annual Conference registration in Sacramento

Congratulations, Natalia. See you in Sacramento in October.

It Never Gets Boring to Announce Prize Winners

The winner for today’s drawing (Thursday, February 7, 2013) is Amanda Woods and she has won a $5 discount on her next membership renewal. Amanda, please contact the OTAC office toll-free at 888-686-3225 within seven days of this posting to claim your prize.

The Vision in Action: Increasing Mobility Internationally through Occupational Therapy

By Kecia Coker, (OTD Cand.), MA, OTR/L, OTAC Communications Committee 

Have you ever noticed the presence or lack of community resources when you travel to a new place? Do you also notice the presence or lack of universal design features that either include or exclude people with disabilities?

If so, it’s probably because being an occupational therapy (OT) practitioner is something you can’t turn off--even on vacation!  On a trip to Indonesia to visit and support her son’s geo tourism business, Diane Mayfield, Ed.D., OTR/L couldn’t help but notice numerous people living with disabilities that were treatable or could be improved with the use of adaptive equipment. The experience had such an impact on Dr. Mayfield that she returned to the United States with a passion to volunteer her time and share her occupational therapy expertise with the international community.  

In 2006, Dr. Mayfield helped to establish Access Life International Inc. (ALI), a non-profit organization. ALI provides water purification systems and mobility aids such as wheelchairs, walkers and ramps to communities in need.  The organization primarily assists those living in Bali, Indonesia, though they hope to expand to additional developing countries in the future.

Here’s how it works: the ALI organization trains and employs local Indonesian residents to assist people with physical disabilities. ALI employees videotape interested participants with disabilities in their living environments and send the videos to Dr. Mayfield and her Australian OT colleagues to review. The OTs assess the occupational limitations demonstrated in the video and then consult with ALI staff in Indonesia to develop a plan.  ALI staff then builds, and/or delivers mobility aids and provides training on the use of these aids to individuals and caretakers. The interventions delivered work to improve the person’s mobility, function, and access to an improved quality of life.

Dr. Mayfield’s work demonstrates the OTAC Vision in action (adopted from the AOTA Centennial Vision), “We envision that occupational therapy is a powerful, widely recognized, science-driven and evidence-based profession with a globally connected and diverse workforce meeting society's occupational needs.” By increasing public awareness of OT through volunteer work, she is also an OT Leader that Shines!

Dr. Mayfield has particularly focused her leadership on promoting OT through a globally- connected workforce and by meeting the occupational needs of individuals in a developing country.  In addition to providing remote consultation services for ALI and fundraising on behalf of the organization, Dr. Mayfield travels to Bali 2 weeks out of the year to provide hands-on assistance with ALI’s operations.  In her role as Academic Fieldwork Coordinator at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), Dr. Mayfield has worked to establish international fieldwork placement sites. As a classroom instructor, she regularly encourages OT students and graduates to volunteer their expertise in the global community.  Dr. Mayfield says, “A successful person is a person that gives back and volunteers.”  Many CSUDH OT alumni have responded to Dr. Mayfield’s encouragement and have become OT Leaders that Shine through international volunteer work in countries such as Ghana, Ireland, and Romania. 

Dr. Mayfield describes herself as, “an advocate for people with disabilities who are unable to speak for themselves.”  In addition to being an advocate, she has also demonstrated the following leadership qualities along her journey:  

·         Passion for her work.

·         Persistence and determination when faced with challenges.  

·         Adaptability when things don’t go as planned. 

·         Respect for various cultural perspectives when developing partnerships domestically and abroad.

If you too have found your passion in international volunteer work, let us know! 

For more information about ALI or to learn how you can get involved, visit www.accessli.org.   Additional international and domestic volunteer opportunity websites can be found on this blog. Click on the Volunteer Website Resources in the “pages” section and connect to your inner OT Leader that Shines!

Shine on, OT Leader!

Hopefully, by following this OT Leaders that Shine blog, you’ve gained some excellent leadership tips from our highlighted expert OT Leader, Amy Salinas, MS OTR/L.
 

Amy planned and hosted the First Annual car show fundraiser for the brain injury service at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center (Rancho): “Rebuilding Cars; Rebuilding Lives”.  On September 29th, over 1,000 guests visited the event, with over 150 cars registered – which is a huge success for a first time car show!

This entire process has been a great learning experience for Amy – and for those of us who have been following the excitement as the plan evolved.   

Working her way up the professional ladder to chairperson of the brain injury interdisciplinary team at Rancho, OT supervisor Amy Salinas is no stranger to leadership responsibilities; however, this car show was her largest professional endeavor to date.   Amy was searching for an event to bring her team together while promoting recognition about brain injury in the local communities surrounding Downey, CA.  Amy generated the enthusiasm for this event after a few conversations with her father, an avid vintage car hobbyist.   

Amy’s father and his fellow club members held leadership roles guiding the implementation, launching and running of the car show.  He was actively involved up to the last minute when he and his car club judged the entries.  Through this experience, Amy learned to interact and gain the trust of many community agencies, most of whom had never heard of Rancho Los Amigos.  She recruited help from the Sherriff’s department to the Girl Scouts. She even had a large stage donated for free. It seemed that anyone Amy spoke with about the show, wanted to help in some way.  Approximately 200 people volunteered their time from the generation of the idea, to the implementation of the show. Taking on a leadership role can be quite exciting when the leader is passionate about a cause.  Amy is a true example of this passion and commitment.   

Leadership Lessons Learned: 

1) Every decision has an up-side and down-side. 

Amy learned that as the day of event drew near, and as people who were helping became more committed to the success of the show, every decision affected the groups that were helping in a different way.  Amy made great efforts to anticipate and carefully weigh the outcome of each decision she made.   Even on the day of the event, plans had to be altered when the food truck vendors decided that they wanted to move their location.  Things were carefully planned around the location of the trucks, but when that changed, Amy remained calm and flexible moving vendors and events around so that things worked out for everyone.

 2) Remain calm in your demeanor.

Amy learned that the people reflect each other's energy.  As a leader, when you demonstrate emotion, the people you are communicating with mirror that emotion.  Also as a leader, if you mirror your partner's emotion, things can escalate and emotions can take over. To implement a calm and effective program, Amy suggests being empathetic, but keeping the larger goal in focus at all times.  The more involved people become, the more emotions are displayed.  Amy learned that she could keep the people around her calmer if she herself maintained a calm demeanor.  She suggests keeping the ultimate goal of the program as the primary focus at all times helps to keep the daily events and the associated emotions on track.

 3) Know your audience.

When you work at a world-renown hospital as popular as Rancho Los Amigos, it is easy to assume that everyone knows what type of facility it is.  After all the marketing, Amy was surprised at how many people still needed to learn about brain injury and the rehabilitation hospital in southern California that it known by health care professionals for its ‘Levels of Cognitive Functioning’.  Amy also suggests being brief and succinct with your marketing materials.  She recommends that a one-page flier should “say it all”.  So when marketing your program, make no assumptions! 

 4) Communicate, communicate, communicate….

Each entry in this blog emphasized Amy’s need for open, clear communication.  She repeated the need to listen carefully to others and address issues as soon as possible.  Amy worked with several different committees in the hospital and even more in the community.  She learned how to communicate with volunteers and helpers so that they felt heard, and she respected their input.  Amy cannot overstress addressing issues as early as possible, again keeping the ultimate program as the primary focus to accept input and avoid disappointment.

 

5) Acknowledge your helpers.

There is no way that the car show would have been as successful if it had not been for all the help Amy received.  She eventually lost count of exactly who was helping, because people ended up recruiting help that she never knew about.  However, Amy emphasizes the need to acknowledge as many of the people who helped as possible.  She arranged a ceremony with hospital administration to acknowledge as many people as she could, and was sure to note her appreciation for all the people she didn’t know about as well.

 

6) Do a thorough de-briefing.

This was Amy’s first of many (she hopes) car shows.  She feels she learned so much this time around and is eager to set the wheels in motion for next year’s show.   She forwarded emails asking for suggestions and held a meeting with those who were able to attend.   Suggestions were made about how and when to register cars, to where the stage would be located, to the flow of traffic exiting the show, to having someone sell hats for sun protection; will all contribute to the success of the upcoming car shows! 

 

7) Use your resources.

In reviewing the day, Amy realized that she could have made better use of the primary Rancho resource, their patients! Next year, Amy is planning to have the patients be more involved in planning and running the show.  This year, many helped by baking for the bake sale and giving out the trophies, but Amy feels that they can build their leadership skills and contribute more by getting involved earlier next year. 

 

8) Celebrate your successes.

Amy bought a car-show cake and had a huge party to celebrate the success of the First Annual Rancho Car Show!  People were happy to share in the celebration by sharing their pictures and their stories. 

 

To see pictures and learn more about the success of the car show, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XViFMsQSSgA

In the end, the show was such a success, that it raised over double the amount of money she had hoped to raise. 

Congratulations Amy, you truly are an OT Leader that Shines! 

OT Leader Produces Fund Raiser for Patients with Brain Injury

Coming SOON:  September 29, 2012

Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center’s 1st Annual Car Show!!

     Those of us, who accomplish great feats, never do it alone.  As we learn of the progress for the upcoming Car Show, “Rebuilding Cars, Rebuilding Lives” at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center (Rancho), in Downey CA, on September 29, 2012, Amy Salinas’ leadership traits are clearly evident.   A few short months ago, the Rancho Los Amigos Car Show was just becoming a reality.  Since the last post, Amy has assembled over 20 different committees with people from many different communities who are invested in making this car show a success.  To date, well over 50 people have participated in the planning process alone. As more people become involved, the event is expanding to include activities, people and communities Amy never dreamed of, and would never have been able to accomplish on her own.  Although there is a long list of ongoing events, the focus of this article will be the leadership skills Amy is implementing.

Passion: When someone is passionate about a cause, it is easy to inspire others. 

      Amy’s father loves vintage cars.  From the time she was very young; Amy accompanied her father to car shows and kept him company while he worked at his hobby of restoring cars.  Professionally, Amy has been working at Rancho for 15 years.  She is a compassionate and successful therapist, as well as the supervisor on the adult and pediatric traumatic brain injury service.  Amy is committed to making the rehabilitation experience for each of her patients and their loved ones, the best that it can be.  Amy’s dream to organize and produce a car show at Rancho unites her passion for the patients she cares for, the hospital she works at, the professionals she works with, and the love she feels for her father and her family. 

Communication: With a clear focus, it is easy to communicate the objective of the project. 

     Initially, Amy was using the brain injury team meetings as an avenue to discuss and plan for the program.  With the enormity of the upcoming show, it soon became apparent that a separate meeting was necessary. Representatives from each committee either volunteered or were selected as the spokesperson to meet with the planning team, and hold separate meetings with their specific team.  Presently, Amy administers monthly meetings with the representatives to establish action plans, obtain updates on committee progress, solve problems and to keep the program on track.  Amy finds that for the area of communication, she uses a wide skill set. She must be able to clearly communicate with hospital administrators, other hospital staff, therapy peers, patients and their families.  She is also communicating with community organizations such as car clubs and Crainco Crane Service who is raffling off an opportunity to sit in one of their “Funny Cars”! (Check out at their video at:  http://craincoinc.com/racing.html).  Two other funny cars joining the show will be brought to you by Keeter Ray Racing and Pure Heaven Racing.

     In addition to modifying her communication depending upon her audience, she finds it most important to consider people’s feelings at all times.  The larger this project becomes, the more invested the contributors are.  It is very exciting when the people working on the project take full responsibility however; this sometimes creates less than optimal interpersonal dynamics. It is Amy’s responsibility to prioritize the focus on the car show while empowering the contributors in their leadership roles. Amy reports that addressing issues as early as possible helps to keep emotions steady and the flow of communication smooth.  She finds that by fully listening to the concern first, it helps to ease the resolution. By always keeping the goal of the project as the primary focus, it helps people to project solutions without taking it personally. 

Discipline: It takes discipline to see a project through to completion.

     Amy is clearly doing this project because it is what is in her heart.  She is doing it while working her regular hours as a supervisor on the pediatric and adult traumatic brain injury service.  There are weekends and nights spent working on the project but Amy finds the investment of time will pay off in the future for the benefit of the brain injury service. Building a first-time event from the ground up takes discipline, but once the connections are made the event will easily expand for future car shows. By example, she is demonstrating to her team that leadership is not a “nine to five” job.

Generosity and Gratitude: Everyone on the team is necessary for a successful outcome.

      During my interview with Amy, it was apparent that she is grateful for every single person who is making this show a reality.  She humbly recognizes that each person has something great to contribute. She is open to ideas that will benefit the show and recognizes that it is only through each person’s contribution that this show will be a success.  She remains open to suggestions and includes ideas that are in line with the goal of the project. She consistently gives credit to the appropriate parties, rather than taking the credit herself.  As the project leader, if things do not run as smoothly as she’d like, she assumes full responsibility.

What can we expect?

      As of today, over 60 cars are registered and they are expecting 100 cars on the day of the event.  Amy and her team have secured 15 vendors, and over 25 donors including: Universal Waste who is donating porta potties, Mountain Spring Water who is donating all the drinking water, AAA is donating goody bags, Dave’s trophy donated the “Best in Show” trophy, the brain injury team is donating raffle prizes. Danchuk Manufacturing made a $200 contribution.  There will be volunteers from Warren high school, Downey Princess Court, Girl Scouts and of course many of the Rancho employees and friends of Rancho.

     The event will be free to spectators. Funds generated by the $25 registration for each car in the show will be used by the adult and pediatric brain injury service to purchase cutting-edge therapeutic equipment and for program development.  20 trophies will be issued including: “Patient’s Choice”, “Don Knabe Choice”, and “Children’s Choice” along with the traditional car show trophies. Patients from the hospital are participating in the show by casting their votes as well.

     The “Rebuilding Cars, Rebuilding Lives” will showcase specialty adapted vehicles alongside the restored classic cars. This is a first-time-ever event at a car show!  Some past patients of Rancho will manage many of the events.  Jay Cramer will emcee the show and, Hector Duran (“Juice”) will be singing the national anthem. Adding more meaning to the day, KnowBarriers peer mentors living with brain injuries will be sharing their stories. Find out more about the KnowBarriers Program at:  http://www.knowbarriers.org

     Amy is clearly practicing a leadership style that empowers her team members. By providing the guidance and the support, the passion and the focus, her team members will shine.

In summary, here are some of the leadership skills she is using:

·         Vision and passion ignite the project and keep it moving forward.

·         Communication with flexibility and good listening skills are essential for successful interaction with a wide variety of people.

·         Keep the project as the primary focus to reduce personal feelings from interfering with the process.

·         Discipline is needed to make the project a priority and keep it moving forward despite interference that occurs in life.

·         Demonstrate generosity, gratitude and appreciation for all the people who work on the project.

·         Utilize a wide range of resources in order to accomplish your goals.

·         Of course, maintain a sense of humor to keep the mood light and reduce the stress.

·         Work with goals and deadlines. In general, it takes about one year to put together a car show; Amy and her team will pull it off in less than six months! 

Let’s wish them all good luck.  We hope to see you there!

To learn more about the car show, visit the website at: www.rancho.org/carshow

www.socalcarculture.com