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Sunday, 8 December 2019

Being Held

Sometimes,
Life is all about a broken self and a laughter!
Sometimes,
Life is all about teary eye and a smile!
Sometimes,
Life is all about dark days and spark of hope!
Sometimes,
Life is all about many questions and one answer!
Sometimes,
Life is all about emptiness and a filled self!
Sometimes,
Life is all about falling down and climbing again!
Sometimes,
Life is all about being held by family and friends !

-SSW

Saturday, 13 July 2019

Saima's khatta Meetha OT Talk - Dr Zarine Ferzandi (OT)


Introducing the eighteenth guest of my column  is a young professional with thirty eight plus years of experience to the service of this noble profession.She is my teacher, mentor and an inspiration to many budding therapists.An ever smiling and most loved professional.Her work speaks volumes of her passion and dedication that she is continuing till today.
Dr Zarine Ferzandi


Dr Zarine ma'am is a retired Associate Professor of OT School and training Centre, GSMC and KEMh, Mumbai. Ag Head of department OT School, KEMH  (2009-2011)
She Graduated in Occupational therapy in 1976 from Mumbai University and did Post graduation  in 1982.Her area of Clinical and Academic interest of 38 years in Neurology and Psychiatry specially in Substance use disorders.
Currently ,She is Honorary Consultant and Head of Occupational therapy Department at Masina Hospital. Ex Officio of AIOTA ,She is recipient of Professional Excellence Award , Fellow of Academic Council of Occupational therapy Award and Crown of OT-Presidents Award from AIOTA.
Dr Zarine has guided a number of students  and is a PHD Guide. She has authored a number of National and International Publications and Member of Editorial board of IJOT. She has also been editor of IJOT from 2010-2016 and has been member of board of studies for UG and PG under Allied faculties of MUHS.

Lets read her views further:

1)What are the lesser known facts about your professional journey?

My Professional journey has been like a flowing river. I began my journey as Clinical therapist first at Nair Hospital where I worked for seven months and then got selected for the post at KEMh in 1978. I was posted in medical and artificial kidney unit ( AKD) , here I worked with my seniors as I had their experience to back up and gain skills. In AKD I worked with clients who were on dialysis and we worked to improve physical and mental health , from here in 1983 I moved to pediatric and pediatric surgery section where we started the first steps of working on the principles of Jean Ayres and paving way to sensory integration. In 1987 I shifted to neurosurgery simultaneously in those years we also got an opportunity to start dyslexia screening clinic and started using remedial kit which was given to our department by then honorary psychiatrist and then in 1991 I ventured in to setting up the Drug de-addiction unit of Occupational therapy at KEMh. This role was very challenging due to less awareness and reference resources, but I took it up with passion and continued my work for twenty five years and with time proved the importance of Occupational therapy in de-addiction. I retired as Associate Professor of Occupational therapy 1993 to 2016 and restarted my journey by setting up Occupational therapy department at Masina hospital, Mumbai.


2) You have seen decades of professional transformation over years , how do see the future it?

Occupational therapy was a new profession when it developed after world war and today it is widely accepted profession globally and even in India it has picked up momentum where initially there were Otist working in hospitals only but today more and more therapist are venturing in to private clinics, school base, Ergonomic Consultation ,Industries, Hand therapy. This has created a ripple within medical fraternity and acceptance of Occupational therapy has been paved. But I am worried as other health care professionals are overlapping and our roles are getting disseminated.
3) What are the practical changes that can be incorporated in to the grooming of young professionals to be more competent in a multi-disciplinary practice?

We need to be more aggressive, our work has to reach other professionals. Documentation is very important as this is very much needed for analysis and research. Improve communication skills and OT Practitioner should increase the ability to justify the goals and programs laid out for patients to those outside the profession and defend our role.
Do skill assessments, attend workshops & multidisciplinary conferences , present papers ,interact and do collaborate with other professionals.


4) What is your opinion on the skill structure, remuneration and hierarchical growth of occupational therapists in various organizations? 
I would give a thumbs up to a skill structure by which pay or remuneration is linked to the knowledge therapist acquires and adapts to clients ,his skills or execution of abilities. This works as in incentive or reward to perform well at the workplace and there is definite growth and zeal to learn and do better. However there is stagnation as most of the organizations are using the hierarchical growth where pay or remuneration increases because of one’s position or years of experience regardless of the skills they possess which is demotivating.


5) What is your advice to students and young professionals facing difficulty in professional establishment?
It’s easy to advice when I am on the other side of the fence still I would say there is light at the other side of the tunnel, don’t stop and move on ,take risks , be an entrepreneur. Otist can work in any setup. Students who do their post-graduation should continue to strive in the field of specialization as you have mastered it and you will be able to do clinical reasoning better and confidently.


Your highlights:

My Professional strength: I work better under time pressure. I believe in team work, willingness to adapt and learn.


My Inspirational moment:
When in 1980 , the head of Medicine Unit asked me how long should he extend the stay of a patient diagnosed with GBS who was receiving Occupational therapy services. That was the day and turning point that my work was appreciated and that brought value to therapy.


My difficult moment: It was challenge setting up Drug De addiction unit of Occupational therapy at KEM and establishing the importance of Occupational therapy.


I am known for:
My caring and smiling nature. Honesty and integrity.

P.S: I extend my gratitude to her for her valuable time.See you all next Saturday with another guest.

-SSW


Saturday, 8 June 2019

Saima's khatta Meetha OT Talk-Dr Diksha Kamble


Introducing the seventeenth guest of my column is a young professional who has an interesting outlook towards her passion and work. Her dedicated efforts to establish her practice in a challenging field is worth appreciation.

Dr Diksha (OT)

Dr.Diksha Kamble is an occupational therapist(mental health)hypnotherapist,life coach ,reiki and shamanic healer.She  uses a unique approach of integrating occupational therapy with spiritual healing as well as hypnosis.She believes creativity and integration keeps therapy truly customized and caters to the unique needs of the client.
She currently practices in Andheri and also conducts workshops on a variety of emotional,psychological and mental health issues.

Lets read her views further:

1) What are your primary areas of work interest?

My primary areas of work interest are mental health and pediatric mental health.


2) Can you tell us more about Whitespace and its journey?
So 'The White Space' is my own company that I always wanted to create.It provides holistic mental health services as well as spiritual therapies,workshops to individuals.
So after finishing my graduation I knew I wanted to do something different but I didn't know how.After battling suicidal thoughts and this never ending feeling of emptiness, I realized that I probably need to create something different that I needed the most during my own journey while battling with depression and that's how 'The white space' was born,providing a range of services customized to the needs of the client.


3) What are the challenges you are facing in establishing your practice of Mental Health and how do you deal with it?
One of the greatest challenge is the stigmatization around mental health.My clients often start with something like, "Not that I m mad,but I m going through so and so."or "how do I come for therapy ,people would know". So people often feel that if its mental illness ,its weakness,its something to be ashamed of and sometimes they don't follow up because of this reason.
 So for this reason I conduct  or be a part of certain free workshops and seminars for mental health so that people know that mental health is important and that its nothing to be ashamed of.


4) You have pursed specialized  learning like NLP, reiki, hynopsis etc how do you use them with occupational therapy practice?
 So occupational therapy has always been about following a holistic approach and if we look at the Canadian model of occupational therapy the core of it is spirituality.Spiritual need is quite an important need that is often overlooked in a lot of conventional therapies.By integrating these practices with occupational therapy I believe it ensures quicker,effective and faster results with this need for spiritual answers satiated.

5)As a fresh graduate a lot of professionals have dilemma over their future pursuits,what is your advise to them?
 My advice would be that be your own different,unique self.Meditate,it really helps resolve dilemmas,helped me!
Also don't compare your journey to someone else's.All your classmates might be moving abroad to pursue masters,taking on new jobs and responsibilities but if that doesn't feel right,makes you jump with 'yay,I want to do this' don't do it. Take your time, rat race is pointless.

Your highlights:


My professional strength: Empathy,awareness,emotional quotient


My inspirational moment: The moment white space was born.


My favorite Occupations: Writing,teaching,healing


I am known for: Being offbeat and different.


P.S: I extend my gratitude to her for her valuable time.See you all next Saturday with another guest

-SSW



Saturday, 1 June 2019

Saima's Khatta Meetha OT Talk-Dr Bessy Oommen(OT)

Introducing the sixteenth guest of my column is a dedicated pediatric occupational therapist practicing in Dubai.She has been instrumental in establishing and developing the occupational
therapy services of her hospital.


Dr Bessy (OT)



























Dr.Bessy Oommen works as a Senior Occupational therapist in Latifa Women & Children Hospital,
Dubai, a government hospital under the Dubai Health Authority. She has completed her Master’s in OT in Developmental Disabilities, Fellowship in Advanced Occupational Therapy- NDD from AIOTA and SIPT Certification from University of Southern California.
She is also the Principal Investigator for an ongoing OT research project approved by the Dubai Scientific Research & Ethical Committee.  

Let's read her views further:

1) Can you share your journey of being an Occupational therapist and what are the challenges you came across in establishing your practice?
On completion of my Bachelor’s degree in OT from LTMMC, Mumbai, I moved to UAE and started working in a special needs center in Sharjah. It was here that I developed a keen interest in Pediatric OT which led me to join Latifa Women & Children Hospital, a tertiary-care referral hospital under Dubai Health Authority where I have been working for the last 20 yrs.
During this time, I have seen a variety of pediatric cases like Neurodevelopmental conditions involving CP, Developmental Delays, Spina Bifida, Autism, ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Ex-preterm, various syndromes to brachial plexus injuries, burns, trauma cases, etc and have been working through a functional goal directed eclectic approach with respect to frames of references, working mainly in the areas of fine motor, self-care and gross motor skills and co-ordination along with achieving an appropriate arousal.
It has been a wonderful learning experience of treating children with such varied diagnosis, updating myself, being able to apply my knowledge and seeing the satisfaction and happiness on the parents faces on their child’s improvement
The challenges faced initially were lack of awareness about the role of occupational therapy in pediatrics among medical doctors which has improved drastically through various awareness programs and multi-disciplinary meetings with Pediatric Neurology, Surgical and Orthopedic departments.

2) How has been the growth of Occupational therapy in pediatric and adult rehabilitation across U.A.E?
Over a period of time, as awareness of OT has increased among the people and the medical fraternity, we now have full-fledged OT departments in almost every major public and private hospital across the UAE and also a number of smaller centers operating independently catering to a vast cross section of people from different countries and cultures.
At my hospital, we have all the branches of rehabilitation including orthotics and we use an inter-disciplinary approach offering varied services like developmental therapy using different frames of references, administering standardized evaluations as per goals set, prescription and fabrication of hand splints, seating evaluation and prescription of positioning, active and power wheelchairs and prescription of adaptive aids as required.

3) What are the newer ways in which OT practices can be enhanced further?
OT therapists in pediatrics should be able to differentiate between sensory, emotional and cognitive aspects of behavior and should understand the integration between visual, vestibular and auditory contributions to learning and engagement in functional activities. A deeper understanding of neurobiology will also help to evolve this field of practice.

4) What is your opinion on lack of OT professional's recognition compared to other professionals globally?
As with all other professions, OT also had its teething issues with acceptance, but with evidence-based practices and research helping to prove its effectiveness from the pediatric to geriatric age group, it is now a widely accepted and followed profession worldwide with great job opportunities in the healthcare field as well as in occupational health and ergonomics.

5) What is your advice to the young professionals exploring entrepreneurship revenues?
Being employed in a government hospital all these years, I would not be the right person to give advice on entrepreneurship, but with my experience I would suggest that one should consider offering an inter-disciplinary, goal-directed approach to address various needs of the client at viable rates as the treatment is long-term. The other challenge is to include OT services in the scope of coverage of medical insurances.

Your highlights:
My professional strength
Setting functional goals for clients, educating and training parents to implement home programs for continuation of therapy.

My inspirational moment:
My in-service training with Ms.Deb Humpel of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and my mentor for Fellowship, Ms.Ashwini Vaishnampayan who both influenced me in setting goal-directed treatment approach for my clients.

I dislike the most :
Clients being referred late for OT in-spite of receiving other rehabilitation therapies and disrespect for my profession.

I am known for:.
An honest, hardworking and innovative professional with an empathetic approach to my clients.
 

P.S: I extend my gratitude to her for her valuable time.See you all next Saturday with another guest.

-SSW

Being Held

Sometimes, Life is all about a broken self and a laughter! Sometimes, Life is all about teary eye and a smile! Sometimes, Life is all about ...