|
News Release New Brunswick Citation Awards
presented
Citation Awards are bestowed to recognize the significant accomplishments
of an agency, program and/or individual within each province/territory
that has contributed to rehabilitation, community health, self-help
groups, provincial, territorial or municipal government initiatives
in health care or other related programs. Citation Award winners
will have demonstrated support of occupational therapy philosophy
and their nomination will have been endorsed by their provincial/territorial
organization. Recruiting skilled volunteers to create assistive devices so people
with disabilities can live more independently is just one of the
reasons the Tetra Society of North America (Fredericton Chapter)
is being honoured with a Citation Award. Tetra recruits skilled volunteers such as occupational therapists as well as engineers, design technicians, and other health professionals to work with clients to make assistive aids or modifications to their environment in order to reduce physical barriers in all aspects of basic living. Recent projects include: redesigning a tricycle with hip supports, creating a spring-loaded pool cue for individuals with one functional upper extremity, adapting a bike trailer with a booster seat and seatbelt for a child with cerebral palsy, modifying snow sleds with backrests and seatbelts, and adapting a battery-operated ride-on car with a head-mounted switch for speed control. Tetra is an extremely important volunteer organization in New Brunswick
since government funding for assistive devices is very limited.
The personal expense to have custom modifications to a device may
be more than some can manage. Tetra offers solutions that are often
simple but can change someone's life and offer them more independence. Dr. Colleen O'Connell, a physiatrist working in Fredericton,
is being honoured for her international efforts to assist people
with disabilities who do not have access to rehabilitative care. This includes Dr. O'Connell's involvement in many research initiatives,
including a project examining the physical, emotional, functional,
and social factors affecting amputees in Mozambique. The majority
of her subjects were survivors of land mines explosions or injured
during the civil war. Dr. O'Connell has also initiated the Canadian "Helping Hands
for Haiti". She coordinates numerous teams of rehabilitation
and health care professionals, including occupational therapists,
who travel to Haiti to provide equipment, treatment and training
to local people so they may enable themselves and others. The Citation Award will be presented to the Fredericton Chapter
of the Tetra Society of North America and Dr. Colleen O'Connell
on Friday, Oct. 20, 2006 in Fredericton at the Holiday Inn Mactaquac,
35 Mactaquac Road, at 1 p.m. CAOT Citation Awards are presented to recipients typically during
October, which is National Occupational Therapy Month. This year's
theme "Yes I Can!" communicates that all people can and
should participate in their desired activities, regardless of age
or ability. For more information on occupational therapy, visit www.caot.ca.
To find an occupational therapist in your community, visit www.otworks.ca
and click on OT Finder.
Christine Plourde New Brunswick Association of Occupational Therapists
Sources |