Quick-thinking occupational therapy student earns high praise in clinicals
Oct. 28, 2019
The patient, an elderly woman in her mid- to late-80s, suffered from such severe wrist
pain she could no longer swing a golf club, a pastime she enjoyed for years with her
two sons.
She had sustained a fracture, which forced her to seek treatment at the Avalon StoneRidge
Health Center in Stonington, CT, where a chance encounter with Community College of
Rhode Island occupational therapy student Amanda Gagnon helped her rediscover the
joy of her favorite leisure activity.
Gagnon, a Coventry RI, native in her first semester of clinicals as part of CCRI’s
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant program, used utensil grip and duct tape
to modify the club to fit her patient’s grip. With the patient finally able to hold
the club properly and swing pain-free, she resumed her normal lifestyle while allowing
her hand and wrist to heal properly.
Gagnon’s quick thinking earned her high praise from the staff at Avalon, who applauded
her for “carefully listening to the patient’s needs and concerns” and “placing the
desires of the resident at the forefront.”
“These are the skills you need in real life in this profession,” Gagnon said. “We
practice them in the lab and practice on each other, so these are all things we have
to do on the spot, on the job, but it’s nice to refine the skills we learned ahead
of time and utilize them when we do go out into the field.”
Gagnon has fine-tuned her ability to think outside the box for the past year and a
half in CCRI’s COTA program at the Newport County Campus. She enrolled at CCRI in
2015, a year after graduating the University of Rhode Island with her bachelor’s degree
in Health Administration. After waitressing for nearly six years, both in college
and after graduation, she accepted a position as a Claims Follow Up rep with Lifespan,
but decided she wanted to work more closely with patients instead of a traditional
office job.
“I’m a people person,” Gagnon said, “and I realized I would be more productive out
in the field than sitting behind a desk.”
Gagnon continued to work full time while taking part-time classes at CCRI until she
fully enrolled in the college’s COTA program in 2018. She has since transitioned to
a once-a-week, part-time job as a Behavioral Health Specialist at Providence’s Bradley
Hospital, where she works with autistic children, handling everything from scheduling
day-to-day events to organizing structured activities.
While there are plenty of options for employment in the healthcare industry, Gagnon
chose occupational therapy because she enjoys making personal connections with her
clients and following their progress from beginning to end.
“If a patient has a stroke, you can work with them from when they have the stroke
up until however long it takes for them to progress to the point where they finally
become more independent,” Gagnon said. “Or, with children, you can start working with
them when they’re young, and in two or three weeks you can see some improvement in
their development. It’s rewarding. That’s what drew me to this field. I want to see
that progression.”
CCRI was the perfect fit for Gagnon because of its affordability and flexibility.
She took night courses for more than two years while working full time and is now
taking five classes per semester in anticipation of graduating at the end of 2019.
Working with OTA program director Linda Gatewood, an occupational therapist throughout
New England for more than 30 years, has helped Gagnon make a smooth transition from
the classroom to her clinicals.
“Linda is one of the most amazing, knowledgeable women I’ve ever met,” Gagnon said.
“She gives you real-life examples from her own experiences. Some of them make you
say, ‘Wow, that really happened?’ It’s nice that she gives us her life experiences,
along with the dos and don’ts in the industry. She really gives us the knowledge and
the personal, individualized attention we need to succeed in our clinicals.”
“It has been exciting to observe Amanda's growth,” Gatewood added. “Her enthusiasm
for the profession continues to flourish as she moves through the OTA program. Amanda
is a student who takes responsibility for her learning, which has contributed to the
development of her clinical reasoning skills. That is how she problem-solved how to
address the needs of her client. Our entire faculty is excited to see her further contributions
to the profession upon graduation in December.”
Gagnon recently finished her eight-week clinical at Avalon, where she worked with
patients dealing with a variety of issues from hip and knee replacements to those
suffering from dementia or a stroke. She is now working her second clinical at Stonehill
Elementary School in Rhode Island, again working with children, which is her ultimate
goal once she graduates CCRI.
“This field offers so many opportunities,” Gagnon said. “I am thankful for the opportunity
to work with children in this setting and thankful for the faculty at CCRI, who really
have helped prepare myself and other occupational therapy students for these real-life
experiences.”
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