Across the country, there are nearly 135,000 Occupational Therapists, and Suzanne Childs, who provides this specialized care at the Center for Rehabilitation at BMC, says OT goes beyond helping someone regain their functions for work.
"We promote functional independence for people and help restore not only vocational skills, but also homemaking and daily living skills," said Childs. "Occupational Therapy covers the full range of activities people of all ages do to live functional, meaningful lives."
Suzanne has been with BMC since 1994 and has served as an Occupational Therapist in the Berkshires for nearly 30 years, most of that time in the outpatient setting. She came to the Berkshires after providing OT services in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and later New York state.
"Occupational Therapists often work together with Physical Therapists, but our roles are quite unique. PT focuses on improving the patient's ability to move their body, whereas I concentrate on improving my patient's ability to perform activities of daily living. We help our patients to do things beyond their PT care, such as brushing their teeth, getting dressed, making meals and all of their other everyday tasks that may have been impeded by an illness or injury."
Suzanne is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and completed her clinical education at Toledo Mental Health in Ohio and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia. Over the years, she has provided care for spinal cord injury, stroke, post-acute rehabilitation for children and young adults and general rehabilitation.
If you need Occupational Therapy or any kind of rehabilitative care, ask your primary care provider for a referral or call the Center for Rehabilitation at BMC at 413-447-2234.
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Companion Corner: Buster at Berkshire Humane Society
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – There is a fun and loving boy who is ready to get a fresh start with a new family who will take care of him.
iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.
Buster is a one-year-old Husky mix who has been at the shelter for about two months.
Canine caregiver and adoption counselor Simone Olivieri introduced us to Buster.
"He is very sweet and social. He loves people. He likes kids. It does take him a little while to warm up to new people and build some trust. And then once you do build that trust with him, he's very goofy, and he likes to play and jump on you and mouth playfully and gently, and he does get really excited with his people that he has a strong connection with."
Olivieri said Buster was an unclaimed stray who fell on hard times before going to the shelter. Olivieri said they assume he is approximately one, but his exact age is unknown.
She said that they are unsure of his history, but he could have some kind of soft tissue damage. They conducted X-rays, but they came back inconclusive. There are no breaks in any of his bones, but he has some periodic lameness, and some further diagnostics would be something the shelter requires.
Furthermore, he does occasionally lift up one paw, but he does not show that he is in any pain.
"He came in pretty emaciated. We've gotten some weight on him. He's a little bit hunched in his spine. And again, the X-rays didn't show anything, but there could be something else going on that, like MRI, ultrasound could detect."
She said he needs a home and family that would be willing to keep him current with a veterinarian and able to address anything that comes up health-wise.
"He occasionally will show these symptoms, whether it was just from an old injury or something that possibly could still bother him. So right now he is on some restricted exercise. We're doing leash walks with him only," she said. "He can't really, at this point, run around freely because he could kind of further damage that leg if there's anything really really going on there, so he's a little bit of a puzzle. Like we said, we don't know exactly what happened to him in his past, and we are trying to keep him comfortable. He's not in any pain right now, but that lameness will crop up every once in a while with him."
But Buster can go to a home with cats and kids eight and up.
"He can go to a home with cats, and while he does like other dogs, we're saying he will do best as the only dog, just because he's got a couple medical issues going on and roughhousing with other dogs probably isn't best for him at this point. While he could have some doggy friends and go for some walks and gentle playdates with other dogs."
"He does like kids, but again, he is a little bit kind of sensitive to some body handling and being grabbed and that kind of thing. So we just want to keep him nice and comfortable with where he goes home," she said.
Buster loves to play and be pampered. He loves walks and being out in the woods and can be silly, especially with his picky eating.
On Wednesday, during a special virtual meeting, the Conservation Commission approved a series of three treatments with EarthTec QZ. During dive monitoring in August, a live adult zebra mussel was found near the boat ramp.
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Independent congressional candidate Nadia Milleron says she has found a formula to address the financial pressures leaving many Americans struggling to pay their bills. click for more
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