April is national occupational therapy month and UNM is doing its part to provide the best occupational therapists possible.
UNM's Occupational Therapy Graduate Program, offered through the School of Medicine, is an accredited program that began three years ago, said Terry Crowe, the founding director of the program and a medical professor.
"We look at occupations as the things you do to take care of yourself, the things you do for productivity and the things you do for leisure and play," Crowe said.
Crowe said that occupational therapists assist people in doing daily activities or things that are important and meaningful to them. This includes help in daily self-care, work or recreation.
The program at UNM began as a graduate program about three years ago. It was rated number 23 in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report, and was given the highest level of accreditation possible, 10 years, at that time.
According to the program's Web site, the mission of the graduate program is primarily to prepare competent, ethical, culturally sensitive and compassionate occupational therapists.
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Crowe added she believes everything meaningful to a person is considered an occupation.
The therapy portion of the program is designed to assist individuals in doing those daily activities to the fullest extent. Crowe referred to activities such as helping premature babies learn to feed or helping children with autism to focus in the classroom as examples of the patients regularly seen by occupational therapists.
"Occupational therapists assist in changing environments, changing goals or changing the focus of activities for individuals," she said.
Anna Martin, a second-year occupational therapy graduate student at UNM, said she is enjoying her experience and gaining valuable knowledge that will help her improve the quality of life for patients when she graduates.
"It has been very beneficial because it is very realistic," Martin said of the hands on training the Occupational Therapy graduate program provides. "I really like that it allows us to direct what we focus on and what we know, as opposed to a lecture setting."
There are about 40 students in the program at UNM and several nationally recognized faculty members.
The Occupational Therapy graduate program at UNM is the only program of its kind in the state, Martin said.
She added although the current class size at UNM is very small and future classes will likely be limited to 20 students, the need for occupational therapists in the United States is growing.
There are about 140,000 occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants practicing in the United States. The majority of their work focuses on pediatrics, however other fields such as geriatrics are also very popular areas of emphasis.
Tina McNulty, a lecturer for the program, said that the field is very practical and applicable in daily life. However, not many students are aware of what the program is about, McNulty said.
"If students do like working with others and using creative problem solving, it is a good field to go into," McNulty said.
