![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/mtmcther.jpg\")
<\/a>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/MTMC-Med-Clinic-HHK-728x90.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nShe explains her field is often misunderstood. \u201cMost think Occupational Therapy is related to job skills and conditions which affect people in the workplace \u2013 it is much more than that. We help people overcome the challenges of traumatic injuries, stroke or other disabilities and depression; and assist with children confronting learning disabilities. Our job is to be sure people can care for themselves \u2013 to achieve and maintain a healthy balance between work, leisure and self-care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan began her career as a Home Health Aide, assisting people with routine activities as they recovered from illness or injury or faced the challenges of aging. \u201cI love people,\u201d she says, \u201cso I was drawn to helping people in this way \u2013 it wasn\u2019t like working to me. I really liked it and before long I decided to take the next step down the career path by studying to be an Occupational Therapist.\u201d She attended a community college and then earned her Occupational Therapist Registered, Licensed (OTR\/L) degree at San Jose State University.<\/p>\n
Her years in home health care are a rich resource for her OT career. Susan explains, \u201cOur goal in OT is to
\nget people back to doing what they used to do or adapt their surroundings so they can accomplish those
\ntasks in another way. When I was visiting people in their homes, I would often arrive to find a messy
\nsituation with them in their robe or maybe still in bed because they didn\u2019t think they could take care of
\nthemselves. I worked with them to achieve simple tasks like taking a shower, getting dressed, fixing
\nsomething to eat and engaging in everyday activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time I left, they usually were dressed, sitting in a chair with their hair fixed and looking forward
\nto the rest of the day. That was the big payoff for me. These people were engaged in everyday life once
\nagain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Creative thinking inspired her approach. In the case of a woman who could not walk out to her trash can,
\nSusan rigged up a pulley system to drag the can closer to the kitchen door when needed. For a fisherman who\u2019d lost several fingers in an accident, she adapted his fishing pole and helped him relearn his casting skills. She mounted a needlepoint frame to the edge of a table for a stroke survivor who longed to resume her favorite hobby. Susan explains, \u201cA person gets a real sense of accomplishment when they can do things for themselves. Something as simple as adapting a knife and fork can make a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I am doing here at MTMC with Occupational Therapy,\u201d Susan notes. \u201cI am looking at the
\nbroad picture of how to best re-engage a person in their everyday life. We often use arts and crafts to help
\npeople achieve their mobility goals,\u201d she adds. \u201cIf someone\u2019s goal is to raise their arm above their head,
\nwe might get them going on an art project and then gradually raise the canvas so they have to reach up
\nhigher and higher to keep it going. Hobbies like crochet and golf are great ways to ease people back into
\nmotion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI also work with caregivers, family members and spouses to set things up at home so a patient can do
\nthings for themselves and have a feeling of independence. The top priorities are safety, independence,
\nkeeping people in their homes and out of nursing homes.\u201d In addition to her outpatient clients, Susan also
\nprovides in-patient services at MTMC. \u201cWe provide bedside OT, losing no time in the recovery process,\u201d
\nshe notes.<\/p>\n
She mentions a young couple injured in a motorcycle accident as an example of OT success. \u201cThey both
\nhad severe injuries \u2013 the husband had a broken leg and the wife had a broken arm. They wanted to
\nrecover at home so we worked to find ways they could assist each other with daily tasks and they
\nmanaged just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to joining MTMC, Susan was a part-time Occupational Therapist at Sutter Amador Hospital in
\nJackson for 10 years and then two additional years for the Sutter Amador Hospital Foundation Clinic.
\nShe and her husband Ernie, who is retired, have lived in Pioneer in Amador County for 18 years. They
\nhave two adult children. Daughter Katie is following her mother\u2019s footsteps, now studying to be a
\nCertified OT Assistant at Sacramento City College, and their son David lives in Idaho.
\nSusan welcomes anyone with questions about OT to give her a call at 209-754-2533. A physician referral
\nis necessary to access OT services at MTMC, but she is always eager to explain her specialty and how it
\nmight help someone regain their independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Andreas, CA…Susan Wright\u2019s career as an Occupational Therapist spans some 31 years and she says it has never seemed like work. \u201cIt\u2019s more like helping out a friend,\u201d she notes. \u201cOT helps people be independent by figuring out ways for them to handle the activities of daily living.\u201d Susan joined the Mark Twain Medical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,20,33,1,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-featured","category-health-fitness","category-news","category-san-andreas","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/mtmcther.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}