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High-tech Occupational Therapy Program
Chad Wayne / News Editor
We stare at the screen as Rob McAlister points at the on-line syllabus. “Now this student signed on at 10:30 at night. And this person signed on at 9:00 in the morning that same day,” Rob explains to me.
Rob Mcalister is an instructor in the Occupational Therapy (OT) program at CSU. The department is a satellite program of the Medical College of Georgia based in Augusta.
The CSU branch of the school has been here since last May. “A well kept secret” Rob calls it.
The Occupational Therapy students are taking some classes on-line and whenever their schedule allows.
They just log on to the internet and read articles prescribed by the professor, discuss topics with other students on a bulletin board and take tests - all on the internet.
But that isn’t all. There’s lots more to this techno-teaching.
The GSAMS room is lined with four large monitors with cameras mounted on them and microphones hanging from the ceiling.
The CSU location has only two instructors, but students in Columbus can attend classes taught by instructors in Augusta via satellite.
Video cameras and microphones allow instructors in Augusta to see and hear students in Columbus and vice versa.
“So the students can see the instructor in Augusta and the instructor can see when a student raises their hand with a question,” Explains
McAlister.
After showing me the GSAMS room and the Internet classes, McAlister takes me into the Splint Room.
This is were the OTs can be creative. Unlike Physical therapists (PTs) OTs fabricate splints and other aids for injured or handicap individuals.
In the Splint room there’s a contraption called a Therabath that looks suspiciously similar to a crock-pot. Inside is a clear liquid.
“That’s paraffin wax. Dip your finger in there for a few seconds and pull it out,” McAlister tells me.
I immerse my finger and it comes out wet with wax. Eventually it dries into a solid cocoon. Somehow, I remember doing something like this in elementary school with Elmers Glue. Except I was sent out to the hall for doing it.
Rob explains that the Therabath is for arthritis patients. The patient will immerse their hand in the Therabath and remove it several times. Eventually a thick coating of warm wax forms on the patients hand.
This coating warms and soothes the arthritic pain. It’s encouraging to know that the OTs have applied my Elmers Glue trick to medical science, and I bet they don’t get sent out into the hall either.
Next, Rob shows me the craft room. He explains that Physical Therapists treat patients with exercises and muscle manipulation.
An Occupational Therapist, on the other hand, attempts to find meaningful activities that will both strengthen the body and have a positive psychological affect as well.
Thus the craft room is furnished with work tables, wood working tools, paint, clay and other materials for making crafts.
McAlister says that the name “Occupational Therapist” came from people hired to find activities to occupy convalescing patients.
After World War II, medical experts noticed that when patients were involved in meaningful activity, they seemed to get better faster.
Thus, the development of the branch of therapy call Occupational Therapy.
The school also has an ADL (Activities of Daily Living) house in the nearby neighborhood. In this house, students learn how to aid patients in adjusting to everyday life.
The house is equipped with both normal and handicap bathrooms and hospital beds. Ironically enough, the Augusta campus does not have an ADL house.
So, who should sign up to be an Occupational Therapist? Rob McAlister says that to be admitted to the program, an applicant must first have two years of college in a science major like biology or chemistry.
The Occupational Therapy program is two years long and provides a Bachelor of Science degree.
Total for tuition and fees is $1,350 per semester. That’s a few hundred over what CSU charges for tuition and fees but the technology and quality of training is well worth it.
Rob says that the market for Occupational Therapist is pretty good. The reason that the Medical College of Georgia started a school in Columbus is because southern Georgia is under-served.
Rob says that most if not all graduates from the program get jobs. And the pay? You can expect to start at thirty-five to thirty-seven thousand and earn as much as sixty thousand per year.
McAlister says that the field of Occupational Therapy, “Attracts a less aggressive personality.” He says that this is a job for those who like to help people.
“It’s definitely a hands-on kind of education and job,” explains McAlister, “It’s very functional in orientation.”
If anyone is interested in the Occupational Therapy program at CSU, talk to George Panos PHD in the faculty office building, room 201. The faculty office building is the building that is perpendicular to Howard and Arnold Halls.
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