Just Janet on Occupational Therapy

“Live and work but do not forget to play, to have fun in life and really enjoy it.”~Eileen Caddy

I took a few days out of the office last week for our annual fall getaway.  This year we decided to go to Niagara Falls and stay on the Canadian side.  The foliage was beautiful and the falls were breathtaking. The sound of the water almost surrounds you with its powerful thunder yet it is not unpleasant at all.  A rainbow was constantly visible over Horseshoe Falls. The air was misty…and so on and so on – indescribable-- yet, surely, nature at its finest.

In talking with some friends about the experience, it seems to become clearer all the time that while we think we (mankind) are the masters and centers of the universe, we are really insignificant when you consider the magnitude of nature and God.  And so it was with Niagara Falls: the volume is somewhere around 700,000 gallons of water per second going over the falls.  It is powerful and beautiful yet almost surreal in its furiosity

The streets and sites on the Canadian side were empty as it was off season.  We had never been to Niagara Falls so we did all the touristy stuff like Maid of the Mist. We found ourselves surrounded by people from all over the world. We seemed to walk and walk and walk more (well, I got my steps in those days for the SHU walking contest).   We also took a road trip to Niagara on the Lake and explored some of the wineries.  We took a tour and learned the proper way to taste and drink wine (chugging is not acceptable).  We learned all about ice wine which I think may be unique to this area.  As I have always believed, learning is a never ending process!!

I was wearing one of my Sacred Heart fleece jackets as it was a little cool that far north.  As we went into a restaurant, a waitress asked me where Sacred Heart University was located as she had not heard of it.  We had a pleasant discussion about Sacred Heart and I suggested she check out the website as there are many Canadian students at Sacred Heart.  I seem to recall that many of SHU’s hockey team members are Canadian. Anyway, I hope she finds a college that is a good fit for her.

Well, enough of my musings for now……. Back to work and the real world and Occupational Therapy and everyday life.

Each day comes bearing its gifts. Untie the ribbons. ~ Ann Ruth Schabaker

This past week, I had a nice surprise.  One of our former  (now graduated and practicing) Occupational Therapy students came to see me.  She has been working as a traveling occupational therapist and is in the process of applying for licenses to practice in Ireland and England.  She had a stack of forms that needed to be completed verifying the academic program as well as all her fieldwork experiences.  We went through the forms and filled out all the required information for the Ireland license.  It was fun to catch up and find out what has been going on in her life.  Knowing the students is really one of the satisfying parts of the job at Sacred Heart.  Because our program is small, we really do know get to know our students and hear from most of them long after they graduate!  Anyway, I believe this is the first time we have had a student apply for licensing outside of the United States…guess we are going global.  I made her promise (or at least strongly suggested) to take our Level 2 students for their fieldwork affiliations (clinicals) in whatever country she ends up practicing in so more of our students can have that international fieldwork experience. 

Not to change the subject, but a month-long walking contest began October 1 for SHU employees.  We are supposed to wear pedometers and record our steps each day. At the end of the month, we hand in the sheets containing our record of the number of steps taken for October.   While I have no aspirations of first place, I figured it cannot hurt and can only be a healthy thing to do right?  So, at noon today I went to the lobby of Cambridge where I joined others and eight of us walked around the neighborhoods near Cambridge campus.  We walked for about 30 minutes and I must admit that it was a pretty good workout.  What a great idea to get up and move and a lot of fun to chat with everyone while we did it!!!