Residents@JV

USI Occupational Therapy Students

As a requirement to complete their Occupational Therapy Degree, O/T Students at the University of Southern Indiana must develop and provide an activity and exercise program for a special needs and/or a rehab facility that could potentially benefit from the services administered. Partnering with Jacob’s Village for the third year in a row, Barb Williams, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy, at USI, direct these students in this program during the second semester of each school year. This project for students in the O/T Program is called a Synthesis Course; it is a hands-on, interactive, type of a reality classroom for them. Since their introductory visit with the Jacob’s Village bunch of Wanda, Donna Kay, Debbie, Mike, Michael, and Scott, on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008, the three USI O/T students; Julie Smith, Ali Kilpatrick, and Amanda Embry received input from all the residents on what type of activity they would like. The entire group bounced around many ideas and even the students suggested a few of their own. The therapeutic services agreed upon for this third year of interaction was a different kind of activity. Always trying to think outside of the normal, typical box, and because of a fitness/exercise activity was their reason for being, dancing was the main topic.
Therefore, dancing, Yoga, Tai Chi, and related exercises in form would be the desired outcome for their upcoming visits. Because of conflicting schedules and prior commitments of everyone included, the USI O/T students met with the Jacob’s Village residents when it was accommodating. It came down to a couple Saturdays at 2:30pm and a few Thursdays at 4:30pm for a change. Although Thursdays still had its challenges at that time; Debbie and Michael’s return home from work always depends on METS’ schedule and some days are better than others. It all worked out; with a smile on their face and a feel-good activity with music to listen and move to, the USI O/T students provided at least an hour of fun exercise. The students entertained, exercised, and worked everybody’s range of motion in their time slot and a good time was always had by all. Usually a little Yoga, another time following an instructional video-tape demonstrating Tai Chi, which the residents were no stranger to; and having feel-good music to move to. For the girls last session, they brought a large basket of healthy fruit items and a specially recorded cassette with funny dance songs for everyone to enjoy. They wanted to make their ‘Swan Song’ into a memorable ‘Dance Party’. The music on the tape consisted of self-explanatory songs such as, ‘The Loco-motion’, ‘The Twist’, ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘The Hokey Pokey’, ‘The Chicken Dance’ and ‘The Macarena’ just to name a few. That was a fun way to end their project and the cassette was given to the residents to remember the times. All of the USI O/T students that have come out to Jacob’s Village for their class assignment have been a pleasure to work with. The residents send a Big Heart Thank You and hope they have achieved what they came for.

posted by J V Resident Blog @ 10:47 AM