Back to school- Honeymoon Cook Islands

Here is a picture of our honeymoon destination. We were fortunate enough to go to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. There are several islands and we were told through tripadvisor.com that Aitutaki was the prettiest and least touristy of them. The lagoon surrounds the islands and its smaller islands (picture left) the dark spots are the reef and the island lived up to its expectations of being less touristy with great people and overall beautiful.






We decided to roam around the island for a day as all of the island cruises were booked. So my wife and I tried to see all that the island had to offer via moped. The main road was one giant circle/oval with many roads intersecting it. The picture (left) is of myself enjoying some ice cream. The prices for food etc are a bit higher than the US, the NZD or New Zealand Dollar is a little bit less in exchange rate- but the island has to import many of its goods from New Zealand, Australia, and other locations.

We had a great time and I will be putting up more posts about the beautiful islands and our adventures.


OTS Thoughts: It was hard to leave such a beautiful place, but my wife and I did take note of the possibility of coming back to work with the local population. Their lives are much different from our in the states. They live very simplistically with tourism and local crafts being their main income. If I had more time I would have loved to see what the hospital had to offer as we heard that it was a pretty basic hospital (luckily we didn't need to visit it this trip for health reasons). OT on the island would be much different than what is needed in the states and I had not interviewed enough of the population to see how OT would be used. I would speculate from what I saw that we would deal with energy conservation, hand injuries, and some of the children in the school. The island more or less stabilizes a patient and then flies the patient to nearby New Zealand for more in-depth health coverage. We talked with a massage therapist that was trained in New Zealand for the purpose to come back to the island to work and we talked with our driver from the hotel that said she had never left the island.

SUMMER OT 2011

So it is summer time here in Kansas City. The weather has been rather HOT lately and summer session 1 is in full effect. There are a lot less cars on Rockhurst's campus and the new PT/OT class of 2013/2014 will be arriving soon. Below is a random shot I took on my way into school. It is one of those 'street view' cars from Google maps. (It was right out of a red light so I wasn't fumbling while taking a picture with my phone.)

This summer's curriculum is filled with a Neuromanagement lecture/lab and the second years are doing Neuroscience as well. I will keep the blog posted with new revelations this summer as the class unfolds.

OTS thoughts: 'Neuro' and 'Neuroscience' is the study of the central, autonomic, and peripheral nervous system and we are studying the disorders that go along with it. Thus far we have looked into how the working of this system effects many aspects of the patient. Some examples of persons with this type of disorder are stroke, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injury patients. The components of this class compiled with the musculoskeletal course that we will learn over the next couple of semesters will better prepare me for my Level 2 (3 month) fieldworks (to be completed at the end of the program.)

Have a great summer!

Fieldwork Level 1: Peds

This past week I did my Level 1 fieldwork. In the MOT course curriculum you are required to have a 'rounded' experience to give you the most exposure in different OT settings.


Here is a story from the week: A boy was doing an evaluation and he would randomly fart but stayed somewhat focused on his work. The evaluation was testing his executive functioning as well as several other areas in one evaluation. After completing most of the paperwork he had to do a gross motor evaluation which included balancing, dribbling, and jumping. He continued farting and then said "I guess I just have some of them broccoli farts again." Definitely the funniest moment of the week.

When I started the program I wasn't sure what area I really wanted to work in so I chose to have a peds (kids) and a geriatric (older adults) fieldwork for a week a piece. I have completed my geriatric fieldwork after my second semester and this past week I completed my week with peds. Children's therapy group is a sensory integration nonprofit organization located in Overland Park, KS. There are some OT's, PT's and SLP's that work here. All of the staff was very knowledgeable and helped me learn more about sensory integration, home health, iLs with headphones, and OT with pediatrics. This site was interesting because it was a non-profit and worked with the clients to get them coverage. Since some insurances are particular about different treatments- it is good to know that this nonprofit is focusing more on the therapy and the kids getting therapy instead of neglecting clients due to financial problems.


For Rockhurst students- you will need a rounded rotation and I enjoyed my time here at CTG. The staff was all helpful, willing to teach, and approachable.

For more information on sensory integration or on children's therapy group check out their website http://www.childrenstherapygroup.org/. They are working on vamping up the website but it is packed with information.

OTS thoughts: Sensory integration is interesting because most kids have a 'normal' functioning Central Nervous System and for some kids the sensory input can be too much or too little. This imbalance in sensory can make the children act out, shut down, or manifest itself in different behaviors. In the lab they talked about some of the kids 'internal motor' to acknowledge what the child is feeling and educate them on how to react when this is happening. Also at this site you saw OT at work because they took the therapy session and made it pertinent to the children (ie baseball sports teams, or sports they played daily). The kids helped pick out what to do in the therapy session by picking out puzzles versus light bright or what tasks should be in the obstacle course. I enjoyed my time with peds and think that working with kids would be an interesting route to pursue.

Wrapping up the semester

As the semester starts drawing to an end I appreciate the fact that mother nature has sprung with new life and I have made it through another semester. The OT class is getting ready to go on our next Level I fieldwork after finishing up some final projects and I am excited for summer to start appearing more and more. It has been an interesting semester and like the seasons - my attitude has changed over the semester.





When the stress was high and it was cold outside the end of the semester looked out of sight. Now that we are in finals week with our Fieldwork next week, I can see new life and we have some nice weather (every couple of days). The pictures (left) are of the St. Ignatius statue outside of the library. Since I spent much of my time on campus stopping into the library to study- I walk by this new statue daily. It has stayed the same while everything around it has changed.

As this semester wraps up I will continue to put thoughts on the blog. If you had ideas on how to improve it or subjects that an OTS should cover I welcome the opportunity. Enjoy the rest of spring and get excited for summer as it quickly approaches.

Winter 2011












Spring 2011

Arbor Day- early and Happy Easter

Every Easter I find myself going back to visit my parents 13 acres and planting something new or rearranging the acreage in a different way. Several years back my parents had bought some small evergreens that were not so 'ever green' anymore since they were not put into the ground.  Since their future looked so bleak, on Easter Sunday I said "Lord, if these are supposed to live and grow- I will put them into your hands." I put them in the ground and 8 of the 9 are still thriving pretty well today. 

 This year my brother and I, or as my mother referred to us on this day, Ding and Wing- took to the yard with a 4 foot Silver Maple tree, a sledge hammer and some stakes to help brace the young tree.  Since Arbor Day is coming up on the 29th I have deemed this our ARBOR DAY TREE.  My brother usually doesn't participate in my shenanigans of the outdoors, but today he helped me by holding the stakes etc.  Since he did come out of his element to help, I let him use the sledge hammer to hammer in the stakes while I held them.  This image of my brother and I hitting the stakes into the ground with the other one holding the stake wave predestined for injury (hence the name Ding and Wing.)  My mom and sister had the cameras rolling for a rare chance that he would miss and we could win thousands on America's Funniest Home Video, but fortunately (or unfortunately) no accidents occurred.  The picture to the left is me punching in the last stake. I hope everyone had a good Easter and on the 29th- good luck on planting a tree to celebrate Arbor Day.

OTS thoughts:  My thoughts on this entry are how the spiritual, social, and daily activities help give balance to my life.  An OT takes all of these holistic factors into account when working with patients to make their interest inventory and help guide their treatment.  My family, my faith, and the opportunities to work outside are really a blessing to me.  I feel more fulfilled in meeting my purpose on this earth by being able to  get out of the house, play in the dirt,  and enjoy nature in the countryside.  These activities give meaning to my life and as an OT I will keep these in mind when working with clients, especially those that enjoy nature and hard work outdoors like I do.

Spring is in the air

There is something to be said about spring. New life is around you- flowers are starting to bloom, the sun sticks around for a bit longer and the weather (although windy lately) is more tolerable than a cold day. Rockhurst is buzzing with potential new students getting campus tours, OT is talking about finals and projects, and we are gearing up for fieldworks and a small break before summer Neuro. There are many tulips on the street to the west of Rockhurst's campus that help coin the term Tulips on Troost and Rockhurst has some sharp red tulips all across campus. They look nice and are a welcoming sign of nicer weather and a rejuventation in preparation for summer. Here is a recent picture that I took of Rockhurst's campus.

OTS thoughts:
Get out and enjoy the nice weather- If you are in a part of the country that has it today. Be thankful that spring is upon us and start working out- summer is right around the corner.

Bachelor Party- KC to Chicago, IL

In this edition of the blog I will be posting about a recent trip to Chicago, IL for opening weekend of the Cubs game as well as my bachelor party. I will discuss my thoughts on the train system (Amtrak) and public transit in Chicago. The picture (right) is the crew that was around after the ball game.

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Overall- the weekend was a lot of fun. The blackhawks won, the cubs won (the game we went to) and the bulls won.  We traveled via public transit and got a pretty nice deal on a hotel.   Thanks to my co-best man and brother Will Cuffe for hosting and getting it all together as well as all of the guys that came out.  Also a big thank you to my future brother's-in-law and father-in-law for being part of the day and getting to a cubs game with me.

TRAIN TRAVEL: 

KC to CHI

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AMTRAK- The train experience overall was DECENT.  

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PARKING: Union Station (KC,MO) is $10/day.  

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TRAVEL: On the train we didn't have any problems with other people on the train.  One suggestion that I would say is that if you are traveling for a long time bring something to do and some bedding to make your seat more comfortable.  

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Baggage: You can check your baggage or choose to keep it with you.  The nice part is that you can get up a

nd moving on the train- but the downside to that is the sometimes frequent stops which leave an opportunity for a traveler to grab your bag and walk off the train. (Picture to the right is after the game and singing 'GO CUBS GO')

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SECURITY:  As we chatted with some people on the train they commented how several people had been arrested since California at different stops, since AMTRAK is connected with the feds.  Security was pretty minimal which was nice- there were police and other checks points but mostly we walked right on without having to remove our shoes and belts and walk through a metal detector. 

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 TICKETS: Book at least 21 days out.  We fell right under the 21 days and the trip from KC to CHICAGO jumped from $61 each way to $96... this college kid was not too happy about that, but it was my mistake.

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 TRAVEL SAAVY: Always Google PROMOTION CODES for AMTRAK (or any other place of business) and see if others have posted any coupons or travel codes.

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STUDENT ADVANTAGE CARD- it helps if you are a student to purchase this depending on the length of your trip. I saved 15% on the trip each way.  The card cost twenty bucks but one trip evens your money and two trips saves you money.  If you are thinking of purchasing one- use me as a referral and it will help me with future travel. (Click here  http://sa.tellapal.com/a/clk/CRZYJ)

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Chicago Public transportation- I do not take much public transit and I am sure that most of the time it would be fine but I have heard those horror stories.  We talked with a homeless man on the train and he said that he was pistol whipped the day before and all he had on him was $3. Also, I got to talk to Sherron Collins on the phone via his friend that was on the train.  My buddy was wearing a JAYHAWKS t-shirt and Sherron's friend said "Rock Chalk" and told us what Sherron has been up to.  I got on the phone and talked with him and he said about how he is going to try-out in Vegas and has just been training to stay in shape.  Overall the experience on the train was good and we had a good sized group which helps.  The 3 day pass was worth it since we traveled everywhere by train.

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OTS Thoughts:  Balance was not part of the weekend as one would expect with a train trip to chicago with a group of guys.  Sleep was hindered on the trip and diet was not a high priority either.  We participated in leisure activities of hitting up the baseball game and socialization with the group of guys and really just took a weekend to relax and have a good guys trip in chicago.  My tips- research well, bring something to do and eat, stay hydrated, and have fun.