Wednesday, May 4, 2011

OT Presentation at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York

For the past few years, Khalid Mohamed and I have corresponded through the OT blog, but have never met until last month. He wrote me even before he started in the OT program at Downstate Medical Center in New York and now he will soon be graduating.

Time flies...

He had an interest in the OT in Egypt blog as his parents are Egyptian and he, as well as his sister, was pursuing a career as an OT. This past month we finally met up as he organized for me to come to the Occupational therapy department at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and speak with the students about my experiences working as an OT in Egypt.

I was happy to do so, as I think it is important that people become aware of how other countries develop OT services and educational programs and to learn about how OT services are similar and different in other cultures. In fact, there are more similarities than differences in most cases!

Great timing, as April was OT Awareness month!

Some OT students and staff were also kind enough to donate some OT textbooks for the OT students in Egypt. Many thanks to those who made these donations!

Many thanks to Khalid for organizing this event, he has a bright future ahead of him as an OT. His future patients will be happy to have him as a therapist!

Laura

8 comments:

Noha Redwan said...

hi Laura !
im an artist living in Egypt - very interested in Art therapy , and wondering if you can help me get some training by you --i'm open to any idea/help ..

i feel the extreme need of getting this kind of therapy out to the light ,esp in Egypt ..

hope i hear from you soon
thanks in advance
Noha

Anonymous said...

congrats laura for all the work you are doing to build up the profession....all the best...

Anonymous said...

Laura,
I am a physician in the USA but have a family member with acute stroke in Cairo, Egypt who requires occupational therapy, I cam across your blog but was not sure if there is actually anyone doing OT in Egypt or not yet. Do you still practice there or is there anyone you know who can help us?

Thank you

Dalia daliaabdelaziz@yahoo.com

Laura Efinger said...

Noha...

I am in New York at this time and I am not trained as an art therapist. I would suggest checking out this website: http://www.arttherapyalliance.org/GlobalArtTherapyResources.html and the many art therapy Facebook groups and seeing if there was anyone in the region you could correspond with and/or contact other art therapists who could guide you perhaps on an internship and further professional education.

Dalia...will email you directly!

LetsOT...Thanks

Laura Efinger said...

Noha,

I am not an art therapist, but you can find a lot of information at the ART THERAPY ALLIANCE: http://www.arttherapyalliance.org/index.html and other art therapy networks on Facebook.

I will also be having an art therapist contribute to the Child Development Club website blog, so you can find out more information there.

Laura

Dina said...

Hi Laura,

Is it possible to contact you regarding providing OT therapy for an elderly relative. Do you know of other OTs who could help? My aunt has advanced parkinson's and lives in what can be best described as an obstacle course. She's very obstinate and I am trying to sell the concept of OT to her but so far have been unsuccessful. Any tips?

Laura Efinger said...

Hi Dina, you can contact me by email: lme1169@gmail.com and I can send you some tips and contacts.

Laura

Allison Gamble said...

Sorry to leave an unrelated comment, but I couldn’t find any contact info for you. I’m wondering if you’d be interested in a guest post. Please drop me an e-mail at alliegamble81@gmail.com. Thanks!