Physical therapist Karen Malone, an expert in stroke and stroke rehab after over 30 years in practice, is the guest on this episode of On The Air. Karen reminisces about her days in PT school and her first job as a PT working at a small Southern California hospital in stroke rehab. She talks about her experiences in stroke rehab Tijuana and China where she worked for 20 years and where she created opportunities to use physical therapy in a province where no one knew about physical therapy. Now residing in St. Paul, MN, with her son who was adopted from China, Karen is a delightful storyteller who highlights the challenges and the triumphs of being a trailblazer in the rehab field in China.

Connect with Karen:

• Via email
• On Facebook
• Through her website

Karen Dobyns, OTD, MOT, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist who lives and works in Southern California. She loves pediatrics and mental health and is adjunct faculty in an occupational therapy assistant college program. Karen was interviewed about her path into the field of occupational therapy on Episode 10 in January 2018 and is back to talk about her experiences in writing a children's book centered around the concept of inclusion (and OT!).  She talks about how she came up with the idea for her book "The Centipede Who Couldn’t Tie His Shoes" and what she learned during the process of writing and publishing. 

Kami Bible, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist who specializes in school-based OT via teletherapy. Kami graduated from Newman University in Wichita, KS with a B.S. in OT in 1998 and began working in an in-patient rehab facility on the spinal cord injury team.  After passing the NBCOT exam in 1998, she continued her education, completing a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) degree in 2001. After several years working in rehab, Kami took a job in HR as the Allied Health Recruiter for a large hospital system in Oklahoma City. In 2009, when her daughter started elementary school, she wanted to stay home with her and so went to work for a contract company serving several rural school districts.
 
Since then, Kami has worked in schools in Oklahoma, Washington State and now Kansas. She's been a national presenter for the Bureau of Education and Research and now with Learning Without Tears. She currently works full-time for Lawrence Public Schools serving K-8 in brick & mortar schools and K-12 for Lawrence Virtual School. In addition, Kami also does contract work for eLuma, an online therapy company. 

Connect with Kami:

• Email kami.bible@mac.com
• Twitter - @therealkami
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamibible/

Supplemental Resource on Telehealth in OT:

• Telehealth Opportunities in Occupational Therapy Through the Affordable Care Act [Article by Jana Cason published in the March/April 2012 American Journal of Occupational Therapy]

You might have come across a video clip making the rounds on social media that shows an adult daughter using sign language to have a conversation with her mom who has dementia. The two are in a car and the exchange between them is really animated and affectionate. On this episode, the daughter from that video, sign-language interpreter MJ Grant, shares about her experiences growing up as part of the deaf culture in a family as a child of deaf adults (CODA). In addition, she talks about serving as a caregiver in recent years for her mom and her dad who has progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). 

Born and raised in Sanford, Maine, MJ is a 44 year-old mother of four (ages 24, 18, 15 and 5), with a wonderfully supportive husband, Jesse Repolt. Having been raised by two culturally deaf parents in the city of Sanford, Maine, Grant has always had strong connection to the Deaf community and strongly identifies as a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). Grant is the youngest of two daughters, with an older sister, LouAnn Grant. Having worked in the field of Sign Language Interpreting since 1997 as a freelancer, Grant decided in 2010 to establish her own interpreting referral agency, Mary Jane Grant Sign Language Interpreting Referral Services, in the state of Maine. Grant has been a mentor to student interpreters and adjunct faculty at the University of Southern Maine, teaching American Sign Language/English Interpreting classes intermittently since 2004. In recent years, Grant began caring for her mother, who has dementia, and father who has Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). Currently Grant's mother is living in her home and her father resides in the next town over, requiring support from both daughters and his wife to care for his needs. Grant continues to balance more challenging demands as her parent's needs increasingly become more significant. 

Connect with MJ:

• Email msmjg6@gmail.com
• Twitter @msmjg6
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/msmjg6​

Click HERE to access an article and video about MJ and her mom.

Kaitlyn Jones is a recent graduate of the University of Scranton with a Master's Degree in occupational therapy. She is passionate about research and accessible technology, specifically adapted video gaming for veterans with limb loss and the impact that re-engagement in game play has on one's quality of life after traumatic injury. She serves as the Director of Clinical Outreach for Warfighter Engaged, a 501(c) non-profit organization that custom-adapts video game controllers for veterans who have sustained traumatic injuries. Kaitlyn recently accepted a role as a member of Microsoft's hardware research team where she will help to inform and aid in accessibility efforts at the industry level.

On this episode of On the Air, Kaitlyn talks about  her path into the profession, her experience with and passion for assistive technology, and her work with Microsoft.

Connect with Kaitlyn:

• Via email - kaitlyn@warfighterengaged.org
• On Twitter @KaitlynJones_
• Website: www.warfighterengaged.org

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