ROCK: Ride On Center for Kids – USAHS OT Fieldwork Opportunities and Community Partnerships

ROCK_ Ride On Center for Kids – USAHS OT Fieldwork Opportunities and Community Partnerships

[00:00:00] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): My name’s Draydin Ferguson. I’m an OTD student at the University of St. Augustine. Right now, I am at my site completing my capstone project. This is the ROCK, also known as the Ride On Center for Kids.

[00:00:15] Joan Cutler (ROCK): We are a therapeutic horsemanship program, so instead of going to a clinic and sitting on a big rubber ball, you come to ROCK, and they incorporate the movement of the horse into their therapy plans.

[00:00:26] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): They work with all different types of disabilities.

[00:00:30] Joan Cutler (ROCK): OT feeds right into that whole independence and life skills part of our mission.

[00:00:35] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): I love helping people, but I love my animals too and, and something that makes me happy, which is horses, I get to bring it to other people’s life and make them just as happy.

[00:00:45] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): Starting out with your capstone at school, they really encourage you to find a way that you can improve something that there might be a lack of in your community. So what mine was is interventions for children with cerebral palsy that involve the horse. But also, there’s not a lot of information for occupational therapists on how to implement equine-assisted therapy services.

[00:01:09] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): There you go.

[00:01:11] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): Today, I was with Gentry. He is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and so I really get to work with cerebral palsy patients a little bit closer because that’s kinda what I am focusing on with my project. We got him in the arena today on Sunny Girl, who is his pony that he has. We’re really trying to get him to work on his posture, sitting up, head control, balance, working on strengthening his core to be able to sit up.

[00:01:38] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): But it’s also, as you could see out there, it just lights his world up. He loves being out there. He looks forward to this every Tuesday.

[00:01:45] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): It takes them a minute to get into, but once they get into it, they start fixing their positioning on their own. And every little movement you make your horse make, there’s a reason for it, and it’s just impacting the body in a good way.

[00:01:57] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): When I come here, it doesn’t feel like work. It just is just fun. But it’s also improved my learning a lot and everybody here is always, if I ask a question, they’re eager to come with me with answers, or if we can’t find the answers, we find a solution together.

[00:02:11] Joan Cutler (ROCK): I like that the university is willing to send us, occupational therapy students, and they think that it’s important for them to get that experience.

[00:02:20] Joan Cutler (ROCK): They bring their education and their passion for what they are learning at school into what we’re doing here. So we are just really glad that Draydin, has been part of our, part of our community for the last several months.

[00:02:33] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): Being at the University of St. Augustine has really helped me grow, not only as a student, but as a person.

[00:02:41] Draydin Ferguson (OTD Student): I’m getting excited just because I know I’ve worked really hard to get to this point, and I’m seeing my project come to life. I’m excited just because I know the next step for me is to be able to treat patients. They made me feel confident in my ability to be able to go out into the real world and do my job as an OT.