Cheryl Sheffield – OTD, OTR/L, ATP, CHAMP, CDP, FPS – OT Faculty Profiles, USAHS
Cheryl Sheffield, OTD, OTR/L, ATP, CHAMP, CDP, FPS, has practiced occupational therapy for almost 30 years across nearly every age group and setting, in two countries, and teaches at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS) campus in St. Augustine, Florida. Cheryl’s primary clients are young adults with neuromuscular diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
One client could move only a pinky finger, yet with the right technology that finger controlled his entire home and his power wheelchair, letting him live independently and hold down a job. It captures how OT focuses on what people can do. Cheryl’s course follows the same idea, with a lab where students build or adapt technology to meet a client’s need, such as holding a water bottle.
Students leave able to use the profession’s tools and find answers to situations they haven’t encountered before.
Transcript
Cheryl Sheffield – OTD, OTR_L, ATP, CHAMP, CDP, FPS – OT Faculty Profiles, USAHS
[00:00:00] Cheryl Sheffield (OT Faculty): I’ve been practicing for almost 30 years, so I’ve worked with almost every age group and in almost every setting, and I’ve worked across two countries. I’m Canadian. [00:00:10] My favorite population to work with are the sort of young adults with neuromuscular diseases like spinal muscular atrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, because they have such significant physical impairments, but they’re so cognitively intact and so smart that a lot of the men that I’ve worked with, I’ve learned a lot from them, and they work in IT industries. And I had one gentleman that he could only move his pinky finger, but with that pinky finger, we were able to access his entire home, his power mobility, allow him to live independently, and for him to hold down a job. [00:00:52] As a profession, we focus on what people can do and not on what they can’t do. So we can enable people to live their best lives and to meet the goals that they’ve set for themselves. And so it’s not what I want for them, it’s what they want for themselves, and I just facilitate that. [00:01:11] Allowing the students that chance to interact with the tools that we use as professionals and to gain that confidence, but in, without a stressful situation. And in my course, a lot of what we do is making solutions or adapting existing equipment so that people can use it in a manner that supports their needs better. So we actually have an entire lab where we just bring materials in and students have to create a piece of technology that would help meet a client’s need. So whether that’s being able to hold a water bottle independently or to access a computer independently. [00:01:54] It’s such a positive learning environment, and we have all these technological innovations of the profession and of the industry that our students come prepared to the workforce having confidence and knowledge in their skills, not only as therapists, but as therapists who can seek answers for a situation that maybe they’re not as familiar with.
