The Occupational Therapy Assistant Program Faculty, Staff and Students look forward to creative growth and some potential proposed changes for the 2022/2023 academic year. These growth opportunities include increasing the Fieldwork learning service collaborations and contracts with Clinical sites; college wide and community based collaborations; and possibly revisiting the development of an off cycle weekend/distance learning OTA program on the Newburgh Campus. We will continue to collaborate with the BRIDGES program, Office of the Aging, and the New York State Occupational Therapy Association to have increased professional development and continuing education offerings in partnership with the New York State Occupational Therapy Association.
A significant component of the OTA Program is the emphasis on applied learning through ‘community connections service-learning' projects, which is an essential part of our education. This component of our program incorporates collaborations with college programs and services, e.g., Office for Accessibility Services, Lab School, BRIDGES, Dental Hygiene, and Early Childhood education program. We look forward to inter departmental collaborations and projects. Also intraprofessional collaborations with other institutions like Iona college. This is not only a great learning experience for our students, but also satisfies one of our ACOTE standard C.1.5 .
The updated ACOTE standards were fully implemented in July 2020, and we are still continually adjusting material in our classes during our curriculum review sessions each semester to assure full compliance. The new course OTA skills lab was offered this past fall, it was well received by students and gave them the needed hands on experience in the very first semester. This had been identified during a curriculum review session as a gap in our program.
The SUNY Orange Center for Assistive and Rehab Technology (CART), a sister program housed within the OTA Department, offers a wealth of resources, assessments, and adaptive equipment demonstrations for students within the college community as well as community members across the developmental lifespan. We would like to expand the CART and reorganize the equipment so it is more user friendly.
The OTA program is coming up for re-accreditation in the 2023/2024 AY, we started to begin our self study process, and will be fully engaged starting Spring of 2022 semester. The team has been established, and we have monthly meetings to discuss and review timeline.
In conclusion, the OTA faculty look forward to move the program forward and keep up with the ever changing health care demands in our communities. Our program is a vital part of our community through all of our community connections programs.
All of the aforementioned contribute not only to our excitement as a Department team, but to the overall contribution to the College's Mission, Vision and 2020-2025 Strategic Plan to serve our students and community in diverse and essential areas.