Participant Interview

Share a specific quote, comment or insight that you gained from your participant interview. Share your analysis of the information gained in the interview and explain how it lead to your choices in the service plan.

One thing I learned from my participant during our interview was how very much she wanted to keep as active as she could. I thought it was awesome how Cindy lived with so much pain in her life, yet did everything she could to stay involved in activities and with friends in her life. She considers herself a very social person and enjoys spending time with her close friends doing things like quilting or shopping or going to movies. One specific thing that I found interesting was when she told me that her pain seemed to decrease greatly when she was really wrapped up in an activity. She knew that keeping her mind occupied had a lot to do with that.

She is an expert quilter and has made some amazing ad beautiful quilts in her life, despite her near constant pain from an injury years ago. She knows that pushing through that and making herself stay involved with activities is very important.

One thing she mentioned to me though was how much she missed doing more active things that she used to love to do like bike riding or swimming or exercising at all. I felt that she was mostly just afraid to try these things because she knew how much pain just walking caused her so she has never attempted anything more than that. I decided to start her slowly by getting her involved in a water aerobics class. This is low-impact yet active, and it is something she already knows she loves to do. She was excited about the idea and part of her care plan was to research a class in her area and sign up for one!

Discussion Board Topic

I think the thing that impacted me most about my interview was the passion that Anica (the person I interviewed) so obviously had for her profession. She enjoys it, she has fun doing it, and she gets excited when she talks about it. I think that is so special and unique, that it really stuck with me.

One of the tenets I observed was Tenet 6: "...TR's work cooperatively with clients, assisting them to move towards self-directed leisure experiences that are health enhancing."
I saw Anica's office and workspace and see how she works with clients. Her area was filled with games, activities, musical instruments, game systems, etc. She motivates them with fun activities and finds their interests, she helps them recover skills through fun activities that are at the same time beneficial to their health.

I also observed tenet 10, in which it is critical for the TR to have a good relationship with the clients. Anica becomes their friend, someone they are about and want to please. She is interested in their lives and sees them as a whole person, not just an injury that needs fixing. She sees them for what they can be and are capable of, not just what they have lost or can no longer do. I have seen how much her patients love her and how that truly does make a difference in how they recover and how their therapy sessions go.

I think this is what I admire most about Anica and her work. She truly cares about her patients and wants what is best for them. She enjoys her job and it shows, and I think that is so awesome!

My Interview with a CTRS

For this assignment I chose to interview CTRS Anica Herrera, who is not only a Recreational Therapist, but also a Child Life Specialist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. I have the privilege of working closely with Anica now and then as a Child Life Assistant, but have never really spoke with her regarding Recreational Therapy or her specific experiences that led her to where she is today. I was excited to sit down with Anica one on one and pick her brain a bit about her journey as a CTRS and learn what she had to share with me.

Anica attended college at San Jose State in California. She was originally an Occupational Therapy major, but after speaking with two of her friends who were Recreation majors, she considered switching. Occupational Therapy was a harder program and it had a long waiting list to get into, plus she saw how much her friends were enjoying the Recreation program, so she decided to switch majors.

Anica is currently certified as a CTRS, and has been certified for seven years. The following is from the NCTRC website:

Certificate Number: 49672 Anica J. Herrera City & State: Chandler, AZ Initial Certification: 11/04/2002 Annual Expiration Date: 12/31/2009
Recertification Due Date: 11/01/2012

Anica has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Recreation with a concentration in Therapy. She is also a Certified Child Life Specialist.

Anica’s career path is very unique because she was able to get experience in so many different areas of Therapeutic Recreation. When she was in college, her program required that she have 1000 hours of experience in Recreation, which was broken down into different areas and populations such as Psychiatry, Older adults, Developmentally delayed, etc. She spent many hours working at the VA with the Recreational Therapist there, as well as in a Development Center with people who had developmental delays, and with the City of Santa Clair working in the Therapeutic Recreation Department. She also did a fourteen week unpaid internship at Packard Children’s Hospital working under the CTRS there. Since her supervisor there was also a Certified Child Life Specialist, Anica’s internship at Packard Children’s also counted as a Child Life internship, and Anica was then qualified to sit for the Child Life Exam, which she passed along with her CTRS exam.

After Anica graduated and now held certifications in both Therapeutic Recreation and Child Life, she was hired on part-time at Packard Children’s Hospital as a Child Life Specialist, at the time in charge of running the playrooms there. She was also working full-time with the City of Santa Clair in the Therapeutic Recreation Department doing with responsibilities such as programming and event planning. After two years of doing this, Anica moved to Arizona and was hired full-time at Arizona State Hospital as a Recreational Therapist. Her job responsibilities there consisted of teaching basic skills to the patients there, such as scheduling their time, doing their laundry, and preparing meals. Anica says she hated that job, and after a year-and-a-half she got a job at Phoenix Children’s Hospital working both as a Child Life Specialist and a Recreational Therapist. She has been at Phoenix Children’s for just over five years now and very much enjoys what she does.

Her current job responsibilities include working with pediatric rehab patients who suffer from a variety of different injuries and disabilities, including neurological disorders, traumatic brain injuries, burns, spinal cord injuries, neuromuscular disorders, and orthopedic injuries such as fractures. She evaluates their play, evaluates their current skill level and determines what goals to set, she develops activities to practice new skills so the patients can achieve those goals and build new ones. She also provides leisure education and awareness, meaning she helps patients and their families come up with leisure activities that are beneficial to the patient and can help them rehabilitate.

Phoenix Children’s Hospital is located at 1919 E. Thomas Road in Phoenix, Arizona. The phone number there is 602-546-1000. Phoenix Children’s currently does not offer a Therapeutic Recreation Internship, and Anica said there are currently no programs offered to patients through the Therapeutic Recreation Department. They only offer Anica’s services to pediatric inpatients, and when the patients are discharged, they must go see someone else for these services if they are still necessary. Anica currently does not belong to any professional organizations but she does attend Therapeutic Recreation conferences when she can and if they are offered close by.

Anica said her main reason to enter the field of Therapeutic Recreation was that it seemed like a really fun job, one that she would enjoy doing. She also said she loves how versatile the profession is. The main components that you learn about Therapeutic Recreation can be used in a limitless number of jobs. There are so many different areas to work in and so many different populations to work with. Anica estimated that only 5-6% of Recreational Therapists work in pediatric hospitals, and she knows that if she one day were to become bored with her job or it ceased to be fun or challenging, she could take her credentials and expertise and do anything from event planning to working in schools or for the City. She is currently very happy in her position and loves the population she works with, but says it is nice to know there are other options out there for her if she ever chose to make a change.

I really enjoyed getting a closer look at the field of Therapeutic Recreation and definitely learned a lot just through this interview. I have known Anica for over a year but I have never known about her career path or even some of the responsibilities she has in her position at the hospital. It was also interesting to learn about all of the options that are available to Recreational Therapists and Anica is obviously very passionate about her field, which made me very excited to learn more about it! This interview experience was very educational for me and very enjoyable as well!

Resource Guide

I would like to share a resource that I believe is extremely important and beneficial to families who would like to learn more about their child's diagnosis, condition, injury, and treatment. This resource is The Emily Center, and it is a public resource library located inside of Phoenix Children's Hospital. The website is
http://www.phoenixchildrens.com/emily-center/

The Emily Center is named after a little girl named Emily Anderson, whose parents founded The Emily Center to provide others with the information necessary to understand their child's diagnosis or injury. "The Emily Center is the most comprehensive pediatric health library in the Southwest, providing hundreds of patients and families materials about child health, injury and illness." (phoenixchildrens.com).

Here is a quote from the Emily Center Website, "Founded in 1990, the Emily Center is named after Emily Anderson. Emily fought a rare form of leukemia for four years, before losing her battle a few days before her seventh birthday. Frustrated by the lack of easy to understand information about Emily's illness, her parents founded The Emily Center so that families of sick children would always have access to pediatric health information that is accurate, easy to understand, and free of charge."

The Emily Center is staffed with highly skilled nurses to answer questions and help with research.

I believe this is such an important resource for those with disabilities, or those who know someone with a disability. It provides information and education relating to the specific diagnosis, injury, and treatment, and I believe education is the most important step we can take to helping those with disabilities, as well as understanding them.

Tenet 15

The tenet that applies to my future profession the most and really explains what it is a Child Life Specialist does is tenet 15. It states, "Typical outcomes of TR interventions include increasing personal awareness, increasing interpersonal or social skills, developing leisure skills, decreasing stress, improving physical fitness and functioning, developing feelings of positive self-regard, self-efficacy, perceived control, pleasure, and enjoyment."

The following can be found on the Child Life Council's website (childlife.org). It briefly describes the duties of a Child Life Specialist.

Child life specialists focus on the psychosocial needs of children, collaborating with parents and other members of the team to:

• Ease a child’s fear and anxiety with therapeutic and recreational play activities
• Foster an environment that incorporates emotional support
• Encourage understanding and cooperation by providing non-medical preparation and support for children undergoing tests, surgeries, and other medical procedures
• Advocate for family-centered care
• Engage and energize children and families by coordinating special events, entertainment, and activities
• Consider the needs of siblings or other children who may also affected by a child’s illness or trauma
• Direct pre-admission hospital tours and resources, and consultations with outpatient families
• Support families confronting grief and bereavement issues
• Provide information and resources for parents and members of the interdisciplinary team

I think the most important job of a Child Life Specialist can be summed up in one essential duty, and that is to decrease the stress of a child. The tenet I stated above describes very closely the field of Child Life. They decrease a child's stress through therapeutic play, they teach children how to gain control over their new diagnosis by empowering them with knowledge, they give the child activities and physical goals to improve their health and mood, and they make sure the child is still getting to be a child while in the hospital through enjoyable activities and fun things to do and look forward to.

Welcome to my Blog!

Thanks for checking out the blog I have created for PRM 364, Foundations of Therapeutic Recreation. Please check out the "About Me" section to the right and learn a little bit about me! Attached are a few recent pics of me and my family. Thanks for visiting!