Schedule of Events

Fulfilling President Lincoln’s Promise: Overcoming the Stigma of Veteran Healthcare

Robert Ferguson, MHS, OTRL

This keynote will briefly address the embattled history of the Veteran Health Administration and the associated stigma of Veteran healthcare through the lenses of differing types of Veterans, their caregivers, the public, and VHA employees. It will also address the existence of stigma for Veteran healthcare in the private sector. 

I will share my own experiences as a disabled combat Veteran both receiving and providing healthcare to Veterans in the private sector and in the VHA. Additionally, I will share about the ways occupational therapy practitioners can combat Veteran healthcare stigma, today’s innovative Veteran healthcare, and how occupational therapy fits into its hope for tomorrow. 

Serving Veterans in the Community: Community Based OT Research & Practice

Amanda Carroll, PhD, OTRL

This plenary presentation will address: (1) the development of a collaborative research partnership between an occupational therapy doctorate program and the local veterans’ community, and (2) findings from completed research projects stemming from this partnership that inform OT best practice with the veteran population.  

This presentation will address the importance of community-based research and practice for occupational therapy to address the unique needs of veterans in the communities where they live and engage in meaningful occupations. I will highlight the importance of social determinants of health as a lens for occupational therapy practitioners to better understand how state and local communities shape veterans’ health as these places provide the context for resources, opportunities and barriers to engagement in health promoting occupations. Additionally, I will describe key implications of this work for OT practice and research with the veteran population along with future directions for OT’s role in addressing the veterans’ unique health needs through the power of occupation. 

I will share my experiences as an occupational therapist, occupational scientist and researcher, and as an OT professor engaging students in the research process.  

Speakers TBA

Speaker TBA