On February 28th, 2017, more than 160 occupational therapists and occupational therapy support personnel from across Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care joined together to participate in our 20th annual Building Bridges education and research day. The theme of the day was “The Client Voice: Informing OT Practice”.

The agenda

The morning started with keynote presentations by Jacques Lalonde and Erika Weikle who shared their personal recovery stories.  This was followed by updates from the UBC OT program and our provincial association. During the morning break, attendees had the opportunity to network with other therapists, meet with medical equipment vendors, and see posters with research completed by fellow VCH and PHC OTs.

The afternoon consisted of educational seminars covering a broad range of clinical areas:  Patient Handling Simulations; Hearing Voices; Knowledge Translation; Understanding Substance Use through an OT lens; OTs in Unique Roles; and Adaptive Yoga.

Awards

Achievement awards were presented to well-deserving occupational therapists.  The Ginny Fearing Learning as a Way of Being award was presented to Mary Cho.  The mOTivator in Practice awards were presented to Katie Maher, Holly Hergesheimer and Ross McEachern.

Mary Cho – Winner of the Ginny Fearing “Learning as a Way of Being” Award

Thank you

And, as always, Building Bridges was an excellent opportunity for occupational therapists to come together to learn from one another, promote evidence-based practice, and improve client care.  Thank you to everyone who participated, and we hope to see you all next year!