Cheryl has worked in patient care roles in New York city area for approximately 20 years and has certification in patient care and nurse’s aide. She is very passionate about helping individuals recover from medical situations and decided that nursing wasn’t for her but wanted to stay in the medical field and discovered the occupational therapy field and thought it would be a perfect intersection of her passion and medical experience.
Her journey has brought her to Maria’s OTA program and she commutes every other weekend from Brooklyn to study in our weekend college. She stated, “the Maria OTA weekend program has been a God send for me. I will graduate next May (2018) and the Maria OTA faculty has been so attentive in helping me achieve academic milestones and design field experiences to develop new skills while allowing me to interact with patients. I worked at the Eddy (SPHP) on Saturdays designing innovative activities to engage seniors and provide patient care information in a fun and interactive way.
I also went to Mercy Farm and the sisters were so good to us (students) and having been in an urban environment my entire life, experiencing rural life (seeing sheep and other farm animals) helped to broaden my horizons and give me appreciation for diverse ways of life.” In comparing Maria to other colleges she attended, she stated, “I’ve been a student at many different schools in the city, but nothing compares to Maria and the personal connections I have been able to make with my instructors and student colleagues.”
Find more about Maria’s Occupational Therapy Assistant AAS Program.
