Alumni Spotlight | Jamie (Labron) Wolff

JAMIE (LABRON) WOLFF Class of 2008 Interviewed by Michelle Noble | November 2017

D

escribed by Mr. Lee Hardy as, “Someone who always received joy from helping others”, Jamie fell

into a career path perfectly suited for her altruistic spirit - an occupational therapist. An adventurer, a career woman, and now a new mother to a beautiful baby girl, Jamie’s combination of tenacity and compassion allows her to thrive in all aspects of her life and truly make a difference in the lives of others.

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to steal a few minutes of this new mom’s time and interview Jamie during the beginning months of her maternity leave. In this week’s Alumni Spotlight, Jamie shares her experience of earning her master’s degree, becoming an Occupational Therapist at Surrey Memorial Hospital, and explains what a day in the life of an OT looks like.

For those who are unfamiliar, can you explain what an

Surrey Memorial Hospital.

Occupational Therapist is? What specifically do you do?

As an Occupational Therapist (OT), I work with people who have an illness, disability, or other health-related issues that interfere with their ability to do the day-today things that are important to them. I work together with my patients to assess their abilities and help determine ways to enable them to continue to do what they need and want to do. Examples of activities people may be having difficulties with can include self-care, such as: getting dressed, eating, or moving around the house; being productive, including going to work or school; and participating in community and leisure activities such as sports, gardening, or social activities.

With my education, I can work with many different populations and in many different practice areas. I know OTs who work in home care, hospitals, schools, private practices, health boards, community mental health centres, clinics, halfway houses, vocational programmes, programme development, rehabilitation companies, and correctional institutions (just to name a few). I’ve had a chance to try working in many of those different places as a student and am currently working in acute care at

In my job at Surrey Memorial, I am the OT for two different wards - a general medical ward specialising in dementia and related neurocognitive diagnoses, and a palliative care ward. Most of what I do is working with people to help determine what they need in order to be able to manage and thrive at home once they are ready to be discharged from the hospital. It involves assessing their abilities, strengths and resources, and degree of disease progression, as well as working together with the patient, their family, and the hospital team to develop a discharge plan. Sometimes this involves specialised equipment such as a wheelchair, hospital bed, or a stove guard that automatically turns off a stove burner if it’s been left on too long. Other times it involves rebuilding skills to be able to go to the bathroom independently or techniques to be able to remember to take medications on time.

There is an amazing amount of variety in what I get to do because everyone has a different way that they normally do things at home, and the tasks that are important to people and their families vary every time.

Some of the most rewarding things that I’ve done

ABOVE: Jamie on her Thesis defence day, with co-author Claire Parker

recently include: creating a specialised wheelchair

stage managing productions at Mulgrave). I became

system for a lady who was in palliative care so she

determined that this was going to be a great fit for me

could leave the hospital comfortably in order to go

and pulled up my socks (and my grades) to work towards

wedding dress shopping with her daughter, and helping

getting into the Master of Occupational Therapy

a gentleman who was worried they would have to put

programme at UBC.

his wife with dementia in a nursing home, come up with a plan to continue to support her at home safely and enable her to continue gardening and going for walks, which is what she loved to do.

This job sounds both incredibly rewarding and very challenging. Mr. Hardy described you as, “Someone who always received joy from helping others”. Did you always know you wanted to be an OT?

It does sound like the perfect fit for you! Your work experience prior to working in acute care at Surrey Memorial Hospital was primarily with children and young adults. How did you find the transition into the field of geriatrics?

In the beginning, I was just happy to finally have a job and planned to transition into pediatrics as soon as possible. However, I very quickly realised how amazing it

When I was at Mulgrave, I knew that I enjoyed working

can be to work with seniors. Everyone who I work with

with people and was vaguely interested in either being

has a lifetime of experience, stories, hobbies, and habits,

a teacher, nurse, or doctor. I didn’t even know what

which, once you get to know them a bit better, are an

OT was until I was in my second year of undergrad

amazing resource when developing a rehab programme.

at university. When I learned what it was, I realised

I had to adjust my mindset slightly, and I found the

this career was a perfect mix of helping others, job

opportunity to be every bit as creative as when I worked

variety, flexibility to continue my career while working

with children, perhaps even more so, in figuring out how

on other life goals (such as starting a family), and

to make someone’s therapy relevant and meaningful to

organised creativity (which I really developed through

them. Additionally, by working with people while they

ABOVE: Jamie at Helmcken Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park

ABOVE: A demonstration of exoskeleton technology, which is what Jamie’s thesis was on

are in the hospital, you have the privilege of being able

My main piece of advice is to learn as much as you can

to support not only the patient, but the families as well

about what OT is and get as much experience as possible

during a time of crisis. I find that using this family-

working with people with disabilities or mental illness.

centred approach to care actually can be very similar

I had work experience as a personal support worker,

to working in pediatrics, in that while the patient is the

lifeguarding with Easter Seals camps, and volunteering

centre of your care, you have to consider the people

at Women’s Hospital and GF Strong. My volunteer and

around them too, such as their spouse, children, and

work experience was invaluable and helped me with

caregivers.

both getting into and getting through the programme.

While working toward your master’s at UBC, why did you choose to do your thesis topic on Exoskeleton Technology?

Exoskeleton technology is an emerging field with limitless potential, and through my thesis, I was able to work together with engineers and designers to add a healthcare and potential user perspective to their exoskeleton design. I surveyed these populations, and through the analysis of the data, was able to help the designers by indicating which potential features would be most important to users so they could prioritise their integration. OTs work a lot with clients to figure out which equipment will work best for them, and it also gave me the ability to learn more about the process of how these products are designed.

What advice would you give to students looking to study to become an OT?

What are the biggest challenges of being an OT? Generally, working in healthcare, it is very challenging to work with people who cannot access the resources they need due to barriers such as finances, transportation, service availability, or wait lists. Knowing that there are services that could help people live longer, fuller, and more independent lives in the community, but that they cannot access them is very challenging. Conversely, working with people who you know may be able to get better if they participated in therapy but choose not to is also very challenging.

Having accomplished so much at such a young age, what would you say you’re most proud of achieving in your career so far?

Graduating with my master’s degree! The OT programme itself was very difficult, and being able to get through it, including publishing my thesis, was a huge

ABOVE: Jamie on her OT graduation day

accomplishment for me.

Most influential teacher at Mulgrave?

Ms. Morgan was extremely influential for me, as I know she was for many other of my classmates. In Grade 9, she was my English teacher, and I was very upfront about the fact that I hated writing and was not very good at it. Needless to say, she did not let me get away with that and really encouraged using my creativity to find an approach to writing that worked for me. I was able to use many of the tools she gave me to complete all of the writing components of my degrees, in addition to the many hours I spend charting my patients’ progress at work.

Caring for patients with dementia can, I’m sure, be challenging at times. What techniques or tools do you use to stay positive and focussed?

It certainly can be, and often the most difficult element is getting people to trust you enough to let you work with them. I find that taking the time to get to know my patients and what matters to them at the beginning of every patient encounter is crucial to a more positive working relationship and staying more positive myself.

Additionally, I really try to enjoy the moments of success that you do have, no matter how small, and encourage the patients and families that I work with to do the same.

Jamie Wolff, 2008