Current Issue: <em>Fall 2008</em> - Office of Graduate Studies

True Blessings

On her last day working at a clinic for children with disabilities in Juarez, Mexico, occupational therapist Sue Higgins, T86, G02, was blessed in Spanish by Jorge, a four year-old boy with cerebral palsy and microcephaly. Higgins had simply shown Jorge's parents how to teach their son to chew properly; by the end of the session, the little boy was eating a cracker by himself. He thanked Higgins with a blessing and a big kiss.

Sue Higgins, T86, G02, (right) working with a child.

Inspired by a colleague at the New England Institute of Technology (NEIT), where she is an assistant professor and fieldwork coordinator, Higgins went to Mexico in January to help out at Fundacion Juarez Integra, a nonprofit clinic that serves the large population of disabled citizens in Juarez. There, she and two other occupational therapists worked with 90 patients, many of them children with cerebral palsy.

"Children with disabilities in Mexico can't go to school or day care. Their parents face an extraordinary burden," Higgins says.

While at the clinic, Higgins and her colleagues worked with parents on simple everyday tasks - like helping Jorge to eat - and also on playing with their children.

"Most of the children had never been on their stomachs," Higgins says. "We taught these moms and dads how to play with their kids."

Higgins was so moved by her experiences at the clinic that she has helped organize a group of therapists to return there this summer. The team, made up of 15 therapists with different areas of expertise, plans to create a sensory room for autistic patients and build an adaptive playground. Higgins also hopes to one day create a training program at Fundacion Juarez Integra for NEIT students. She says her work at the clinic boosted her confidence as a practitioner and changed the way she thinks about her career.

"This trip solidified for me the meaning of 'occupation' and the importance of what occupational therapists do. Now I understand that I can make a significant difference in people's lives," she says.

Profile by Leslie Goldberg

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2007 edition of BSOT Notes, the newsletter for the Tufts University Department of Occupational Therapy.

*Portions of this article have been excerpted, with permission, from TheSun Chronicle, January 30, 2007.

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