MEET THE BOARD BRENDA KOVERMAN , PHD , MBA , MS , OTR / L
ILOTA Board Position : Director of Advocacy
Hi , this is Samantha Tupas , the blog coordinator of In the Now . Recently , I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Brenda Koverman from Rush University Medical Center . In this interview , we talk about volunteering , travel , and strengthening the field of occupational therapy !
WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT POSITION ON ILOTA ’ S BOARD AND ACTIVITIES DO YOU ENGAGE IN TO FULFILL THAT ROLE ?
Brenda Koverman ’ s current role is the Director of Advocacy . She looks at reimbursement and the legislative activities that impact the profession of occupational therapy and the clients we serve .
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROFES- SIONAL BACKGROUND .
Brenda currently serves as the Director of Rehabilitation Services at Rush University Medical Center . In this role , she oversees occupational therapy , physical therapy , and speech language pathology in acute medicine , acute psychiatry , and inpatient rehab . She works as the Post-Acute Administratorwhere she oversees the operations in the inpatient rehab center from patients being admitted to their discharge . She is responsible for the rehab liaisons , PPS coordinator , and rehab coordinator . Outside of her work as Director of Rehabilitation Services at Rush University Medical Center , Brenda is also an Assistant Professor of occupational therapy at Rush University .
HAVE YOU ALWAYS WORKED AT RUSH ?
Brenda has been at Rush for 15 years . Prior to coming to Rush , she held other management and leadership positions . Some of the places Brenda has worked includes the Schwab Rehab Hospital and a contract agency called
Therapy Network Resources .
HOW DID YOU CHOOSE THE POSITION WITH ILOTA ?
Brenda did not choose to be director of advocacy with ILOTA , rather she was asked if she wanted to take the opening . She thinks she was chosen because of her background and that made her a good candidate for election .
WHAT IS HARD CHOOSING TO BE ON THE BOARD OR NOT ?
For Brenda , it wasn ’ t hard to make the choice to be on the board . She notes that it is part of our professional obligation to volunteer in some way in our profession . Brenda has volunteered for most of her career as an occupational therapist . She was even the past president of ILOTA ! She started out as a district chair and was on the reimbursement committee . With AOTPAC ( American Occupational Therapy Political Action Committee ), Brenda was on the board of directors . She also sat on the board of a community health center and volunteered with the Howard Brown Health Center .
WHAT ARE SOME KEY THINGS YOU HAVE LEARNED AND / OR CONTRIBUTED WHILE WORKING WITH ILOTA ' S BOARD ?
Since Brenda has only been on the board since September , she has been trying to get current with all the legislative advocacy issues that ILOTA is involved in . She mentions that it is nice to see familiar faces in the people who have volunteered for decades . However , Brenda mentions that it is great to see newer members volunteering at ILOTA to help advocate for the profession of occupational therapy .
DO YOU SEE SOME OF THESE NEWER MEMBERS BRINGING IN NEWER IDEAS THAT YOU WOULDN ’ T HAVE THOUGHT OF ?
“ Sometimes , I think more importantly there has to be some type of mentorship that helps younger members , people who haven ’ t been involved in the profession , to be able to carry on all of this volunteer work . I think that if you haven ’ t done volunteer work through ILOTA I think sometimes it ’ s minimized how much time people put , their personal time into an organization and is what has made ILOTA so successful .”
From what Brenda has seen , it is a bridge of the old and new therapists when it comes to volunteering . There needs to be a preservation of the old and new and to do that you need volunteers . Brenda notes that it helps to have people take newer members under their wing and help them to understand the different positions in ILOTA . It ’ s a network of people helping other people to learn how to make our profession stronger . According to Brenda , this is why we have continuing education , to produce better practitioners , educators , researchers , etc . It makes the services that
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