Student education
by creating a range of resources , as well as adding audio descriptions to the website to make it more accessible for blind and partially sighted people .
As a charity , Access the Dales has the potential to reach service users far and wide . The focus in the immediate future is launching the rest of the hubs and getting as many service users to come and give feedback as possible .
For future students this placement holds great potential for further interventions to ensure it continues to thrive .
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Kemmis E , Ashby S , MacDonald-Wicks L ( 2021 ) The impact of a power mobility device on occupational participation and quality of life for people with chronic diseases : a scoping review . British Journal of Occupational Therapy , 84 ( 12 ): 745-764 .
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A ‘ game changer ’ for the charity
Placement provider Debbie North reflects on the placement : ‘ I knew about the work of an occupational therapist , having had personal experience of their help and support during my three-month-stay in hospital and on the long road to recovery , after my spinal operation .
‘ So , when I received a call from Sheffield Hallam University asking if I could take an occupational therapy student , on a nine-week placement , to help set up our new charity Access the Dales , I jumped at the opportunity . Even better news arrived when I was told that there would be four students !
‘ When we raised the money to buy our first [ off-road wheelchair ], never did I think that the concept of Access the Dales would grow so rapidly . Donations came flooding in , together with different donated wheelchairs towards our cause .
‘ A group , made up of friends and family , decided that our best way forward was to go for charity status . However , it ’ s me that is working on the ground setting up the hubs in the Yorkshire Dales .
‘ Having the students has been a game changer , as we have managed to get so much research , planning and organisation done to get the hubs set up .
‘ I would say that the placement has been highly successful and we have achieved so much in the last nine weeks … testimony to the effort and support that each of them has contributed to setting up the charity .
‘ They have also had opportunities to learn new skills and have had valuable experiences that they would not achieve in the classroom , and that can be transferred into their own practices beyond their course work .
‘ I hope that Access the Dales will be able to support more students in the future . For people with long-term illness and disability , getting out into the countryside is so beneficial to their mind , body and soul and working with us has helped these occupational therapists of the future gain a wealth of experience of how this can be achieved .’
Words ALICE BIRCH , DEBBIE NORTH , EMMA WYMARK , HOLLY JOHNSON and ROB MORRALL , Sheffield Hallam BSc and MSc occupational therapy students . Visit : www . access-the-dales . com /
November 2022 OTnews 19