2011 Spelbring Endowed Lecturer
Carolyn Baum, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA
Discovering and Disseminating the Power of Occupation
This lecture will honor Lyla Spelbring, a professional that knew what needed to be done to improve the daily lives of people- engage them in occupation. The knowledge and the language exists to conceptually ground occupation in health. It is possible to describe what occupational therapists uniquely bring to the health care system. “Our” time has come. Advances in knowledge and growth in the population with chronic diseases and disabilities demands a profession that helps people manage their own health needs and gives them the skills to maximize their ability to manage home, work and community lives. This was the dream of our early leaders, particularly the second generation of our field. We had to get through the “objective” medical model phase- and now we are offering leadership to our health care systems to improve people’s lives and to build healthy communities because we bridge between biomedical and population health.
