2010-11 NCOTA Leadership
The NCOTA is made up of practicing Occupational Therapists from across North Carolina. Each brings unique professional perspectives to the work of the association and in their efforts to advance the profession.
President
Amber Ward
Amber is currently the Occupational Therapy Coordinator at the Carolinas Neuromuscular ALS-MDA Center in the Department of Neurology at Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC. She serves NCOTA as the Technology SIS chair, and webmaster. She has been practicing as an occupational therapist for over 14 years in North Carolina with her primary practice background in the areas of inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient neuromuscular disorders. She has a certification as an Assistive Technology Practitioner, and is a wheelchair evaluator at her clinic. Amber loves being known as MacGyver at the clinic, and frequently pulls useful items from the trash to recreate into functional tools.
Treasurer
Maureen McBride
Maureen "Mo" McBride, COTA/L Maureen graduated from Tidewater Community College in 2007 and has committed herself to working with geriatric populations with PeopleFirst Rehabilitaion. She believes in maintaining and supporting all of Occupational Therapies professional organizations, and hopes to encourage others to get involved! .
Secretary
Catherine Crawford
Catherine Crawford has been an occupational therapist for 5 1/2 years. She has worked in the acute care, long term acute care and outpatient settings. Currently, she is working PRN at Carolinas Rehabilitation Main and Pineville outpatient facilities focusing on a variety of orthopedic and neurological injuries. Catherine earned her Masters of Occupational Therapy from Temple University and currently resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband Chris and son Andrew.
Member At-Large
Lynn Losada
Lynn Losada graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in Occupational Therapy in 1990 and has worked in acute care, outpatient and geropsychology in the past. For the last 13 years, she has worked in geriatrics for Peoplefirst Rehab where she is currently the Sr. Area Rehabilitation Director and has oversight of the Area Rehabilitation Directors for NC, Va and Delaware. She finds the rewards of working with the geriatric population to far outweigh any shortcomings. She considers this group of people to be always enlightening and able to bring out the best in problem solving and interdisciplinary teamwork. Lynn has been a member of NCOTA since she was an OT student and has been on the Executive Board for a number of years. She enjoys being able to serve profession and values the relationships for having opened her eyes to the many forms OT takes in the real world, and the different struggles that exist for professionals in the field.
Legal / Political Chair
Brad Myers
Brad Myers has been practicing Occupational Therapy since graduating from East Carolina University in 1999. He is also a 2003 alumni of ECU’s Health Education and Promotion Graduate program. Brad is currently the Clinical Specialist for Carolina Therapy Services. In this position, he is responsible for insuring documentation and clinical compliance, staff and facility training, insuring third party reimbursement through the Medicare appeals process, disseminating legislative changes affecting therapy, and program development in each of CTS’s skilled nursing, outpatient, hospital, school system, and home health settings across North Carolina. Brad lives in Raleigh with his wife, Kellie, and son, Carter.
AOTA Representative
Cynthia Bell
Cindy is currently an Assistant Professor and Academic Fieldwork Coordinator of Occupational Therapy at Winston-Salem State University. She serves NCOTA as the NC Representative for the AOTA Representative Assembly. Previously she served as the Alternate Representative. She has been practicing as an occupational therapist for over 15 years in North Carolina with her primary practice background in the areas of rehabilitation and geriatric practice. Her research interests include elderly with low vision and collaborative fieldwork models. She is spearheading a collaborative therapeutic tricycle program (AMBUCS AmTryke®) between occupational therapy-physical therapy on the university campus. Cindy was the 2007 recipient of the NCOTA Suzanne C. Scullin award.
OTA Liaison
Melanie Jacobs
Melanie is a COTA who graduated from the OTA program at Durham Technical Community College in 2007. She is a certified 200 hour Hatha yoga instructor registered by the Yoga Alliance and a Reiki Master Teacher/Practitioner. Melanie is currently employed by Shining Stars Therapy in Fuquay-Varina. Her OT background includes pediatrics, geriatrics, orthopedic, neurology, sensory integration, assistive technology, upper extremity splinting and wheelchair seating/positioning to name a few. In her spare time, Melanie can be found volunteering at Duke Hospital as a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician and being a wife and mother
NCBOT Liaison
Heide Dorfman
Heide is currently the Co-owner and Financial Manager for Total Rehabilitation, Inc. She currently serves NCOTA as the NCBOT Liaison. She has previously served NCOTA as the Administration and Management Special Interest Session Chairperson. She has been a practicing Occupational Therapist in North Carolina for over 18 years. Her specialty areas included administration/management including third party billing, home health, and geriatrics.
Member Services
Debbie Amini, OTR/L
Debbie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy in 1983 from Quinnipiac University, her Master’s of Education in 2001 from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and her Doctorate in Education in 2010 from North Carolina State University. She has been a certified hand therapist since 1991 and has been employed as the Program Director of the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina since 1998. She is currently serving a three-year term on AOTA’s Commission on Practice and is the Chair-elect of that commission. She has served as the AOTA Physical Disabilities Special Interest Section Chair (2005-2008), and was the Hand Rehabilitation Subsection Coordinator from 2002-2005. She has been the “Hands On” columnist for ADVANCE for occupational therapy practitioners since 1999, and has authored several articles that have appeared in Advance for Directors in Rehabilitation, the PD-SIS quarterly newsletter, OT Practice magazine and AJOT. She has also written several on-line courses, two textbook chapters and a CE on CD entitled Hand Rehabilitation: A Client-Centered and Occupation-Based Approach. She has contributed the hand, wrist and forearm component to the Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Individuals with Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses published by AOTA. She has presented numerous times at the AOTA, NCOTA and ASHT annual conferences and has conducted regional 2-day workshops.
Continuing Education Chair
Brenda Kennell, OTR/L
Education and Research Chair
Amy Mahle
Amy Mahle, MHA, COTA/L, teaches at Cabarrus College in the Occupational Therapy Assistant program. Her clinical experience includes outpatient rehabilitation and acute care. She has a BA in Psychology from Houghton College, is a graduate of Cabarrus College’s OTA program, and in 2011, graduated from Pfeiffer University with a MHA. She is passionate about the learning environment and welcomes the opportunity to work with other educators and researchers. Her current research interests are Constraint Induced Movement Therapy. Prior to her career in OT, she worked in social services and was also a small business owner for 7 years.
Special Interest Section Leaders
Administration and Management SIS Chair
Tracie Rogers
Tracie Rogers is currently an Occupational Therapist at Vidant Medical Center, a large medical center located in Greenville, NC. She has been employed for 22 years with the hospital. She served 8 years as manager of inpatient occupational therapy services and currently is the Program Manager for inpatient pediatric rehab services. Prior to being a manager, she worked as an occupational therapist in outpatient, acute care and rehab settings. Tracie has been involved in such initiatives as 3-hour rule compliance, DHSR reviews and compliance, recruitment and retention initiatives, 7-day service provision, CARF and JCAHO survey preparations in addition to managing and developing associated budgets.
Gerontology SIS Chair
Allison Calhoun, MS, OTR/L
Allison received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wake Forest University in 2001 and both a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy and an Interdisciplinary Certificate in Aging from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003. She has been working for Sundance Rehabilitation Corporation at Carolina Meadows Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, NC, for almost 5-years as a Clinical Occupational Therapist. Allison has been a member of an Interdisciplinary Task Force at this retirement community to help design the visioning and philosophy of care, programming, structure, and an outdoor courtyard environment for a specialized wing within the assisted living building. The facility was constructed to serve individuals who have dementia. In addition to her involvement with dementia care management, Allison has been instrumental in the development and implementation of an older driver screening program within the retirement community. Allison is the NC Rehab Agency Administrator for Sundance Rehabilitation, as well as a Senior Clinical Specialist. In addition to being the Gerontology Special Interest Section chair for the North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association, Allison is also an advisory committee member for the Education and Research portion of the Gerontology Special Interest Section of the American Occupational Therapy Association. She has presented at numerous local, state and national conferences about older driver wellness and community mobility and about fostering occupation-centered environments and programming for individuals who have dementia. She is a trained event coordinator for the CarFit program and has developed a model for how state associations can partner with other organizations to provide this valuable program to older adults throughout a state’s various geographical regions. Allison has published articles in the journal Educational Gerontology as well as OT Practice and numerous organizational newsletters. In 2005, she received the NOVA award from the North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association, recognizing her for outstanding contributions to the occupational therapy profession within the first 5 years of practice.
Home Health SIS Chair
Frank Barthold
Graduated from San Diego State University in 1985 with BA in Industrial Arts. Immediately following graduation, completed clinical training program developed by the California State University system and the VA Medical Center of Long Beach to earn a designation of Manual Arts Therapist (MAT). After 10+ years as an MAT and later as a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist (VRS) within the VA system, resigned to enroll in full-time studies leading to MSOT in 1996 at Tufts University’s. Currently with the Durham Veteran’s Medical Center, Home-Based Primary Care team providing home OT services to veterans. Previous experience as an OT in the VA system included roles as senior staff therapist for outpatient clinics, acute care, support to VA skilled nursing facilities, SCI, hand therapy, and sub-acute rehab settings.
Mental Health SIS Chair
Allison Taylor, MS, OTR/L, CPRP
Allison received a Bachelors of Health Science in Rehabilitative Services from the University of Florida in 2000 and a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002. Her experience includes providing Occupational Therapy services at inpatient mental health settings at both Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, NC in Women’s acute and long-term care units and at the former John Umstead Hospital in Butner, NC in the Child and Adolescent Program. She currently works as an Occupational Therapist in an outpatient mental health program at the Durham Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center specializing in psychosocial rehabilitation for Veterans with SMI (Serious Mental Illness). Allison has supervised Occupational Therapy students at a local psychosocial clubhouse and at the Durham VAMC. She is a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner (CPRP) from the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association and has completed specialty training in the SST (Social Skills Training) Program. Allison also has past experience as NCOTA Mental Health SIS Vice Chair from 2006-2007.
Pediatric SIS Chair
Kimberly Bailliard, OTR/L
Kimberly received a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003. She received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Communication (Speech and Hearing Science concentration) at UNC-CH in 1998. Her experience includes working with children and adults through Division TEACCH, the Autism Society of NC, and The Arc of Orange County. During the past 8 years Kimberly has served the pediatric population in school based practice and private practice. Currently she works in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools at Morris Grove Elementary where she promotes educational independence, Backpack Awareness, movement breaks, and functional School Tool use. Kimberly frequently hosts undergraduate students (volunteer/observation hours) and graduate students (fieldwork placements) from UNC-CH. She enjoys traveling, scrapbooking, photography, camping, music festivals, and spending time with her husband and dog, friends, and family.
Physical Disabilities SIS Chair
Audra Ray, OTR/L
Audra received her Bachelor’s of Health Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 2005. The areas she has worked in include hospital, outpatient, geropsych, acute care, and skilled nursing. She has been in management in both the pediatrics and geriatrics settings. She developed the wound care program at her current facility. She is working at a skilled nursing facility in Lillington, NC, and is a program lead therapist in wound care for Legacy Healthcare services
Technology SIS Chair
Celeste Helling
Celeste Helling is a Speech Language Pathologist with the North Carolina Assistive Technology Program (NCATP). Celeste received her Master of Arts degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of North Texas. Her credentials include the Assistive Technology Practitioner Certificate (RESNA), North Carolina licensure in speech-language pathology and the Certificate of Clinical Competence in speech language pathology (ASHA). She as served as Past president of the North Carolina Augmentative Communication Association (NCACA) in addition to NCACA Secretary and a member of the long range planning committee. She has presented at numerous state, regional and national workshops on topics spanning the disability spectrum. Celeste's background includes assistive technology service delivery for children and adults with developmental and acquired disabilities. In addition, she has been the Recipient of Honors from the NC Augmentative Communication Association in addition to the Award of Excellence: NC Assistive Technology Program.
