I have been interested in hand therapy since college when I was studying violin performance. I sustained several upper extremity injuries including a shoulder injury from repetitive overuse from the violin, and an extensor tendon injury to a finger from an accident with my dog. I was helped by a Certified Hand Therapist and became inspired to attend occupational therapy school, with a goal of becoming a CHT. I started working in outpatient hand therapy shortly after graduating.
As I started to prepare for the CHT exam, I was immensely grateful to receive the Mary Kasch Hand Therapy Scholarship. I applied for the scholarship because of the generous continuing education opportunities the scholarship offered that would help me better serve my patients and prepare for the CHT exam. The scholarship also enabled me to attend the ASHT Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO in September 2024. The conference was an incredible experience during which I learned from many highly experienced therapists and surgeons, gained new treatment ideas, and strategies for studying for the CHT exam.
Pursuing the CHT has been an important goal of mine in order to obtain the knowledge to provide the best possible services to my patients. I have been inspired by many other CHTs because of their depth of knowledge, commitment to research and ability to thoroughly evaluate and treat patients with complex diagnoses and significant pain levels. In music school, I discovered how common upper extremity injuries are in musicians from repetitive overuse and maladaptive postural habits. As a violinist who still performs and teaches actively, gaining knowledge about the complex anatomy and conditions of the upper extremity has enabled me to help other musicians to prevent and treat injuries.
When I applied for the scholarship, I learned about Mary Kasch’s strong leadership as a founding member and president of ASHT and president/executive director of HTCC, and was very inspired by her vision and advocacy. Mary Kasch contributed so much to the field of hand therapy and her passion fueled much respect for the hand therapy specialty. I hope to continue the legacy Mary Kasch left by being a dedicated therapist and a mentor to fieldwork students and other therapists. I hope to help other therapists preparing for the CHT exam and to continue to enable our field to grow. I encourage any therapist preparing for the CHT exam to apply for the Mary Kasch scholarship. I am very thankful for Mary Kasch’s generosity in developing the scholarship and helping me achieve my dream of becoming a CHT. I would also like to thank HTCC, ASHT and AHTF for all of their help and support.