Dear hand therapy community,
It is with deep sadness that the news came this week of Jan Albrecht’s passing on March 28, 2016. Jan passed away peacefully following a sudden brain bleed on March 22, 2016. As the family noted, “It was a long ‘Minnesota Goodbye.’” Jan, 81, was dearly beloved by her family, her peers, patients and acquaintances who learned from her regarding caring of the painful thumb. Jan graduated from the University of Minnesota’s occupational therapy program in the 1957.
Jan married the love of her life, husband and partner of 53 years, Ken, and raised their dear family, whom she loved with all her heart, consisting of two daughters, Elizabeth Schiferl (Rich) and Kirsten Riehle; six grandchildren, Jenica Domanico (Anthony), Alicia, Luisa, Sam, Simon and Annie; and especially her two great grandchildren Beckett and Briar. They lived in North Mankato, MN, operated a truck farm for many years and enjoyed their large vegetable garden every year. Jan was already working in their greenhouse this early spring. She loved to grow things, see the new life every year, and thereby share good food, good times and good health. She was quite the artist in many ways. She enjoyed photography, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, book illustration and cooking. With these gifts, she was very generous with friends, family and even strangers. Every person always went away feeling her deep care and they were better for it.
This carried over into her OT practice, sharing healthy practices with all her clients, and good food with her co-workers. She was so creative in making what was necessary for pen holding, adaptive equipment, orthoses or just in how she developed her plan of care for each person.
Jan was the epitome of an occupational therapist in her professional career. She loved to care for and treat the whole person. She led a brain injury support group in her home town before she became focused on her hand therapy career. She has worked at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Immanuel St. Joseph’s in Mankato, as well as the Sister Kenny/Abbott-Northwestern and Fairview Hospital systems in the Twin Cities. Jan attended the Mayo Clinic to learn about the new specialty of hand therapy. Many trained alongside Jan in those early years. She passed the first Certification for Hand Therapy Examination in 1991. She called herself the “world’s oldest hand therapist” as she achieved this at age 56, at a time when few woman of her generation were pursuing a new career. She patented her favorite thumb CMC splint, now referred to as an “orthosis.” She always said this with a twinkle and a grin! Jan learned how to care for her own “therapist’s thumb,” and thereby was passionate about sharing the need for each person to take care of their own thumb. This passion took form as she wrote and illustrated the first edition of Caring for the Painful Thumb in 2004 as a book to be seen from the person’s own perspective, replete with quality pictures she took with her own camera, usually with her own hands around the camera to gain the patient’s perspective, and then published it with the right half for right thumbs and left half for those with left thumb pain. This book is now in its third edition, with minor changes to include the new terminology of an orthosis, to support the new CMC research that supported her theories of thumb care and to add the new research references.
Jan was able to travel to many OT and hand therapy conferences nationally to stay up with the world of hand therapy and to carry the word on dynamic stability of the painful thumb until 2013, when she attended her last one in Chicago. She was excited to add “internationally” to her travel log when she travelled to Canada that same year. She so enjoyed when she could travel by train to these conferences with her dear husband, Ken. He loved to accompany her to support her work, meet her friends, carry her books, browse the Exhibit Hall or run off to an organ concert in a nearby church when that was possible.
Many have sent their words of sympathy, yet also their gratefulness for what they have learned from Jan regarding hand therapy in general, but especially about the care of the thumb. Many have said that her book is at their desk, and they use it daily to help their patients care for their own thumbs. Jan’s favorite adage was, “There are no two thumbs alike” when evaluating or in fabricating an orthosis or in how you plan your care. This has personally taught me so much, not only for thumb care, but for every person in my care.
I am gathering the thoughts, sweet words from those who have been touched by Jan Albrecht, and will share these with her family. If you wish to send them to me, please email vobrienotd@gmail.com.
It is the family’s desire to continue to provide Jan’s innovative book, Caring for the Painful Thumb. A fund is being set up by the family where proceeds of the sale of the book, and any memorials for Jan are being set aside to create a scholarship for aspiring hand therapists.
View Jan Albrecht's obituary
Submitted with a sad, but grateful heart,
Virginia O’Brien