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McCarty Center is Incubator for Future Healthcare
Professionals
There
are incubators of all types. Some hatch eggs.
Some help premature babies continue to develop.
Some grow fledgling businesses. And some grow
people. The J. D. McCarty Center for children
with developmental disabilities in Norman is
the latter. They grow healthcare professionals.
The incubator at
the McCarty Center seems to be the direct care
specialist (DCS) position. Direct care specialists
work one-on-one with the inpatients at the hospital.
They are the eyes and ears of the hospital's
clinical staff. People filling this position
have a wide variety of backgrounds. Some come
with high school diplomas and college degrees.
Others are balancing a full time job and college
classes. All are trained for their specific
role as a DCS at the McCarty Center.
Laura Hurley, of
Carrollton, Texas, came to the University of
Oklahoma in Norman where she earned a bachelor-of-science
degree in biomedical science. She graduated
in December 2006, and began working as a DCS
in February 2007.
"I've always
wanted to be in the medical field," explained
Hurley. "I worked in a pharmacy for a while,
but I hated it. There was no real patient interaction.
I shadowed a physician assistant (PA) in the
Dallas area where I'm from. I started shadowing
in high school and continued through college.
I really liked it."
Upon graduation
from OU, Hurley applied to PA school, but was
turned down because she didn't have any healthcare
experience. She began working as a DCS at the
McCarty Center in February 2007, as a way to
get some experience.
In January of this
year, Hurley went through a two day interviewing
process for the PA school at the University
of Florida. The day after her last interview,
the University of Florida called to offer Hurley
a seat in the PA class starting this summer.
Hurley is one of 60 students who will begin
PA school on June 30. She was one of one thousand
applicants for this class.
"Working at
the McCarty Center really helped get me into
PA school," said Hurley. "I was told
by the interviewers that most of the people
applying to their PA program didn't have as
much experience or exposure to different diagnoses
as I had gotten at the McCarty Center."
For Hurley, the best
part of her experience at the McCarty Center
is working with the kids, seeing them smile
and watching the progress the kids make from
admission to discharge.
Kyle Cottrell, from
Blanchard, Oklahoma, worked as a DCS for three
and one-half years. He just recently resigned
from the McCarty Center so that he could do
his clinical rotations. Cottrell is an occupational
therapy assistant student at Oklahoma City Community
College (OCCC). He is now doing his pediatric
clinical rotation at the McCarty Center.
When Cottrell started
at the McCarty Center, he was working on an
associate degree in psychology at OCCC. "Before
coming to work here I had never heard of occupational
therapy (OT)," Cottrell said. "As
a DCS I would take patients to their OT appointments.
I started sitting in on the sessions and began
to learn about OT."
"The OT staff
here is awesome," said Cottrell. "The
OT's here treat the person, not just the diagnosis."
The biggest influence
on Cottrell's decision to change majors and
his life's direction was Maria Greenfield, the
McCarty Center's director of occupational therapy.
"Maria always made herself available to
me to answer questions and give direction,"
said Cottrell. "One day I was complaining
to Maria about how long it was going to take
me to earn my masters degree in psychology.
She suggested that I do something different.
She suggested I think about OT school. After
thinking about it for a while, I applied to
the certified occupational therapy assistant
(COTA) program at OCCC and was accepted."
According to Greenfield,
Cottrell's strong suit is his ability to interact
with the kids and engage them in a way that
meets their therapy needs.
"I think Kyle
will make a good OT," explained Greenfield,
"because he's creative. On a scale of one
to ten for creativity, an OT needs to be a ten
because you have to be a creative problem solver
and be able to adapt and fabricate new ways
of doing things for your patient."
Cottrell will graduate
in May. He wants to continue working with pediatrics.
If there were an opening, Cottrell would come
back to the McCarty Center in a heartbeat. He's
seen first hand what the therapy staff does
at the McCarty Center, he likes it and he would
like to be a part of it.
Jackson Laizure
has been a DCS for seven years and he likes
his job. "I realized that I was good at
this job and I liked working with the kids,"
Laizure said. "I wanted to go to the next
level for myself and my family, so I applied
to nursing school at OCCC and was accepted."
"I've always
been good with kids," Laizure said, "and
because of my experience here at the McCarty
Center I would like to continue to work in pediatrics
when I graduate. Before I started working here
I didn't even know the world of disabilities
existed. It just feels natural to work with
these kids."
The nursing staff
at the McCarty Center has been very supportive
of Laizure's decision to go to nursing school
and have advised him during his studies. One
of those advising nurses is Mary Elliott, RN.
Besides being a McCarty Center nurse, Elliott
is an adjunct instructor in the OCCC nursing
program.
The hardest part
about going to nursing school for Laizure is
time management. He works 40 hours at the McCarty
Center, puts in about 25 hours a week in school,
10 to 15 hours a week on photo assignments from
the University of Oklahoma Sports Information
Department and time with his wife Amy, a physical
therapist at the McCarty Center, and his baby
boy Huck. "Since starting to nursing school
my fishing time has taken a big hit," said
Laizure, "but it will be worth it in the
long run."
Laizure graduates
in December 2008 as a registered nurse (RN).
His next step will be to work on his Bachelor
of Science in Nursing from the University of
Oklahoma or University of Central Oklahoma.
Some other products
of the McCarty Center's incubator who have pursued
professional roles in healthcare include: Hillary
Spears, RN school at East Central State University
in Ada; Abbey Bonnel has become an licensed
practical nurse (LPN); Trevor Courouleau is
an audiologist; Sarah Early is a PA at Children's
Hospital in Oklahoma City; Deshia Garmon is
a licensed professional counselor working with
sexually abused children in Norman; Sisters
Darcey Cottrell and Lindsay Boyd are LPN's.
Boyd works at Norman Regional Hospital. Cottrell
works for Norman Pediatrics; Valerie Adair is
an RN at the McCarty Center; Caitlin Wakely
is in RN school at OCCC; and Shelley McGregor
is a certified occupational therapist assistant
working in Ardmore.
The J. D. McCarty
Center is Oklahoma's center of excellence in
the care and treatment of children with developmental
disabilities from birth to age 21. Founded in
1946, by a veterans group called the 40 et 8
of Oklahoma, the McCarty Center only treated
one diagnosis in its early days…cerebral
palsy. Today the McCarty Center has treated
more than 70 different diagnoses in the developmental
disability category. In an average year the
hospital treats children from 70 of Oklahoma's
77 counties. The McCarty Center is the only
hospital of its kind in Oklahoma.
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UKyle Cottrell (left)
a certified occupational therapy assistant
student from Oklahoma City Community College
performs a range of motion exercise on J.
D. McCarty Center patient Braiden Byrd from
Pauls Valley. Cottrell is one of several
former direct care specialists at the McCarty
Center who have gone on to pursue clinical
careers in healthcare. Cottrell is currently
doing his pediatric clinical rotation at
the McCarty Center. Cottrell will graduate
in May.
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