Blog

Did you know that April is Occupational Therapy Month? Occupational therapy is also celebrating its centennial year as well! For these two great reasons, our Lovelace Rehabilitation Hospital outpatient staff would like to share why they became occupational therapists and what they love most about their job! Let’s meet each of them:

Maria Atencio, RN, is working against the clock. When she joined Lovelace in 1999 in the emergency department at the Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center, she understood the urgency to assess and prepare heart attack patients for intervention as quickly as possible. Every minute mattered. As emergency department charge nurse, Maria coordinated the care for a larger number of heart patients, always mindful and aware of time. In the heart catheterization lab, she worked side-by-side with physicians witnessing the moments lives were saved. It was always a race against time.

Every parent has been there at 3 a.m.: your baby is crying and you have tried everything. Just know that you are not a bad parent! Today, we want to talk about ways to soothe your, fussy little tyke.

First, let’s go through the checklist to cover the bases:

- Is your baby hungry, wet or sleepy?

- Is your baby too hot or too cold?

Overtime, the highlights, influential people, unforgettable moments and pivotal turning points over a 50-year career blend together like a mosaic. Step back and you see a single image.

“I think everything has stayed the same, even though there have been many changes,” shares Jo Temer, who retired from Lovelace Medical Center in 2016 as a project coordinator with the education department.

“That’s what I enjoyed the most – the constant change,” adds Gale Hall, who retired from Lovelace Health System as the manager of accounts payable.