Former factory worker finds success through Penn State DuBois OTA program

DUBOIS—“When I look back on it, the closing of the factory was the best thing that could have happened to me. It really turned out to be a blessing in disguise,” said Aaron Wonderly of Ridgway.

Wonderly was one of many laborers out of a job when CDR Pigment, a color pigment factory in Ridgway, closed in January 1997, but unlike some of his peers who simply moved on to other factories, Wonderly chose to return to school.

Today, he’s completing an internship as an occupational therapy assistant at the Jefferson Hospital in Pittsburgh and will graduate this May with an associate degree in Occupational Therapy from Penn State DuBois. As he reflects on how his life has changed over the past three years, Wonderly admits its been tough balancing full-time classes with a part-time job to pay the bills, but he says the future has never looked brighter, thanks to the education he’s received at Penn State DuBois and the support of his family and friends.

As a teen-ager, Wonderly didn’t intend to go to college. He planned to enlist in the military after graduating from high school, but his dream died when he lost a finger in a factory accident. Losing his job when the factory closed was another crushing blow, but this time he was determined to take charge of the situation.

“When the factory closed, I knew it was time to take some control of my life,” he said. “I started to think about going to college because I knew it would give me the advantage I needed to start a career.”

Wonderly enrolled at Penn State DuBois in the fall of 1997 at the age of 28. He chose the 2-year Occupational Therapy Assistant program because he wanted a challenging, life-long career that would allow him to work with people. “Occupational Therapy is an up-and-coming field and you can work in lots of different settings with your degree. But for me, the best thing about being an occupational therapy assistant is helping people better their lives,” said Wonderly.

An occupational therapy assistant (OTA) is a master of adaptation. The OTA’s role is to help people who suffer physical disabilities or emotional problems develop the skills they need to adapt to daily living.

OTA’s can be found in traditional settings, such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing facilities, psychiatric hospitals, and schools, or in non-traditional ones, including adult day care centers, assisted living communities, drug and alcohol treatment facilities, special needs camps for children, or with health and wellness programs, to name a few.

OTA graduates also pursue careers as activity directors, childcare workers, recreation aides, therapeutic activity workers, and vocational trainers.

Penn State DuBois is one of only five Penn State campuses that offer the OTA program, and is the only campus that trains its students in a full-size house dedicated specifically to the program. The house includes a ramp, living area, bathroom, and kitchen, all fitted with adaptive equipment so students can practice the skills they need in the field.  

Fieldwork is an important component of the curriculum and helps students prepare for the rigors of working with patients who may have many needs. “Fieldwork is done at local facilities, starting in the very first semester,” said LuAnn Brown, OTA program coordinator at the campus. “Our students are really excited by their fieldwork. It helps them get a good idea, from the very start, what it’s like to work with real patients and what their careers will entail.”

Through fieldwork, students acquire the hands-on skills they need to successfully complete the program’s internship requirements and pass the state certification board examination. For the past two years, Penn State DuBois graduates have scored above the national average on this test.

Brown attributes the program’s success to its emphasis on fieldwork, and the diverse expertise of its faculty. “We’re fortunate to have faculty who are experts in three different fields: physical, psychosocial, and pediatric disabilities,” she said. “As a result, our students are trained to work with patients in a variety of settings, and we’ve received very positive feedback from fieldwork supervisors about the high skill level of our students.”  

As an intern at Jefferson Hospital, an acute care facility, Wonderly is training stroke patients to regain the movement and control they need to accomplish daily tasks, such as getting dressed, bathing, and eating. Recently, he completed an eight-week internship in the Orthopedic Unit at Harmarville Rehabilitation Center, near Pittsburgh, where he assisted amputees and patients who had undergone hip and knee replacements and who suffered hip fractures or brain injuries.

Wonderly said his transformation from laborer to Occupational Therapy Assistant has been rewarding, both personally and professionally. As a student, he was elected president of the campus Occupational Therapy Club and senator to the Student Government Association. He was also an orientation leader and member of the Legislative Advocacy Committee, and was inducted into Delta Mu Sigma, the campus honor society. This spring, he was singled out to receive the OTA program’s Profession in Practice Award.

“These opportunities were all made available to me because I chose to come to the DuBois campus,” he said. “They were a great way for me to gain the leadership experience I knew I would need in my career.”

But even with all that he has accomplished in the past few years, Wonderly knows the best is yet to come.  “The real reward for all my hard work comes when I see the progress my patients make and I have the satisfaction and pride of knowing it’s because I’ve learned how to help them