HANNAH THERESE V. MENDOZA

Educational Background:

Tertiary Education

Velez College - B.S. Occupational Therapy

F. Ramos St. Cebu City, Cebu

August 2019 - Present

Secondary Education

University of Cebu

S.Y 2016 - 2018

Colegio de la Inmaculada-Concepción-Cebu

S.Y 2012 - 2016

Primary Education

YLAC School

Sta. Cruz, Balamban, Cebu

S.Y 2006 - 2012

Achievements:

• Merit Card Holder - Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción Cebu (Junior High School)

• Salutatorian Graduate - YLAC School

• President Student Council - YLAC School

My experience as an OT student in Velez College:

Being an OT student in Velez College was a challenging prospect because it is a very different environment from high school. It provides different challenges and benefits. As a student, most of the time you feel like everything is all over the place, trying to find a good pace for studying and catching up with exams every two weeks or so. But, you can’t and shouldn’t spend every second hitting the books. Making a point to reserve time for things you enjoy remains important long after school works. I realize how essential it is to maintain a work-life balance to avoid burnout down the road. Moreso, despite the many challenging obstacles I have encountered, I have found my passion and the self-fulfillment hits different when you love what you do. I believe service is rooted from passion and dedication which I suppose to have found as a student in Velez College and helped me shape the person who I am today and the occupational therapists I will become someday.

During our community based-rehab program, I am one with the livelihood component wherein our goal is to facilitate access for the stakeholders and their families to livelihood opportunities and be able to earn income. In the course of planning and designing the program, I worked with my group mates in gathering data to make our problem tree and objective tree in order for us to identify information that is significant and reliable for our program. And by going through with our survey results, we were able to know what our main target was and goal to focus in order to address the needs of our stakeholders. The experience was very overwhelming with the many paperworks to be finished and submitted yet it was also very humbling personally as it allows me to know people and see living situations in different walks of life. Furthermore, in time of implementing the program, my role was one with the financial committee wherein our committee were the ones responsible to manage finances and also look for the materials needed to be used during the program implementation. As I looked for sellers online and negotiated with them, I have found people who were very kind and empathizing wherein they gave me discounts and additional tote bags the moment I told them the purpose of the purchase. It was really a heartwarming and humbling experience for me knowing that there are still a lot of people who have the heart to help and serve in whatever means possible. Indeed, the world is not really that harsh if we continue to be good and kind. A small deed would really go a long way and could touch the lives of many people. Ultimately, this experience was very life-changing and inspiring as we were able to leave something beneficial and significant to use for our stakeholders and their families in the future. As a person, I was also able to learn how to be resourceful, to use what I have and make it grow.

This course has enlightened my mind on what really is the purpose of community rehabilitation and provided me knowledge on the process to have a successful CBR program. To be honest, way back I didn’t really think that occupational therapists also did play a role in such. I thought they were just volunteers or other medical professionals or mostly physicians. Knowing that as OTs we can also be part of it, I was kind of glad and amazed that we can help them improve their living experiences though giving programs that access their needs since I really empathize people with disabilities, especially those who can’t afford services in the clinic. I have also discerned the roles of occupational therapists in empowering communities through CBR programs such as allowing and assisting people especially for those with disabilities in equal access to health , education, livelihood and social sectors. By letting them participate and be part of social activities, it can help them reduce inclination to staying in poverty. Furthermore, this course gave me the chance to experience our really own community-based rehabilitation program wherein even though some of us just work virtually, we were able to accomplish our goal and managed a fruitful and successful program. I believe we have a lot of learnings, experiences and take aways with us that we can use for more CBR programs in the future someday. Indeed, it was a life-changing, inspiring, and one for the books experience.