Policy Blog #1: Policy Proposal for the United Way of Allegany County, MD

Issue

A news article posted on February 4, 2017, expressed that the United Way of Allegany County, Maryland is currently seeking ideas for programs and collaborations focused on poverty solutions. The largest community needs based on the community assessment given were "affordable before and after school care, innovative education initiatives, budget management, housing solutions, health and wellness programs, and transportation solutions". Here is a link to the news article: http://www.times-news.com/news/local_news/united-way-seeking-solutions-for-poverty/article_899dc0ac-621d-5ad1-817c-c86d865bdd34.html

Service Delivery

In my opinion, this issue should be addressed through a health service delivery system. Health professionals are highly skilled in working in these areas of concern listed above. My particular interest and proposed plan would begin by having occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant students from nearby colleges provide service delivery. An occupational therapy assistant program exists at Allegany College of Maryland in Allegany County. This would be a great program to initiate this plan in the beginning phases. Occupational therapy professionals understand that poor health and poverty are related in part to restricted participation in a balance of meaningful occupations, or everyday activities. Occupational therapy students have the potential to target many of the issues determined through the community assessment. Occupational therapy students, ultimately, can work with individuals in any area that is impacting his/her ability to successfully participate in daily routines and activities. They are specifically trained in task analysis and adapting tasks and environments to help individuals become more successful.

In the long-term, if successful, this plan could expand to other local programs including psychology, education, social work, and nursing. Students in these disciplines would provide excellent and unique input to address the issues expressed by the United Way of Allegany County.

Policy

My proposal is as follows. The occupational therapy assistant program at Allegany College of Maryland will develop requirements for students to obtain at least 4 hours of community outreach per month through The United Way of Allegany County. Students can choose to volunteer through before or after school programs to develop knowledge about childhood development, encourage age-appropriate play and help the students develop appropriate coping strategies. Students could also choose to work with adults on goal setting, job interview skills, budgeting strategies, stress management, and education of community resources. Students could also volunteer to host free weekly sessions on health promotion topics such as healthy meal planning, preventative care, and exercise promotion. Another potential area for occupational therapy assistant students to volunteer in would be the development of innovative transportation solutions for those in poverty, such as a program that fixes used, donated bicycles.

Data

In order for these policies to come into action, data would need to be collected in the following areas:

·      Amount of students in occupational therapy assistant program at Allegany College of Maryland

·      Amount of students interested in each volunteer area

·      Amount of hours each student would like to volunteer per month

·      The hours that the students currently attend school

·      Logs would need to be kept that would demonstrate that students did participate in volunteering for this organization. The logs would need to be signed by an employee for United Ways of Allegany County.

·      Names and locations of schools that would need occupational therapy assistant students for before and after school care

·      Amount of students that would participate in all before and after school programs

·      Statistics of adults that students would be working with to improve relevancy of services provided (employed vs. unemployed, health status, areas of concern, etc.)

·      Facilities that would be willing to donate their space for students to volunteer (school lunch room, community center, YMCA, etc.); What hours and days would these facilities be able to donate this space?

·      Other non-profit organization in the area to collaborate with

Implications

This policy has the potential to impact many individuals’ lives for virtually no cost to the community or the United Way of Allegany County. Students from Allegany College of Maryland’s occupational therapy assistant program will gain valuable knowledge about emerging areas of occupational therapy and will be able to apply this knowledge to real-life experiences. Students will also have the option to choose which area they would like to volunteer in, making this initiative more enjoyable and applicable to the student and his/her interests. For occupational therapy as a profession, this policy has great potential to raise community awareness about the full scope of occupational therapy practice, as it is often overlooked and misunderstood. This initiative is a wonderful way to promote occupational therapy services and the potential that occupational therapy can have in many different areas that are currently underserved. In the long-term, this policy could also be applied to other programs at Allegany College of Maryland, increasing the benefits provided to both individuals in poverty in the community as well as current students in a variety of disciplines.

Marval, R., & Townsend, E. (n.d.). Homelessness: Enabling solutions in primary health-care occupational therapy. Retrieved from https://www.caot.ca/otnow/sept13/homelessness.pdf 

The Cumberland Times-News. (2017, February 04). United Way seeking solutions for poverty. Retrieved February 04, 2017, from http://www.times-news.com/news/local_news/united-way-seeking-solutions-for-poverty/article_899dc0ac-621d-5ad1-817c-c86d865bdd34.html