Jo swaps events planning for helping patients to get their independence back

After spending most of her career in events and marketing, Jo Hill decided to seek out a career in the NHS instead, and at the age of 35, she began her training as an occupational therapist.

Jo said: “I loved planning events and the work I was doing in marketing but after a while I found myself becoming disenchanted with it.

“My sister is a nurse, and I kept thinking about how much of an impact she was having on people’s lives, and I realised that I wanted that for myself. I researched the roles of allied health professions and was drawn to occupational therapy.

“I spent some time shadowing occupational therapists to get a feel for it and I instantly knew it was right for me. I was nervous about changing careers though and so overall it took me about two years to finally quit my job and start something new but it was the best decision I ever made”.

Now 42 years old, Jo works on medical wards at the William Harvey Hospital in the therapies team, helping patients to get back on their feet, get themselves dressed and a wide range of other activities that help patients to regain independence.

She said: “Independence is really important to all of us. Being able to get ourselves dressed in the morning, make ourselves a cup of tea and get washed is something a lot of us take for granted. Early on in a patient’s admission, they are often too unwell to do this for themselves and it has a negative impact on their mental health.

“We help patients begin to regain their independence as soon as they are well enough to try some exercises to help with their motivation, speed up their recovery and get them home faster.

 “Ultimately what we want is for the patients to not need to come back to hospital, and so we have to consider what life was like before their admission so we can help them get back to doing what they love to do.

“I remember one elderly couple who came in, initially just one was a patient but not long after the other suffered from a fall and was admitted. All they cared about was being together, they didn’t have any family or support waiting for them at home and so we made sure they were next to each other on the ward, and then worked with our partners at Kent Community Health to make sure they could be cared for together following their stay in hospital.

“It felt really good to be able to listen to what they wanted and help make those wishes happen. That’s what is most rewarding about working as an occupational therapist, sitting down with the patients to listen to them about who they are, understanding what life is really like for them and then coming up with ways to help them as individuals.

“I’m so much happier now that I’ve found the right career for me. There are always opportunities to develop skills, and each patient has a new story to tell so I don’t think I’ll get bored of it anytime soon.”