Rhode Island Occupational Therapy Association

Kim Gilbert, ​President

I am looking forward to the next 2 years as RIOTA VP. I have been
an occupational therapist since 1977 when I graduated from Sargent College at Boston University. My work experience has ranged from the acute hospital setting to community health. It has been an adventure that included the formation of 2 healthcare/therapy related
companies including TherapyWorks, Inc. which remains in operation in the school setting.
I am a former RIOTA president and volunteered on a team developing questions for the NBCOT examination. I have been a past
member and chair for the RI Department of Health Occupational Therapy Board.
Throughout all of these experiences I have been moved and
impressed by the important contributions made by occupational
therapists and have been consistently aware of the unique role we play on every staff/group/team we join.
Occupational therapy has gained recognition and influence over the
past 40 years. We are living in a time of opportunity to promote this
important profession and insure that the services we provide, across
all settings, remains accessible to those who will continue to benefit.​

Sheila R. Sweeney,
Education Coordinator

I have been the Rhode Island Occupational Therapy Association(RIOTA) Education Coordinator for a few years now.  I started out working on the Physical Disability Special Interest Group then moved into the Education Coordinator position. I have been an occupational therapist since 2004. I received my MOT from Worcester State University. My work experience started out in the acute rehabilitation at Southern New England Rehabilitation. I still do some per diem work in this setting. In 2006, I started working for South County Home Health. I worked half of my hours at South County Hospital and the other half in the homecare setting. This past May, I changed all my hours to homecare.
     I became an occupational therapist later in my life but I think I made the right choice. We are so fortunate to have an opportunity to help people regain their independence or help caregivers help family members have a better quality of life but I also enjoy volunteering for RIOTA and networking with members
     My goal of this position is to try to help the Special Interest Groups offer in-services that are informative and educational to RIOTA members. Over the past few years we at RIOTA have tried a few different things some successful and some not. I am excited that we are using 123 signup again to help with sending notices about in-services and also helps with registration and getting members their certificates.
     If anyone needs to reach out to me, feel free by emailing me at
​

Ashley Meizoso, Secretary

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Joanne Jones, Treasurer

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