The American Occupational Therapy Association has presented the national OTA Award of Excellence to Dr. Amy Shaffer, who leads the Occupational Therapy Assistant program at Chattahoochee Technical College.
Established in 1976, the OTA Award of Excellence is the association’s highest honor bestowed upon an occupational therapy assistant. This award recognizes an OTA who has demonstrated extensive leadership through sustained contributions to the profession. AOTA President Alyson Stover presented the OTA Award of Excellence to Dr. Shaffer during the organization’s national awards ceremony held recently in Orlando. Dr. Shaffer also was selected for inclusion in the AOTA Roster of Honors.
Dr. Shaffer has worked at Chattahoochee Tech since 2012, where she prepares students for careers in the local workforce as occupational therapy assistants. She is also enthusiastic about service learning, which allows students to apply new skills, make community connections, and advocate for others. For the past few years, Dr. Shaffer has been advocating for a change that will improve children’s access to physical and occupational therapy services, and broaden OTA employment opportunities across the state.
“I feel it is the highest honor to be recognized and selected by my professional peers for this work,” said Dr. Shaffer. “I hope that winning these awards will show our community that occupational therapy assistants and OTA students are important and valuable to our OT profession.”
“The students in the OTA Program at Chatt Tech fuel my ‘why.’ I desire for these OTA students to have the future they envision for themselves,” said Dr. Shaffer, “and for many, that includes working as occupational therapy assistants with children.”
Occupational therapy assistants work under the direction of occupational therapists to help patients develop, recover, and improve the skills needed for daily living and working. The American Occupational Therapy Association is the national professional association established in 1917 to represent the interests and concerns of occupational therapy practitioners and students, and to improve the quality of occupational therapy services.
