2009-10 NCOTA Leadership
The NCOTA is made up of practicing Occupational Therapists from across North Carolina. Each brings unique professional perspectives to the work of the association and in their efforts to advance the profession.
President
Lynn Losada
Lynn Losada graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in Occupational Therapy in 1990 and has worked in acute care, outpatient and geropsychology in the past. For the last 13 years, she has worked in geriatrics for Peoplefirst Rehab where she is currently the Sr. Area Rehabilitation Director and has oversight of the Area Rehabilitation Directors for NC, Va and Delaware. She finds the rewards of working with the geriatric population to far outweigh any shortcomings. She considers this group of people to be always enlightening and able to bring out the best in problem solving and interdisciplinary teamwork. Lynn has been a member of NCOTA since she was an OT student and has been on the Executive Board for a number of years. She enjoys being able to serve profession and values the relationships for having opened her eyes to the many forms OT takes in the real world, and the different struggles that exist for professionals in the field.
Treasurer
Greg Stivland
Greg works at Developmental Therapy Associates in Durham, NC since grauating from East Carolina University in 1993. Shortly after becoming the Business Manager at DTA, Mr. Stivland I completed a dual degree program through Pfeiffer University, obtaining a Masters in Business Administration and a Masters in Health Administration. Having a knowledge of both Occupational Therapy and business/health administration has been invaluable to his career and he remains excited to have the opportunity to bring this experience and knowledge to NCOTA.
Secretary
Amber Ward
Amber is currently the Occupational Therapy Coordinator at the Carolinas Neuromuscular ALS-MDA Center in the Department of Neurology at Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC. She serves NCOTA as the Technology SIS chair, and webmaster. She has been practicing as an occupational therapist for over 14 years in North Carolina with her primary practice background in the areas of inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient neuromuscular disorders. She has a certification as an Assistive Technology Practitioner, and is a wheelchair evaluator at her clinic. Amber loves being known as MacGyver at the clinic, and frequently pulls useful items from the trash to recreate into functional tools.
AOTA Representative
Cynthia Bell
Cindy is currently an Assistant Professor and Academic Fieldwork Coordinator of Occupational Therapy at Winston-Salem State University. She serves NCOTA as the NC Representative for the AOTA Representative Assembly. Previously she served as the Alternate Representative. She has been practicing as an occupational therapist for over 15 years in North Carolina with her primary practice background in the areas of rehabilitation and geriatric practice. Her research interests include elderly with low vision and collaborative fieldwork models. She is spearheading a collaborative therapeutic tricycle program (AMBUCS AmTryke®) between occupational therapy-physical therapy on the university campus. Cindy was the 2007 recipient of the NCOTA Suzanne C. Scullin award.
OTA Liaison
Darcy Nagle
Darcy is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant at the Murdoch Developmental Center in Butner, NC. She received her Bachelor's degree in Fine & Applied Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1981. Her OTA degree was received from Durham Technical Community College in 1995. Darcy has been NCOTA's OTA Liaison since September 2005 and is a member of AOTA.
NCBOT Liaison
Heide Dorfman
Heide is currently the Co-owner and Financial Manager for Total Rehabilitation, Inc. She currently serves NCOTA as the NCBOT Liaison. She has previously served NCOTA as the Administration and Management Special Interest Session Chairperson. She has been a practicing Occupational Therapist in North Carolina for over 18 years. Her specialty areas included administration/management including third party billing, home health, and geriatrics.
Member Services
Jenifer Anderson
Jennifer received her M.S and B.S degrees in Occupational Therapy form BarryUniversity in Miami Shores, FL and an A.A.S degree in Occupational Therapy Assistant from BriarwoodCollege in CT. She is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI). Jeni currently resides in Charlotte with her husband and daughter, where she is employed at a private pediatric clinic. She has served as Adjunct Faculty at the Cabarrus college of Health Sciences in the OTA program.
Continuing Education Chair
PENDING ELECTION
Special Interest Section Leaders
Administration and Management SIS Chair
Tracie Rogers
Tracie Rogers is currently an Occupational Therapist at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, a large medical center located in Greenville, NC. She has been employed for 20 years with the hospital, the last 8 years as manager of inpatient occupational therapy services serving the acute care, rehabilitation and behavioral health populations. Prior to being a manager, she worked as an occupational therapist in outpatient, acute care and rehab settings. Tracie has been involved in such initiatives as 3-hour rule compliance, DHSR reviews and compliance, recruitment and retention initiatives, 7-day service provision, CARF and JCAHO survey preparations in addition to managing a large department and associated budgets.
Gerontology SIS Chair
Allison Darwin, MS, OTR/L
Allison received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wake Forest University in 2001 and both a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy and an Interdisciplinary Certificate in Aging from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003. She has been working for Sundance Rehabilitation Corporation at Carolina Meadows Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, NC, for almost 5-years as a Clinical Occupational Therapist. Allison has been a member of an Interdisciplinary Task Force at this retirement community to help design the visioning and philosophy of care, programming, structure, and an outdoor courtyard environment for a specialized wing within the assisted living building. The facility was constructed to serve individuals who have dementia. In addition to her involvement with dementia care management, Allison has been instrumental in the development and implementation of an older driver screening program within the retirement community. Allison is the NC Rehab Agency Administrator for Sundance Rehabilitation, as well as a Senior Clinical Specialist. In addition to being the Gerontology Special Interest Section chair for the North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association, Allison is also an advisory committee member for the Education and Research portion of the Gerontology Special Interest Section of the American Occupational Therapy Association. She has presented at numerous local, state and national conferences about older driver wellness and community mobility and about fostering occupation-centered environments and programming for individuals who have dementia. She is a trained event coordinator for the CarFit program and has developed a model for how state associations can partner with other organizations to provide this valuable program to older adults throughout a state’s various geographical regions. Allison has published articles in the journal Educational Gerontology as well as OT Practice and numerous organizational newsletters. In 2005, she received the NOVA award from the North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association, recognizing her for outstanding contributions to the occupational therapy profession within the first 5 years of practice.
Home Health SIS Chair
Pending Appointment
Mental Health SIS Co-Chair
Pending Appointment
Technology SIS Chair
Amber Ward
Amber is currently the Occupational Therapy Coordinator at the Carolinas Neuromuscular ALS-MDA Center in the Department of Neurology at Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC. She serves NCOTA as the Technology SIS chair, and webmaster. She has been practicing as an occupational therapist for over 14 years in North Carolina with her primary practice background in the areas of inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient neuromuscular disorders. She has a certification as an Assistive Technology Practitioner, and is a wheelchair evaluator at her clinic. Amber loves being known as MacGyver at the clinic, and frequently pulls useful items from the trash to recreate into functional tools.
