What is Healthy Hands Week?
Healthy Hands Week is an integrated national program sponsored by ASHT. For one week ASHT members sponsor and organize events in their communities, promoting the benefits of the profession and the services they provide.
Healthy Hands Week brings the benefits of the hand therapy profession to new audiences – demonstrating the advantages of preventative, and treatment procedures, for patients who have been affected by an accident or trauma.
Here you will find information:
- tips for holding an open house
- writing news releases that will grab editors' attention
- embarking on a public relations effort with local audiences and media
- tying the awareness week into upcoming local events
- becoming a spokesperson/local expert in hand therapy
- and so much more.
2012 Photo Contest
Calling all shutterbugs: We want to see your best hand imagery photographs!
Enter ASHT’s 2012 Photo Contest for the chance to win valuable prizes (and bragging rights). Just send your photo to ASHT@asht.org by May 30, 2012. Please include your name and a brief description of the image.
Voting will take place on ASHT’s Facebook page during Healthy Hands Week. Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place.
NOTE: This contest is open to ASHT members only. Contest submissions become property of ASHT, and may be used in future marketing materials.
2011 Campaign Patient Testimonials
In 2011 we spotlighted individuals who rely upon the use and health of their hands for their livelihood or hobbies: professional or amateur musicians, restaurant or recreational chefs, professional athletes, fitness buffs with a competitive streak and others.
We connected with patients who shared their stories. Please encourage your patients to share their story with us. We will continue to collect stories throughout the year.
We encourage you to ask your patients to complete a simple, four question survey so we can gather data to share meaningful insights into patient experiences and attitudes toward hand therapy.
Resources
Patient Testimonials
Purls for Pleasure
Jane McAtee has the warm fuzzies. While she makes her living as a lawyer for the University of Chicago Medical Center, Jane moonlights as an accomplished knitter– and oozes enthusiasm for her hobby. Jane credits her aunt and mother for introducing her, as a 13-year-old, to the pastime that has since outfitted her with the skills to give back. As a service knitter, she has donated chemotherapy hats, mastectomy prosthetics, "healing" shawls for cancer patients and blankets for teen mothers.
Trouble Below the Skin
Jane noticed a bump on her right thumb that had increased in size and become more painful after tearing carpet out of her home one day. An x-ray revealed a ganglion cyst and Jane was advised to see a hand therapist. Jane was especially concerned that as she aged, the pain would worsen.
Pin and Needles
In February, Jane had surgery on her hand, with a pin inserted in her thumb and her hand placed in a custom orthosis. Immediately following the operation, Jane was unable to do even the simplest tasks including putting on earrings, operating an iPod or buckling her seatbelt. Knitting was clearly out of the question!
"My life as I knew it was over," explained Jane when describing how she felt without knitting in her life.
However, Jane soon began working with American Society of Hand Therapists (ASHT) member Sean Clancy, OTR, CHT and after sharing her love of knitting with him, Clancy asked Jane to bring her knitting needles and yarn to a session and he watched her knit. Using his experience as an accomplished hand therapist and knowledge gained through membership in ASHT, he observed her knitting technique and created a modified cast so she could knit while in recovery.
Needling Therapy
During her hand therapy sessions, Clancy advised Jane on various techniques to help the wound heal through movement.
Jane's love of knitting actually helped her heal and regain her full range of motion following surgery by softening the scar and helped teach Jane what she needed to do to regain feeling in her thumb.
Today
Due to time spent with her hand therapist, Jane is now fully functional and has "graduated" from therapy. Clancy is providing McAtee with tips, techniques and handouts to distribute at an upcoming Arts Camp to help other knitters and give them preventative techniques to help their hands.
"Knitting is so important to me, the first thought I had immediately following my injury was 'My life is over,'" Jane mused. "If I'd have known in advance what an immense help and comfort Sean would turn out to be, I certainly would not have stressed so much!"
Jane McAteee
The Day My Life Changed Forever
Rocky Renfro
An Impassioned Artist
A carefully-drawn line can easily convey a myriad of emotions. As a cartoonist and book designer, Andrew Arnold is well aware of the power to speak through art. Following his foray into drawing at the age of eight, Andrew's life and livelihood have revolved around his illustrations.
Recreation Gone Wrong
On a trip visiting a friend in Houston, Andrew unintentionally backed into a ditch October 2010 flipping the vehicle while riding with a friend. Andrew's right hand was crushed by the roof. The diagnosis: A compound fracture, exacerbated by infected tissue in his hand from the surrounding murky waters. Andrew's surgical treatment included external fixators to stabilize his bones as he waited for them to heal. The fixators along with the extensive soft tissue damage resulted in a nonfunctional and painful dominant hand. Andrew's life as he knew it changed.
Therapy Times Two
Following the injury, Andrew had to remain in Texas where he incurred the injury and forego his return home trip to New York for six months. Andrew began hand therapy in Houston as soon as his infection was under control. Sadly, during that time, he lost much of the function of his hand.
His hand therapy was intense—five days each week, working with American Society of Hand Therapist (ASHT) members Dorit Aaron, MA, OTR, CHT, FAOTA and Barbara Winthrop Rose MA, OTR, CVE, CHT, FAOTA, who he affectionately referred to as "partners in crime." His initial treatments included therapeutic activities and splinting to assist in regaining pain free motion in joints he had been unable to move for nearly two months.
Andrew slowly progressed in his activities to reaching with his heavy fixator on to help him stretch his shoulder and elbow. Dorit and Barbara tested his abilities by working with various tools, including children's toys to refamiliarize his hand with the coordination required to tie shoes, work zippers, turn keys and countless other skills he had previously taken for granted.
Sundry Splints
Dorit and Barbara also fitted Andrew with an array of splints, each intended for a different purpose: splints to wear while sleeping and splints to help him accomplish his daily routine with as little pain as possible.
On the Road to Rehab
Andrew now celebrates his successes, however seemingly small they may be. He values the ability to hold a pencil and sign his name, skills that eluded him 14 weeks after the accident.
He is moving back to New York City, back to work and he will continue hand therapy there with another ASHT member, Aviva Wolf, that has been working in concert with Barb and Dorit as Andrew returns back to his normal life.
"Without hand therapy, where would I be now? There's truly no telling how I would have recovered from this injury apart from the Dorit and Barbara's skilled ministrations," Andrew reflected. "We have our eyes on the goal: Reaching the point when I will be able to go back to my work illustrating and drawing cartoons. And my amazing therapy team will be with me until we get there together."
Andrew Arnold
Cartoonist
My Rehab Journey With My Hand Therapist
Debbie Honore
Hand Therapists Celebrate Healthy Hands Week!
Courtney Nycz, OTS from The Richard Stockton College of NJ is currently doing her fieldwork at Kessler Rehab in Howell. She helped to feature a "Tip of the Day" for Healthy Hands Week.
Each day, I would change the tip to allow for the patients (PT and OT) to engage in a new and informative reading. The tips varied from paying attention in the kitchen to proper ergonomics for gardening, video game controllers, and handheld electronics. Here are the complete tips, which I obtained from the ASHT website in the healthy hands promotion section:
Pay Attention In The Kitchen: It is hard to focus on the task at hand when family and friends are vying for your attention. When chopping, removing hot items from the oven or carrying a heavy object, it is important to take your time and watch what you are doing. These are the prime opportunities to have an accident, which could result in a cut, burn, or injured finger, hand or arm.
Take a break every few minutes or switch to another activity (handheld electronics): overuse of repetitive motions, such as pressing buttons can cause tendonitis of the elbow or lead to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (tendon or nerve irritation).
Use well designed tools (Gardening): Use tools with non-slip rubber or padded handles to protect the smaller joints in your hands. Make a circle with your index finger and thumb: that is how big the grip of your tool should be. The shape of the handle should provide equal pressure along the palm.
Tell your child to use a neutral grip when holding the controller (Video Game Craze): Try to keep the wrist in neutral (ie bent) position, and make sure you're not hunching forward towards the screen. Keep good posture. Holding the game pad near your chest may be a natural reaction when the game play gets going, but keeping it closer to your lap means less work against gravity and less stress to the muscles.
Andrea L. Garcia, MSW, OT
Center Manager, Howell
Occupational Therapy Student Coordinator, South Region
Kessler Rehabilitation Center, Howell
I celebrated Healthy Hands Week by providing free UE/Hand screenings to the office staff and any patient that wished to schedule a screening on Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Over 20 people attended where they were provided with information regarding joint protection, ergonomic computer seating and work space design, hand grip strength evaluations, provision of UE/hand exercises for various UE/hand conditions. A brochure was placed in the entrance elevator as well as receptionist desk announcing the event.
The event took place at Southern Orthopaedic Specialists located in New Orleans, LA. Southern Orthopaedic Specialists provides services in General Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine, Total Joint Replacements and Revisions, Upper Extremity, Shoulder, Hand, Foot and Ankle, Back and Spine Care/Surgery.
Our facility has 9 Orthopaedic surgeons, 5 Physical Therapists, 1 Physical Therapy Assistant, 1 Certified Athletic Trainer, 1 Occupational/ Certified Hand Therapist.
Jean P. Thomas LOTR/CHT
www.southern-ortho.com
Healthy Hands In the Garden
Hand Therapy Specialists in Portland Oregon celebrated "Healthy Hands In the Garden" by giving hypertufa planters filled with sedums to some of our referring physicians. The planters were accompanied by a four page patient education handout on decreasing stress to one's hand while working in the garden, entitled "Gardening Isn't A Pain".
Roughly 50 small hypertufa troughs were made by and planted by our staff. The reception by our doctors and their front office staff was fantastic and rewarding!
Here is a photo of a couple of hypertufa with the celebratory tag. The back of the tag gives the history of hypertufa which was created in England in the 1800's as a light weight substitute for carved limestone troughs which were heavy to move. Even back in the 1800s people were thinking of how to decrease stress to the body and the hands!! Given with our patient education gardening handout it made a great package for Healthy Hands Week!
We will definitely participate again next year! Thanks for the opportunity by designating the first week in June to be Healthy Hands Week.
We celebrated our first healthy hands week here at Foundry SportsMedicine this year. We opened our hand clinic in September 2010. This week we put had a presentation table with ASHT's poster presentation and tips for safe gardening and sports activity up as well as our brochures. Thursday we had Hand Therapy Patient Appreciation Day and made a poster thanking our patients for all their hard work and commitment. We provided pastry (our hand surgeon's donation) and beverages. We plan on celebrating this week every year, it was a great success.
Victoria Moitoso, OTR/L, CHT, Jodi Bergeron, OT, CHT
Providence, Rhode Island
For Healthy Hands Week we "hand" delivered and mailed our summer newsletter to all our referring MD's and office staff. Amongst other newsworthy articles, we promoted Healthy Hands week and included ASHT website as a referral for your great articles. We also have copies of some of the articles in our reception area.
Stacy Cook, OTR/L, CHT
Owner of Healing Hands Rehab Inc., California
RESOURCES
Write a Press Release
Review How to Write a Press Release for tips on creating effective buzz in your local media about Healthy Hands Week. Share your personal success, patient accomplishments and news with the public through targeted outreach with your local media. View a sample release announcing your organization's plans for celebrating Healthy Hands Week. The ASHT Local Media Guide will help you develop a press release and contact media strategically.
Customize and Distribute a Hand Therapy Press Release
Choose any of the following press releases ASHT has created for your use, make any necessary changes and then distribute it to your local media outlets.
Prevent Hand and Wrist Injuries While Cooking for the Holidays
Stretches and Tips to Prevent Injuries this Gardening Season
Heavy Use of Handheld Electronics Can Lead to Hand Ailments
Game, Set, Match to Prevent Tennis Elbow
Video Game Craze Can Lead to Hand and Wrist Ailments in Children
Celebration Ideas
Healthy Hands Week Ideas
Hand Therapy for Arthritis
Download the Hand Therapy for Arthritis memo and modify it for your clinic's use in distributing to general practitioners, rheumatologists and other MDs for marketing the benefits of hand therapy to their patients.
Sample Letters and Request for State Proclamation
Spread the word about hand therapy by writing a letter to your local Chamber of Commerce, requesting a State Proclamation, writing a new patient welcome letter or sending an appreciation letter to an established referral source.
Letter to Chamber of Commerce
Request for State Proclamation
Sample Proclamation
New Patient Welcome Letter
Appreciation Letter to an Established Referral Source
