Community Hospital welcomes Mary Dettman, Occupational Therapist, to our medical staff. Mary joined Community Hospital’s rehab staff in September, joining Andrea Wunibald, who also works full-time as an occupational therapist at the hospital.

After raising her family, Mary returned to college and graduated from Creighton University, Omaha, with a Bachelors of Science in Occupational Therapy in 2001. She also obtained a Bachelors of Science in Health Science degree in 2000.

Mary and her husband, Larry, have two adult daughters who live in Aurora. It was her daughter Brandy who first introduced her to the field of occupational therapy when she was born with several disabilities, although she is “quite independent right now.” As she grew, “Brandy had some really good occupational therapists who were good mentors. It’s because of them that my interest in OT grew.

“I’m privileged as a therapist because I have seen both sides of the field,” Mary said. She explained that as a parent and a therapist she believes she can relate to the families better because of her experiences as a mom whose daughter has disabilities.

She not only sees things through the eyes of the families and the disabled child, but through the eyes of the siblings. “I didn’t realize how much a handicapped child effects the siblings.

“I like occupational therapy because I like to see people become more independent and do things they like to do,” she said. “OT helps them to compensate, restore or adapt to their deficits, whether they are from birth or from injury.”

As an occupational therapist, Mary helps her patients of all ages learn and achieve the skills of daily living (ADL’s). She might work with her patients on eating, writing, dressing, basic hygiene, cooking, getting in and out of a car and bed, rolling over in bed and working on hobbies. “OT’s concentrate on rehabbing the upper part of the body with an emphasis on ADL’s, ergonomics and hands,” she said.

Mary said she excels and has had the most experience as an OT in geriatrics. Since graduation, she had worked for traveling companies in Colorado, Maine, Oklahoma and Nebraska. She became acquainted with Community Hospital when she was hired this spring to fill in for Andrea who was on medical leave.

Community Hospital provides occupational therapy for Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook, Eldorado Manor in Trenton, Home Health and Hospice patients, inpatients, outpatients, swing bed patients and Tri Valley Health Systems in Cambridge. As Community Hospital’s occupational therapy department grew, it became necessary to add another full-time therapist.

Mary was born and raised in O’Neill, but graduated from high school in Aurora. In addition to Brandy; their daughter, Michelle, has three children, Jessica, 13; Cassandra, seven; and Ethan, six months. Her husband is a retired farmer who has returned to school to learn the field of heating, air conditioning and refrigeration.