Occupational Therapy

The Resurrection Center hosts its own Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) in Dianna Ullrich. Dianna first arrived in Kosovo right after the war in the year 2000. After completing language study and assisting in reconstruction and aid projects she began using her skills as an Occupational Therapist to help the injured and handicapped of Kosovo. Now, over five years later, Dianna has helped hundreds of people through therapy.

Occupational Therapy developed during and after World War One as American soldiers returned from European battlefields injured and handicapped. Modern medicine had made wounds that once meant certain death survivable. And thousands of American young men returned home missing arms, legs and the certainty of caring for themselves and finding gainful employment. Occupational Therapy developed as a way of training these young men, and thousands of others, how to care and feed themselves, how to master the basic life skill necessary for a meaningful and productive life.

Dianna's vision for OT goes far beyond reaching people one-by-one through her own efforts. She has already trained one woman who carries her own client load and dreams of trainings scores more. Currently in development, Dianna is working together with local and national educational and health ministries to develop a course for the training of additional Occupational Therapists in Kosovo. Her dream is that only will these occupational therapists find meaningful employment in a economy in crisis, but that thousands more injured and handicapped people will find badly needed therapy and a fulfilling life within their reach.