794Views
OTA program undergoes leadership changes for 2016-17 school year
The Holmes Community College Occupational Therapy Assistant program, which is housed on the Ridgeland Campus, has recently undergone changes in leadership. Kana Williams, who has served as the academic fieldwork coordinator in the OTA program since 2008, moved into the position of OTA program director on July 1. Simultaneously, new hire Jason D. Miles, MOTR/L, a former occupational therapist within the Vicksburg Warren County School District, has assumed Williams' position as academic fieldwork coordinator and instructor.
Williams, a 2006 graduate of the Holmes OTA program, earned her bachelor of science in health sciences from the University of Mississippi and her master of science in human resource education with a concentration in workforce development from Louisiana State University. Prior to working at Holmes, she worked in a variety of settings providing treatment of a multitude of physical dysfunction diagnoses, and utilizing a multidisciplinary treatment in both an inpatient and outpatient settings.
Williams has given a number of professional presentations at various locations on a number of different topics related the OTA profession, including "OT and Wellness" and "Weaving a Collaborative Relationship between OTs and OTAs." She is also an active member of both the Mississippi Occupational Therapy Association and the American Occupational Therapy Association.
Williams is the mother of three little boys: Karson, 6; Cayson, 4, and Keller, 1.
Miles, a 2010 graduate of the Hinds Community College pre-occupational therapy program, earned his master's in occupational therapy from the University of Mississippi. He also has additional collegiate studies from various universities and military institutes. Prior to beginning a career in academia, Miles served in the military for 10 years. He was deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps in support of former and continued military operations in that and surrounding regions.
While working in the Vicksburg Warren County School District, Miles provided students with special and exceptional needs skills that enabled them to participate in the classroom and social settings. He also has experience working in the inpatient hospital setting addressing orthopedic conditions and spent time as an outpatient clinical therapist working with specific orthopedic conditions that affect the shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand. Miles has earned the distinction as a certified handwriting specialist awarded from The Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.
Miles and his wife, Lori, RN, have three children: Jaycie, 10; Lydia Claire, 4, and Alexander, 2.
The OTA program is a two-year/five-consecutive-semester program of study that prepares students to work as co-participants in the entire occupational therapy process at the discretion of the supervising licensed occupational therapists. Graduates of the OTA program will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the Occupational Therapy Assistant administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA), eligible to obtain licensure to practice in the state of Mississippi.
From the competitive and selective application process, applicants are chosen to enter the program each fall. For the past two years, Holmes has had a 100 percent pass rate of the NBCOT exam by the program's graduates.
For more information about the Holmes OTA program, contact Williams at kwilliams@holmescc.edu or (601) 605-3343.
IN THIS PHOTO:
Pictured are (left to right) Kana Williams and Jason Miles. On July 1, Williams was promoted to program director of the Holmes Community College Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) program, and Miles was hired as the academic fieldwork coordinator and instructor for the program.
