Written By:
Alain P. Eloi, MOT, OTD, OTR/L, CEAS 1
United States Air Force Captain
Virtual Hand to Shoulder Fellow ’23-24
To those who have stumbled upon this blog, my name is Alain-Pierre Eloi, and I am an occupational therapist currently serving in the United States Air Force. I have been working as a clinician since 2009 when I graduated from Loma Linda University with my master’s degree. Before this, I was living in Montreal, Canada until 2006. I attended Concordia University where I graduated in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. I eventually went back to school in 2018 to pursue a post-professional doctoral degree in Occupational Therapy at Rocky Mountain University with a concentration in hand therapy. I graduated in 2020, after which I made the life-changing decision to orient myself towards a military career.
To those considering a military career as a healthcare professional, it is important to reach out to a medical recruiter as opposed to a general recruiter. They are trained to help you throughout the process and work with you on building your packet that will be presented to the selection board. You must consider other factors as well, namely that you will be expected to take on leadership roles and responsibilities beyond the clinic. I would also strongly advise you to start taking your fitness seriously if you’re not already doing so. This includes building upon your strength, your endurance, and your cardiovascular fitness. As a military officer, you are bound to a higher level of accountability than you would be as a civilian; you are essentially juggling two careers at once.
Our career field in the United States Air Force is relatively small, as we currently register about 22 active-duty servicemembers and one Reservist officer. Rank-wise, we are comprised of Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Lieutenant Colonel, and one Colonel. Many of our occupational therapists are certified hand therapists or in the process of preparing to take the CHT test. The OT mission for the Air Force centers primarily around upper extremity rehabilitation. As is the case with many of the other disciplines making up the Biomedical Sciences Corps (BSC), we operate as physician extenders. The clinical job we perform in the clinic is only marginally different than that of a civilian outpatient hand therapist. A crucial difference resides in the ability of Airmen to see us through direct referral without the need for a medical doctor referral. We can also refer our patients to other providers, such as in a scenario where my clinical assessment of a patient gives me concern for a DRUJ instability and I enter a referral for a hand surgeon for further assessment. The increased liberty also allows me to order imagining such as x-rays in a clinical case involving a boxer’s fracture, or an MRI to rule in/out the presence of a ganglion cyst at the dorsal aspect of someone’s right hand. We are responsible for demonstrating proper clinical judgment to avoid needless usage of costly resources and services. We also carry the responsibility to advocate for our patients through applying research-supported, evidence-based practice principles in all facets of our treatment plans. Our mission involves functioning in a deployed setting with minimal resources and a maximum amount of clinical judgment and independence. For example, we quickly learn that traditional splint material works poorly in the hot desert climate of Middle Eastern countries. We learn to adapt by using delta cast as the material of choice for wrist cock-up or thumb spica splints.
There are unique complexities of the OT mission serving in the United States Air Force, namely the need to develop competencies not only in upper limb and hand therapy but also in the fields of human performance, mental health, as well as traumatic brain injury rehabilitation following accidents that involve severe head trauma or concussions. Working as a physical therapist or an occupational therapist in the military is extremely challenging, but the rewards of helping highly motivated servicemembers go back to their primary duties and daily activities are equally rewarding.